Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel)
Roman Polanski (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 June 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

Pray for Rosemary's Baby

Plot:

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.

Plot Keywords:

Apartment | Neighbor | Dream | Pregnancy | Baby

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 11 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Mia Farrow	...	Rosemary Woodhouse
John Cassavetes	...	Guy Woodhouse
Ruth Gordon	...	Minnie Castevet
Sidney Blackmer	...	Roman Castevet
Maurice Evans	...	Hutch
Ralph Bellamy	...	Dr. Sapirstein
Victoria Vetri	...	Terry (as Angela Dorian)
Patsy Kelly	...	Laura-Louise
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Mr. Nicklas (as Elisha Cook)
Emmaline Henry	...	Elise Dunstan
Charles Grodin	...	Dr. Hill
Hanna Landy	...	Grace Cardiff
Phil Leeds	...	Dr. Shand (as Philip Leeds)
D'Urville Martin	...	Diego
Hope Summers	...	Mrs. Gilmore
Marianne Gordon	...	Rosemary's Girl Friend
Wende Wagner	...	Rosemary's Girl Friend (as Wendy Wagner)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bill Baldwin	...	Salesman (uncredited)
Walter Baldwin	...	Mr. Wees (uncredited)
Roy Barcroft	...	Sun-Browned Man (uncredited)
Charlotte Boerner	...	Mrs. Fountain (uncredited)
Gail Bonney	...	Babysitter (voice) (uncredited)
Carol Brewster	...	Claudia Comfort (uncredited)
Lynn Brinker	...	Sister Veronica (uncredited)
Sebastian Brook	...	Argyron Stavropoulos (uncredited)
William Castle	...	Man by Pay Phone (uncredited)
Gordon Connell	...	Allen Stone - Guy's Agent (uncredited)
Patricia Ann Conway	...	Mrs. John F. Kennedy (uncredited)
Tony Curtis	...	Donald Baumgart (voice) (uncredited)
Joyce Davis	...	Dee Bertillon (uncredited)
Paul Denton	...	Skipper (uncredited)
Duke Fishman	...	Man (uncredited)
Janet Garland	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Michel Gomez	...	Pedro (uncredited)
John Halloran	...	Mechanic (uncredited)
Ernest Harada	...	Young Japanese Man (uncredited)
Marilyn Harvey	...	Dr. Sapirstein's Receptionist (uncredited)
Jean Inness	...	Sister Agnes (uncredited)
Jack Knight	...	Investigating patrolman (uncredited)
Mona Knox	...	Mrs. Byron (uncredited)
Louise Lawson	...	Portia Haynes (uncredited)
Natalie Masters	...	Young Woman (uncredited)
Elmer Modling	...	Young Man (uncredited)
Floyd Mutrux	...	Man at Party (uncredited)
Patricia O'Neal	...	Mrs. Wees (uncredited)
Robert Osterloh	...	Mr. Fountain (uncredited)
Josh Peine	...	Man at Party (uncredited)
Gale Peters	...	Rain Morgan (uncredited)
Jack Ramage	...	Patron (uncredited)
Joan T. Reilly	...	Pregnant Woman (uncredited)
George R. Robertson	...	Lou Comfort (uncredited)
George Savalas	...	Workman (uncredited)
Almira Sessions	...	Mrs. Sabatini (uncredited)
Michael Shillo	...	Pope (uncredited)
Bruno Sidar	...	Mr. Gilmore (uncredited)
Tom Signorelli	...	Man at the Party (uncredited)
Al Szathmary	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Clay Tanner	...	Devil (uncredited)
Viki Vigen	...	Lisa (uncredited)
Frank White	...	Hugh Dunstan (uncredited)

Directed by
Roman Polanski

Writing credits
Ira Levin		(novel)
Roman Polanski		(screenplay)

Produced by
William Castle	....	producer
Dona Holloway	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Krzysztof Komeda		(as Christopher Komeda)

Cinematography by
William A. Fraker		(director of photography) (as William Fraker)

Film Editing by
Sam O'Steen
Bob Wyman

Production Design by
Richard Sylbert

Art Direction by
Joel Schiller

Set Decoration by
Robert Nelson

Costume Design by
Anthea Sylbert

Makeup Department
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair styles creator: Miss Farrow
Vidal Sassoon	....	hair styles creator: Miss Farrow
Allan Snyder	....	makeup artist
Sherry Wilson	....	hair stylist

Production Management
William Davidson	....	unit production manager (as William C. Davidson)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Daniel McCauley	....	assistant director (as Daniel J. McCauley)
Gene Marum	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Paolo Rocco Innamorato	....	first assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Harold Lewis	....	sound recordist

Visual Effects by
Farciot Edouart	....	process photography

Stunts
Roger Creed	....	stunts (uncredited)
Frank Orsatti	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Steve Birtles	....	lighting technician (uncredited)
Robert Willoughby	....	special still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Joan Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Bob Bain	....	musician: guitar (uncredited)

Other crew
Hawk Koch	....	dialogue coach (as Howard W. Koch Jr.)
Luanna S. Poole	....	script continuity
Robert Evans	....	developer (uncredited)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer (uncredited)
Stephen Frankfurt	....	title designer (uncredited)

Production Companies

• William Castle Productions (as A William Castle PRODUCTION)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical) (as Paramount A Gulf+Western Company)
• Les Films Paramount (1968) (France) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1973) (USA) (TV)
• Pioneer (1995) (UK) (video) (laserdisc)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Award Winning Collection)
• Mercurio Films S.A. (1969) (Spain) (theatrical)
• New Star (2011) (Greece) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Paramount-Films (1969) (Finland) (theatrical)
• CIC Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• CIC-Taft Home Video (199?) (Australia) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Esselte Video (1980s) (Finland) (VHS)
• Nelonen (2004) (Finland) (TV)
• Paramount Filmes do Brasil (Brazil) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment Finland (2002) (Finland) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (19??) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Renacimiento (19??) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1987) (1997) (2010) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Canada:18A | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) (2001) | UK:X (original rating) (passed with cuts) | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #21674) | USA:R (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | Spain:18 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/16 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | South Korea:18 | Brazil:14 | India:A | Italy:VM14 | France:U | UK:18 (tv rating) | USA:R | Germany:16 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Dakota Hotel - 1 West 72nd St. at Central Park West, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

William Castle Productions

Trivia:

When Rosemary receives the book "All of Them Witches," she is told that 'the name is an anagram.' At first she tries to rearrange the letters of the book's title, but then realizes that the clue referred to a name within the book. However, the title actually is an anagram for 'Hell a Cometh Swift.'

Goofs:

Continuity: Position of other tiles surrounding Rosemary's anagrams between shots.

Quotes:

[First lines]
Guy Woodhouse:Are you a doctor?
Guy Woodhouse:Yes. Yes.
Rosemary Woodhouse:He's an actor.
Mr. Nicklas:Oh,an actor. We're very popular with actors. Have I, uh, seen you in anything?
Guy Woodhouse:Well,let's see, I-I did "Hamlet" a while back, didn't I, Liz? And then we did "The, uh, The Sandpiper" and then...
Rosemary Woodhouse:He's joking. He was in "Luther" and "Nobody Loves an Albatross" and a lot of television plays and commercials.
Mr. Nicklas:Well, that's where the money is, isn't it? Commercials.
Guy Woodhouse:And the artistic thrills, too!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Elvira's Movie Macabre: Scared to Death (#1.6)" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Lullaby

A Landmark Horror film

"Rosemary's Baby" is one of the best horror films ever made. This isn't because it's going to scare the pants off you with a series of sensational jolts. This isn't the shallow, gimmicky kind of horror movie we mostly get these days, and it isn't the traditional old-fashioned horror film of an earlier era. This is a movie that came out during a period of transition in Hollywood. The old production codes were breaking down and films could suddenly be more true to life in the way they showed how people really lived, acted and talked. 1968s "Rosemary's Baby" is a more sophisticated, less elegant thriller of the kind that Alfred Hitchcock patented, but it displays much more class and intelligence than the horror movies that would come out in its wake. Popular '70s films such as "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" are the prodigy of "Rosemary's Baby," but offer far less nuance and much greater vulgarity. What we get here is a more naturalistic depiction of modern life, but without the crassness that would soon explode into American cinema.

Most of the credit for what makes "Rosemary's Baby" such a successful film goes to Roman Polanski. Polanski is a master at conveying to an audience not just a sense of the uncanny but a vivid depiction of it. His earlier films like "Knife in the Water," "Repulsion" and "Dance of the Vampires," display the talents that would come to such a controlled mastery in "Rosemary's Baby."

Polanski very faithfully adapts Ira Levin's novel to the screen so that the viewer is, just as the reader was, free to interpret the eerie events of the story as either reality or a depiction of an isolated woman's decent into madness. At the same time the picture can be taken as a black joke on the human male's fears of the changes a woman goes through during pregnancy, both physically and emotionally. But Polanski seems most interested in presenting a normal world, in this case Manhattan in the mid 1960s, and then through subtle cinematic techniques get an audience to actually believe that the hysterical, fantastic ravings of the heroine could be true. It is this tour de force exercise in suspension of disbelief that makes the film a classic. The horror films that have come since have had to ratchet up the shock effects in order to thrill more desensitized audiences, but this deliberately paced film reminds us of how much better it is to leave things to the imagination of the viewer. That is where films really come alive and remain so.

The Paramount DVD presents an excellent print of the movie that looks as if it were shot yesterday, along with extras that include new interviews with Polanski, executive producer Bob Evans and production designer Richard Sylbert, and a featurette from the time of the film's original release that really works as a good time capsule.