The Bad Seed (1956)

The next film to be shown on Sunday, January 11thth, 7:00 pm, at the Steamer No. 10 Theatre in Albany is “The Bad Seed” (1956) drama IMDB: 7.4, BW, 129 min.

Despite its reputation for bland conformity and conservatism, the 1950s was a period rife with fear—fear of one’s own offspring (it gave rise to the notion of the “teenager” and a preoccupation with juvenile delinquency) as well as anxiety over one’s own duality (due in part to the popularity of Freudian analysis). In The Bad Seed, nuclear annihilation by way of the Atom Bomb takes a back seat to blowing up the nuclear family in its most idealized form. It stars Patty McCormack as an eerily innocent-seeming eight-year-old girl named Rhoda Penmark, who embodies the decade’s deepest, darkest fears. Based on the best-selling novel by William March and the stage adaptation by Maxwell Anderson; directed by Mervyn LeRoy (who produced The Wizard of Oz); and featuring Nancy Kelly and Eileen Heckart—heartbreakingly playing two sides of a parent’s worst nightmare—The Bad Seed is a psychological chiller of the highest order. It’s also a rather campy hoot, so take from it what you will … and don’t reveal the ending!

Looking forward to seeing you there!