Review of The Bad Seed (1956) by Sherry L — 09 Apr 2009

Very good movie about a sweet and cute little girl who knows how to charm everybody, except for the artificer who knows for sure that this little girl is a bad seed.

Christine Penmark seems to live the amertican dream. Nice family, nice house, nice job. A nice life, to put it short. While her husband who is a colonel is sent to serve the country in Washington D.C. she is left alone with her eight year old daughter Rhoda. Rhoda is the sweetest child anyone has ever seen. With her blonde braids and pink little dress, and a little bit mature for her age, everybody seems to love her. Except for one person who sees through her smiles, and that's the artificer who works around the house. Rhoda hates him. What Rhoda can't stand either is that the teacher gave the best writer medal to a boy in her class, Claude, and not to her, when she really deserved it!

Claude drows during the school picnic and Rhoda was the last person who saw him, but nobody believes anything but that it was an accident. That is anyone except for Leroy, the actificer.

He puts two and two together and finds out that Rhoda did it and exactly how, but he did the mistake and confronted her. But perhaps his biggest mistake, he ever did was to underestimate her...

This movie is soo well acted it's hard to believe. Especially from Eileen Heckart who did a heartbreaking performance of the drunk mourning mother of Claude, which she was very praised for. But of course we mustn't forget little Patty McCormack's wonderful performance as Rhoda. Her alternations from sweet to psychopatic are incredible for an 11 year old. This movie also handles the theory that insanity (or a bad seed) is inheirited.

Very interesting movie.