The Baby (1973)

A social worker, still reeling from the loss of her architect husband, investigates the eccentric, psychedelic Wadsworth Family, consisting of a mother, two daughters, and an adult son with the apparent mental capacity of an infant.

Director:

Ted Post

Writer:

Abe Polsky

Stars:

Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anjanette Comer	...	Ann Gentry
Ruth Roman	...	Mrs. Wadsworth
Marianna Hill	...	Germaine Wadsworth
Susanne Zenor	...	Alba Wadsworth (as Suzanne Zenor)
Tod Andrews	...	Doctor
Michael Pataki	...	Dennis
Beatrice Manley	...	Judith (as Beatrice Manley Blau)
Erin O'Reilly	...	Babysitter
Don Mallon
Joseph Bernard	...	Mr. Foley
Virginia Vincent
David Mooney	...	Baby (as David Manzy)

Storyline

A social worker who recently lost her husband investigates the strange Wadsworth family. The Wadsworths might not seem too unusual to hear about them at first - consisting of the mother, two grown daughters and the diaper-clad, bottle-sucking baby. The problem is, the baby is twenty-one years old.

---

Plot Keywords:

social worker | dead woman | hatchet | bath | slashed tire | 

---

Taglines:

Pray you don't learn the secret of... The Baby

---

Genres:

Horror | Thriller

---

Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Severin Films [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jaula sin techo

Company Credits

Production Co:

Quintet Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The re-mastered edition of the audio track is not the original track from the film. The original track contained the actual sounds made by David Mooney during the filming. The baby sounds came from his performance and not canned baby sounds. The original track must have been lost and later baby sounds were added.

---

Quotes

Mrs. Wadsworth: Are you going to be Baby's new worker?
Ann Gentry: I don't mind telling you, Mrs. Wadsworth, I made a special effort to get this assignment.
Mrs. Wadsworth: Oh you did? And why is that?
Ann Gentry: Well I, I heard about the case from one of the other workers, and it was impossible not to be interested.
Mrs. Wadsworth: I see.

---

Connections

Referenced in Manbaby (2016)

User Reviews

Pleasantly bent

The Baby joins a select club of really flaky little films from the poofy-hair-on-guys era, early 70's to early 80's; the best of these was Night Warning, William Shatner's wigged-out Impulse is another, the MST'd Touch of Satan is another. The Baby and Impulse even share the services of the wondrous Ruth Roman, who in The Baby looks more than ever like Victor Mature in full drag. All these feature somebody driving around in a Dodge Dart or a Maverick and plot twists that make you ask, "What were these people ON?"

Ted Post was already in his late fifties when he did The Baby, so the lame direction can't be written off as a young director learning his craft. It just plain sucks. Anjanette Comer stands around screeching and flapping her hands for emphasis like she's at a community-theater audition; it's hard to see any of the luminescent Aimee Thanatogenos from The Loved One, just eight years before. And Baby is a hoot - this was pretty much the entire career of the hard-working young actor trying to make us believe he's a teenager operating at a 9-month-old level, but somebody decided to dub in the sounds of a real baby coming from his adult voice-box, and you don't buy the bit for five seconds.

But there's just enough here to make it worthwhile to stick it out for the snapper ending. Anybody who says they guessed where this was going is lying like a red dog. It's no Night Warning, but if you've seen Night Warning and you need another sip from the same bucket, it'll do.