Bad Seed, The (DVD)

The Bad Seed [This original 1956 version] has been just about my all-time favorite movie throughout my life, since I first saw it as a teen 40 years ago. First off, it, like many other old B&W movies, is like a time capsule. It accurately portrays a time in the recent American past, when a genuine genteelness and civility existed in spades in most places; a time when one-income families were the rule, and cops were not militarized, and children played in the street..... Just seeing the portrayal of of that time period, is worth watching any movie for! But, in addition to spending your viewing time being transported back into that world, with a movie such as this, you are also treated to a superb , which will entertain you and make you think, and even offer some grins. It is not just the died-in-the-wool simple formula "how did it happen?"- but rather a gradual reveal of a multi-faceted plot and the many tendrils which support it- and all performed by superb players (almost all of whom were also in the prior Broadway play version) and masterfully crafted with exacting attention to detail and craftsmanship by all involved at every level of production. In addition to the aesthetic values of this film, the many interesting and unexpected twists and reveals as the story progresses, as well as the unexpected ending, combine to make this a movie that I have never tired of- but which rather I always enjoy watching immensely. It's a rather long movie, but the time just flies by- even after you're familiar with it; and there is no dead space or wasted time- nothing that you'd ever want to skip over; not a moment is wasted. There are only a handful of movies in existence of this caliber- and this is the cream of that crop. I especially enjoy the performances of Evelyn Varden as the quintessential good-natured landlord/friend/"aunt" we all wish we had; Eileen Heckart as the grieving, drunken mother of the dead boy, and most of all, the great Henry Jones as Leroy The Handyman, and taunter of Rhoda. Simply brilliant! This was the pinnacle of Hollywood.

I already owned a copy of this movie on DVD, but I decided to upgrade to Blu Ray because even with an old movie like this, the images are so much clearer. In this case, the movie itself didn't seem any better but the expressions on the faces of the actors seemed more expressive than they had on regular DVD. This film was first released in 1956. Little Patty McCormack and I are just about the same age. The Ad campaign was low key and asked the audience to "please don't tell you friends anything about this picture", or words to that effect. As a child, I assumed there was something "dirty" anout the picture from the way it was being promoted. I didn't see THE BAD SEED until the advent of the VCR. The premise of Maxwell Anderson's play is straighforward. Are some people just "Born Bad?". Mervyn Leroy attempts to "open the play" up in this film version. It is still very stage bound but it is still very engrossing. Young mother Christine Penmark (Nancy Kelly) worries that her daughter Rhoda is a little too mature for an eight year old child and suspects that something may be wrong. During a school picnic, a classmate of Rhoda's, Claude Daigle, is drowned under very suspicious circumstances and there are indications that Rhoda may have been somehow involved, a detail that no one wants to believe, at first. Christine finds one clue after another incriminating Rhoda and Christine begins to explore her own background to see if somehow Rhoda may have inherited some genetic trait that has set her on the road to murder. I'll stop here and let you watch this film play out for itself. Great acting performances abound in this film, many of the actors having appeared in this play on the New York Stage. Nancy Kelly as Christine received a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. Some people feel that her performance is a little too over-the-top, but I disagree. Christine's agonizing descent into a near nervous breakdown is the glue that holds this play together. Equally good is Patty McCormack as Rhoda Penmark,a heartless child murderess. Patty earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for one of the greatest performances by a child actress in Film History. Eileen Heckart is unforgettable as Hortense Daigle, the grieving alcoholic mother of the murdered boy, who suspects that all is not what it seems to be. She too was nominated for an Oscar as Best supporting Actress. In addition, Henry Jones plays "Leroy", a sly dim-witted handyman who works at the apartment building where Christine and Rhoda live. There is something dangerous in Henry's performance which seems to suggest that he is a potential child molestor as he tries to match wits with Rhoda. Evelyn Varden is Monica Breedlove, the Penmark's well-intended buttinsky landlady. Jones and Varden deliver Oscar Caliber performances as well. William Hopper, the actor-son of gossip columnist Hedda Hopper plays serviceman Kenneth Penmark, Rhoda's father, who is conveniently called away for most of the picture. Familiar character actors Paul Fix is Christine's father, Richard Bravo and Jesse White is Mrs. Breedlove's brother. This is the kind of thought-provoking film that didn't rely on special effects to entertain an audience. It's of-it's-time but nonetheless compelling entertainment.

Last night I watched the classic movie "The Bad Seed" for the first time in decades, and it didn't disappoint. The acting is uniformly great; the handyman in particular is very believably creepy, and the girl's mother is quite tragic and real. Of course, the little girl is the star, and (SPOILER) she's a classic sociopath. The idea of an ?8-yr-old girl being a serial murderer was probably unique at the time that this movie was made, and it's still not a common theme. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie, and I especially recommend it to anyone who likes a good villain in a movie.

I have always loved this movie and I've never seen it in such pristine condition. Warner Archive has really done a stellar job with this 2026 remastered edition. It looks and sounds amazing. If you are a fan of this classic, this is a must buy! Highly recommended.

I will be honest and say I'm not into older films such as black and white ones, but I love a good mystery/horror movie no matter what era it's from. My coworker told me about "The Bad Seed" and said it was a really good movie about a little girl who kills people and pretends to be perfectly innocent, fooling almost everyone she meets. Of course I bought it immediately, didn't even bother to rent. I actually sat through this film, which isn't like me, because I get bored easy. But "The Bad Seed" was so enthralling that I couldn't look away. The little girl, Rhoda, is so cunning and evil that it's almost fooling to her mother. She murders people when they have something she wants, and it's evident that she's done it many times. I was shocked that a movie that doesn't show any gore (being from the 50s) could be even more terrifying than films from the past few decades. Seeing Rhoda smile like it's a normal day after she murders sent a chill up my spine. When she was begging her mother not to be mad and telling her how much she loves her, I went rigid. Everything in the plot fits together so nicely (and terrifyingly) and it all makes sense. There were many twists that I did not expect. The actors were outstanding in their performances, especially Rhoda's mother. When you think about it, it's possible for children to kill and get away with because they're children. I work with children and have seen disturbing and shocking behavior in some, so watching this movie had me questioning everything. I told my coworker about it when I went to work the next day and we both shared a chill. It really gets into your mind, and that's something I can appreciate in any movie. "The Bad Seed" is hands down one of the best, well-thoughtout films I've ever seen!

I saw "The Bad Seed" years ago, circa 1970, for the first time, and have seen it periodically over the years. When I first saw the film, as a child, I found the film, expectedly, quite chilling. I saw it again this afternoon, after not having seen it for about three years, and still find it quite disturbing. Now that we have IMDb, I decided to offer my thoughts. And so, I was shocked to find SO MANY comments about it...more than for any other film that I've reviewed on IMDb to date. If I add anything of unique value, great. If not, I'm happy to share my review anyway. Certainly, there are flaws, or perhaps only "unique differences", in this film. Primarily, it can very easily be considered a filmed play, as the staging, the dialog, and the entrances and exits of the characters throughout the film seem to be lifted directly from the stage version. Therefore, some may find the film a bit too sterile or unnatural in many ways. However, I think it is this very sterile, staged, stark-from-a-production-standpoint quality that gives the film an even eerier and in some ways far more realistic edge than might be found were it to be produced today for film, with far more slick and sophisticated sets, dialog, camera work, etc. The realism and pronounced disturbing quality of this version stem from the simple story itself, the psychological horror of which could be in some ways obfuscated from a much more sophisticated, big-studio, modern-day production. As for the subject matter itself, I know that the number of cases, historically, involving child murderers is actually low. Therefore, some critics have argued that to take a relatively rare phenomenon, such as the child murderer, and build a motion picture around it, portraying it in the vein of plausibility, can be misleading and dangerous, giving the impression, especially to younger viewers, that child criminals are more commonplace than you may think. I wholeheartedly reject this notion. The whole purpose of acting is to portray the entire range of the human condition with as much truth as possible, no matter how rare or commonplace certain aspects of human behavior might be. Though child murderers may be few in number, it's an area worthy of as much exploration, in film, as is an ugly, unrealistic alien telling us to "phone home" or the sinking of the Titanic. Even though this film possesses a definite "campy", staged, and perhaps even "cult" quality, it is chillingly effective. One reason for which this film works is due to the character of Rhoda herself, played by Patty McCormack. The smiling, blond, blue-eyed veneer of the child juxtaposed with the idea of her criminal potential (and actions) is just plain "creepy". Moreover, the less you see, in terms of the actual crimes she commits, the more you conjure. And, you continually wonder who her next victim will be. Furthermore, you wonder how many people will eventually "come on to her" and become aware of who she is, and how that knowledge will affect their fate. Another reason for which this film works is because of the mother, Christine, played by Nancy Kelly. As we slowly watch her become aware of what has become of her daughter, we can't help but empathize with her predicament and her decision in handling it. The first few times I saw the film, just as I felt that Patty McCormack's portrayal and dialog delivery were probably mere replicas of what she offered on stage, I felt that Nancy Kelly's performance was affected and probably lifted directly from her work on the stage (I've never seen a stage version, nor have I read the book, yet). But in the case of Ms. Kelly, watching her realize what she has ultimately given birth to and raised is very heart wrenching. Moreover, I have always wondered if the use of her right hand was a direction given to her by either of her directors (for play or film), or if it was something she came up with herself. Two instances come to mind. In the first one, the manner in which she hits the table with her right hand as she listens to what is happening outside near her shed while Rhoda plays "Au Claire de la Lune" on her piano is very pronounced, appears somewhat odd and is perhaps symbolic. She seemed to be pounding her hand not only in outward denial and anger at the realization she now has of what her child is capable of committing, but as a means to torture and punish herself for having given birth to her in the first place. In the second instance, Nancy Kelly used her right hand again in a very pronounced manner when she offers Rhoda her vitamins "that night". Again, I couldn't help but wonder what symbolism she wanted us to draw from her gesture. It might be said that this very hand, which once comforted and fed her child all her life, has now become the tool that feeds the ultimate fate of her child toward the end of the film. (Again, not having read it, I have a fairly good idea how the book ends). As for how the ending/epilogue in the film was handled, practically everyone on this site who has offered a review knows that the use of the "casting call" was basically dictated by the mandates of the Hays Code. I'll just add that I find that the chilling effect of the story carries over to this bizarre "epilogue". I still find it a bit unsettling to see each of these actors take their bows, especially considering that some of the characters they portrayed would, in my estimation, appear stranger to a child than does Rhoda....particularly Leroy, when he bows to the viewing audience carrying his large pitchfork. In the end, I think that this film works, and is definitely worth watching. As great as "The Exorcist" was, which for me is the definitive "horror flick", "The Bad Seed" is in many ways more chilling, perhaps because its story seems even that much more plausible than someone's being possessed by the devil. This film is, to a degree, definitely flawed. The dialog is a bit affected, and the character of Kenneth Penmark, played by William Hopper, is just too vapid. Moreover, the entire conversation among Christine, Monica, Richard Bravo (Christine's father) and Monica's brother appears completely "planted" and a bit awkward, though obviously serves some measure of establishment into Rhoda's character as well as foreshadowing. Even so, you will not forget this film. You might even parody some key lines throughout your life, as I have done. ("You're the prettiest mother", "Give me back those shoes, Leroy", and "Good Morning, Miss Fern", while making a curtsy). Overall, I highly recommend this film, and it should be watched periodically over the years, because you'll always catch something new, and want to study each character's contributions and mannerisms, even though the film is clearly stolen by Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart, and, most especially, Nancy Kelly.

My daughter is going to present it at her school.

This movie is still one of my all time favorites and wears well even by today's standards, albeit being (unintentionally) "campy" in several respects. It's a classic Greek Tragedy without the annoying chorus. Little Rhoda Penmark, creepily/perfectly played by Patty McCormack, is a bit different than her peers. When she wants something she's willing to kill and does so without the slightest compunction. Christine, Rhoda's increasingly distraught mother, slowly realizes she has unknowingly passed on this "trait" to her daughter as she discovers the identity of her biological mother, an infamous serial killer. There are plenty of histrionics to go around as Nancy Kelley (Christine) wrings her hands and pounds on her womb at each moment of new terrible insight, and then there's Hortense Daigle. She's the mother of one of Rhoda's young victims and appears several times in various stages of inebriation and overwhelming grief. Eileen Heckart still brings tears to my eyes as Hortense, as maudlin as she is. Although all of the cast is excellent (even William Hopper, whose role is blessedly small, is OK as Rhoda's clueless dad), the one other outstanding character is Leroy, the apartment house handyman. Henry Jones is the semi-literate malcontent who takes glee in spraying a hose at Rhoda's feet and ploddingly uncovers the truth about Rhoda's avaricious habits while teasing her about her heartless apathy toward her classmate's death. Rhoda takes care of Leroy with only 3 kitchen matches and a nice pile of excelsior Leroy naps on in the basement. Christine blows all her gaskets after Leroy is barbecued and gives Rhoda a fatal dose of a "new vitamins" (cautious Rhoda asks to see the bottle the soi-disant vitamins are in), puts the child to bed, then shoots herself in the head. Luckily little Rhoda is saved by the neighbors who hear the gun shot, and in the end of the play and novel Christine dies. Not so for Hollywood in the 50s, so there is an inane contrived ending with a lachrymose, mummy-wrap-headed Christine on the phone with hubby while sneaky Rhoda ventures out into the stormy night to retrieve the penmanship medal Mom tossed in the lake where her classmate/victim Claude drowned. Boom! God strikes Rhoda with a bolt from heaven and she goes up in a bright poof. My biggest gripe with the DVD is the ill-conceived inclusion of Charles Busch on the film commentary with Patty McCormack. It's painfully obvious he's not even familiar with the movie and he adds nothing but a few really dumb questions/comments. The commentary by McCormack is great and she adeptly deflects some of Busch's stupidity but he's still an irritant.

El producto me llegó mucho antes de lo esperado, en excelentes condiciones. The Bad Seed es un film para todos los amantes del terror psicológico, brutal para su época, repleto de actuaciones audaces. Si buscas gore o jump scares, esta no es la película para ti. En cambio si has disfrutado de títulos como El Bebé de Rosemary o Don't Bother to Knock, es perfecta para ti.

Después de ella muchos se han apuntado al boom de la niña psicópata...pero como esta historia ninguna..Magnífica película y maravillosos los señores de Hamelyn tienda...rápidos y eficaces

Brilliant film,well acted by the whole cast,Patty McCormack is excellent as the Bad Seed Rhoda.a truly great film with an un-expected twist at the end,

Can't imagine how they got the young girl to act the part, but what a job she did! I was on the edge of my seat just about the whole way thru. All the actors did a excellent job and the story is something different. It is worth a look.

Der Inhalt ist Schnell erzählt: Ein liebes, braves Mädchen (Rhoda Penmark) hat die Eigenschaften "lieb" und "brav" nur scheinbar. In Wirklichkeit ist es de facto eine Mörderin, die ihre wahre Persönlichkeit hinter einer Fassade der Höflichkeit geschickt verbirgt. Der einzige der von Anfang an hinter die Fassade der übertrieben Höflichkeit blickt ist der scheinbar dumme Hausmeister. Die Mutter ist die einzige, während des Filmes das gesamte Ausmaß ihrer Übeltaten (de facto handelt es sich um drei Morde) erkennt. Sie zerbricht seelisch zwischen den beiden Widersprüchen Mutterliebe -- Mitleid mit den Hinterbliebenen der Opfer. Was das Werk meiner Meinung nach so genial macht: 1.) zur Zeit der 1950-er Jahre war ein kindlicher Bösewicht eine völlig neues Thema. 2.) Die Idee dass ein Kind so planmäßig, berechnend und eiskalt vorgehen kann eine ist geniale Idee. 3.) Filmhistorisch betrachtet ist dieser Film der erste mit kindlichem Bösewicht. 4.) Der Film zeigt den absoluten Extremfall einer sog. "dissozialen Persönlichkeitsstörung". 5.) Falls jemand den Unterschied zwischen 'höflich' und 'freundlich' nicht kennen sollte: In diesem Film wird er klar. 6.) Der extreme starke Unterschied zwischen dem wie Rhoda scheint und Rhodas wahrer Persönlichkeit ist meiner Ansicht nach extrem faszierend. Der einzige Punkt der zu kritisieren ist, ist das vertrottelte deus ex machina - Ende der original US-Version. Das Ende ist das exakte Gegenteil der Literaturvorlage. Extrem künstlich wirkt der Eingriff Gottes in die Handlung. Aber dieses ließ sich leider durch den damaligen Moralkodex (das Böse darf im Film nicht siegen) leider nicht verhindern. Diese Schwäche wird aber durch die Punkte 4.), 5.) und 6.) nur teilweise kompensiert. Dennoch reicht es für die höchste Wertung. Zur Klassifikation des Filmes: In den meisten mir bekannen englschsprachigen Quellen wird der Fílm als "Horrorfilm" dargestellt. Ich kann diese Klassifikation in keiner Weise nachvollziehen, da im ganzen Film kein einziger Schockeffekte vorkommt. Zumindest keine die ich als solche identifizieren konnte. Ich schreibe "de facto Mörderin" oder "de facto handelt es sich um drei Morde" weil Morde von 8 jährigen Kindern de Jure in Österreich und Deutschland nicht begangen werden können. In der "juristischen Wirklichkeit" handelt es sich in Österreich und Deutschland bei Rhoda um einen entzückend süßen Unschuldsengel.