The Bad Seed (1956)

Directed by Mervyn LeRoy.  Screenplay written by John Lee Mahin based on the play by Maxwell Anderson and the novel by William March.  Starring Patty McCormack, Nancy Kelly, Henry Jones, Eileen Heckart, Evelyn Varden and William Hopper.

Plot: when a boy drowns at school, a very intelligent young girl is suspected by her own mother.

MV5BYTM5M2QxMTktNzQ3NC00ZDUyLWJhZGEtNjhjMDIwYWEzOGNkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDI2NDg0NQ@@._V1_.jpg

When a boy dies at young Rhoda’s (McCormack) school, her mother, Christine (Kelly) is concerned that Rhoda isn’t overly affected by seeing him drown.  Turns out though, that this little boy competed against Rhoda and won, giving Rhoda a reason to have wanted to hurt him.  And obviously she did.  I’m not giving away plot points when I tell you that the little girl is evil incarnate.

******SPOILER ALERT******

**************************************

*********************************************************

the-bad-seed-02-still_756_426_81_s

So, the movie is a lot corny and far too long, but I loved the ending.  Her mother tried to kill her, failed and then God was like “fuck you” and the little girl gets hers anyway.  Brilliant.

I don’t necessarily recommend this film to everyone, but a select few will enjoy it and I think you know who you are.

My score: 35.

“Children can be nasty, don’t you think?”

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.