Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy drama directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach. The film also features Mildred Dunnock and Rip Torn. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams, and was adapted by Williams from his own one-piece drama Wagons Full of Cotton . The plot focuses on the feud between two rival cotton gin owners in rural Mississippi; After one man burns another gin, the owner responds by trying to seduce a nineteen-year-old smoldering bride in the hope of receiving a husband's confession of her husband's mistake.
The film was controversial when it was released due to an implicit sexual theme, provoking a very successful attempt to ban it, inflamed by the National Legion of Roman Catholicism. Nevertheless, the film received a lot of nominations for the big prizes and done politely at the box office. Kazan won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the film was nominated for four other Golden Globe awards, as well as four Academy Awards and four BAFTA Awards awards, with Eli Wallach taking the BAFTA prize for "The Most Promising Newcomer for the Movie."
The film is credited with deriving the name and popularity of the babydoll nightshirt, which comes from the costumes worn by the Baker character. The film is featured in The New York Times' Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made .
Video Baby Doll
Plot
In Mississippi Delta, the owner of a failed, fanatical, middle-aged gin, Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden) has been married to a beautiful 19-year-old Baby Doll Meighan (Carroll Baker) for two years. Archie Lee can not wait for Baby Doll's 20th birthday in just a few days when, with prior approval with the dying Baby Doll father, the wedding can finally be refined. Meanwhile, Baby Doll is still sleeping in the crib, wearing a childish short sweater and sucking his thumb, while Archie, an alcoholic, spies on him through a hole in the wall of their ancient mortuary Tiger Tail. Baby Doll's senile Aunt Rose Comfort (Mildred Dunnock) lives at home too and (lightly) terrorized by Archie Lee.
After failing to make payments to the furniture rental company, almost all the furniture at home was taken over and Baby Doll threatened to leave. Archie's competitor Sicilian Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach), who has a newer and more modern cotton gin, has taken over all of Archie's business, and Archie retaliated by burning Vacarro's gin on the same night. Suspecting Archie as an arsonist, Vacarro plotted a revenge plot and visited the farm the next day with a cargo truck, offering to pay Archie Lee to the factory for her.
Meanwhile, Baby Doll was asked to entertain Vacarro, and the two spent a day visiting on the farm, where Vacarro explicitly asked about Archie's whereabouts the night before and made sexual advances against Baby Doll. After Vacarro instantly accused Archie of burning his gin, Baby Doll went to face Archie, and he slapped his face and went into town to buy a new component for his gin.
Vacarro entertained Baby Doll, and after being friendly and chasing each other throughout the house, Vacarro forced her to sign a statement confessing Archie's fault. She then took a nap in the Baby Doll box, and was invited to dinner at the request of Baby Doll as the storm approached.
Archie, drunk and jealous of Baby Doll's romantic interest in Vacarro, get angry at dinner, and tell Aunt Rose that she should move out of the house; Vacarro immediately offered to let him stay with him as the cook, and he and Baby Doll played around with each other and mocked Archie. After Vacarro confronts Archie with a statement, Archie takes his rifle and chases Vacarro outside while Baby Doll calls the police.
The police arrived, and Archie was arrested when Vacarro gave them a statement. Delighted at his victory, Vacarro leaves the farm, leaving Baby Doll but says he will return the next day with more cotton. When Archie was taken away by the police, commented that it was the birthday of Baby Doll, Baby Doll and Aunt Rose back inside the house to wait for the return of Vacarro.
Maps Baby Doll
Cast
- Karl Malden as Archie Lee Meighan
- Carroll Baker as Baby Doll Meighan
- Eli Wallach as Silva Vacarro
- Mildred Dunnock as Aunt Rose Comfort
- Lonny Chapman as Rock
- Eades Hogue as the City of Marshal
- Noah Williamson as Representative
- R.G. Armstrong as Townsman Sid (sound only, uncredited)
- Madeleine Sherwood as a Nurse at the Doctor's Office (unverified)
- Rip Tear as Dentist (unverified)
Take notes
- Both Eli Wallach and Rip Torn made their movie debut at Baby Doll . It was Carroll Baker's third movie, having previously appeared on Easy to Love and Giant .
Production
Although the title of the film card says "Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll", and the film is based on a one-leg drama Williams 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, in the director of his autobiography Elia Kazan claims that Williams is only "half-hearted" in scenario writing, in which Kazan himself actually wrote the majority. The film is taken in Benoit, Mississippi at home J.C. Burrus, built in 1848, was the only pre-war home in Bolivar County. Other locations are Greenville, Mississippi, and New York City. According to Kazan, Williams did not stay long when the film was filming in Benoit, because of the way people look at it. Some locals are used for small roles, and one, "Boll Weevil" not only acts but also as a unit production maneuver.
Work titles for the film include drama names and "Mississippi Women"; actress Carroll Baker claims that Kazan changed the title to Baby Doll as a gift for her. Although Baker was Kazan's first choice for the role, Williams preferred to see Marilyn Monroe get that role.
Releases and controversies
Baby Doll was released in the United States on December 18, 1956, although the film began collecting controversy within weeks of its release because of a promotional billboard on display in New York City, which it describes now. Bakic's image -iconic lying in bed, sucking his thumb. Baker received a phone call from a reporter on Sunday morning, saying "Your Baby Doll Movie has been cursed by Legion of Decency and Cardinal Spellman has just stepped into the pulpit and denounced him from St. Patrick's Cathedral. You say? "
The film received a stamp from the Motion Picture Code, but the Catholic Legion of Courtesy gave it a rating of "C" ("Cursed") and called it "deeply offensive to traditional and Christian moral and modesty standards." They succeeded in making the films withdrawn from releases in most US cinemas because of their objections to their sexual themes. Variety notes that it is the first time in years that the Legion has condemned the major American films that have received the approval of the Code.
Other religious figures were involved in the controversy surrounding the film, including Francis J. Spellman, the New York Catholic Archbishop, who called him "sinful" and forbade Catholics in the archdiocese to watch movies and James A. Pike from the Episcopal Cathedral. St. John the Divine in New York, who responded to Spellman by pointing out that there is more "sensuality" in the Movie than the one on Baby Doll , and argues that "the church's duty is not preventing adults from having this image experience, but giving them a sound basis for serious interpretation and answers to seriously asked questions. " Others agreed with Pike, including the Catholic Archbishop of Paris and the head of the Catholic Film Society in Britain, while the Catholic bishop of Albany, New York also banned Catholics from watching the film, which the Union of American Civil Liberties objected as a violation of the First Amendment.
According to Baker, he and everyone who has worked in the film "do not know" that the material will be considered controversial. It is believed that the main reason behind the counter-attack was a scene of seduction between Baker and Wallach, where his character managed to seduce and awaken him outside the farmhouse. There is also speculation that, during their scene together in a swinging chair, that Wallach's character touches Baby Doll under his shirt due to the fact that his hand is not visible in close up shots. According to Baker and Wallach, the scene was deliberately filmed in that way because Kazan put heaters around them because of the cold weather.
The film is banned in many countries, such as Sweden, because of what is called "excessive sexual content". The film was also condemned by Time magazine, calling it the "filthiest filthy American film ever exhibited". Partly due to attempts to ban or suppress it, the film was not commercially successful, although it was done politely at the box office regardless of the controversy. According to Kazan, however, the film was not profitable.
In retrospect, star Eli Wallach called the film "one of the boldest and boldest movies ever made", adding "People saw it today and said, 'What's the big deal?'"
Legacy
Through overt sexual behavior and public controversy, Baby Doll helped build the status of actress Carroll Baker as a sex symbol in Hollywood.
It is also widely believed that Carroll Baker's style in the movie as Baby Doll was a major inspiration for the 1990s fashion kinderwhore popularized by Hole vocalist/guitarist Courtney Love. The second song on Hole's debut album is also named after the movie.
Awards and honors
- Academy Award nominations (1957)
- Best Actress - Carroll Baker
- Best Adaptation Scenario - Tennessee Williams
- Best Black and White Cinematography - Boris Kaufman
- Best Supporting Actress - Mildred Dunnock
- The nomination of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (1957)
- Most Promising Newcomer - Eli Wallach - winner
- Best Movies from any Source
- Best Foreign Actor - Karl Malden
- Best Foreign Actress - Carroll Baker
- Golden Globe Award nominees (1957)
- Best Director - Elia Kazan - winner
- Best Appearance by Actor in Movie Image - Drama - Karl Malden
- Best Actor by Actor in Supporting Role in Motion Picture - Eli Wallach
- Best Appearance by Actress in Movie Image - Drama - Carroll Baker
- Best Appearance by Actress in Supporting Roles in Moving Pictures - Mildred Dunnock
- The author of the Guild of America WGA Awards nomination (1957)
- Best Written American Drama (Screen) - Tennessee Williams
Play stage
In the 1970s Williams wrote a full-fledged stage play,
See also
- Movies on the United States portal
- List of American films in 1956
References
External links
- Baby Doll in the American Film Movie Catalog
- Baby Doll on IMDb
- Baby Doll in the TCM Film Database
- Baby Doll at AllMovie
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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