Baby Doll
Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach.Archie Lee impatiently waits for her 20th birthday, when, by prior agreement with her now-deceased father, the marriage can finally be consummated.After Archie defaults on payments to a furniture-leasing company due to his failing cotton gin, virtually all the furniture in the house is repossessed, and Baby Doll threatens to leave.Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote in a generally favorable review that Tennessee Williams "has written his trashy, vicious people so that they are clinically interesting...But Mr. Kazan's pictorial compositions, got in stark black-and-white and framed for the most part against the background of an old Mississippi mansion, are by far the most artful and respectable feature of 'Baby Doll.'"[12] Variety wrote that Kazan "probably here turns in his greatest directing job to date" and praised the "superb performances," concluding that the film "ranks as a major screen achievement and deserves to be recognized as such."[14] John McCarten of The New Yorker praised the cast as "uniformly commendable" and wrote that the plot machinations "add up to some hilarious French-style farce, and it is only at the conclusion of the piece, when Mr. Kazan starts moving his camera around in a preternaturally solemn way, that one's interest in 'Baby Doll' briefly wanes.Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "offers an experience so basically sordid, and so trying besides, that if one does not manage to laugh at its fantastic ribaldry, he will think that he has spent two hours in bedlam."[17] Harrison's Reports called the film "thoroughly unpleasant and distasteful screen fare, in spite of the fact that it is expertly directed and finely acted.[19] Baby Doll courted controversy before its release with the display of a promotional billboard in New York City that depicted Baker lying in a crib and sucking her thumb.[3] Response to the film from Catholic laity was mixed,[22] and Episcopal bishop James A. Pike argued that The Ten Commandments contained more "sensuality" than did Baby Doll.[23] Speculation arose among some audiences that during their scene together on a swinging chair, Wallach's character was fondling Baby Doll underneath her dress because his hands are not visible in the frame.[38] The latest adaptation supplemented parts of the film script with material based on several others of Williams' works, including Tiger Tail.
Baby Doll (disambiguation)Elia KazanTennessee WilliamsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachBoris KaufmanGene MilfordKenyon HopkinsWarner Bros.black comedy filmone-act plays27 Wagons Full of Cottoncotton ginNational Legion of DecencyGolden Globe Award for Best DirectorAcademy AwardsBAFTA AwardsThe New York TimesMississippi DeltaMildred DunnockLonny ChapmanR. G. ArmstrongMadeleine SherwoodRip TornJack GarfeinActors StudioMarilyn MonroeBenoit, MississippiJ.C. Burrus houseGreenville, MississippiBosley CrowtherRichard L. CoeJohn McCartenThe Monthly Film BulletinHarrison's ReportsRotten TomatoesCardinal Francis SpellmanArchbishop of New YorkCardinal SpellmanMotion Picture HeraldniggerCatholic Legion of DecencyDrive-inJames A. PikeThe Ten CommandmentsVictoria TheaterBest ActressBest Supporting ActressBest Adapted ScreenplayBest Black-and-White CinematographyMost Promising NewcomerBest FilmBest Foreign ActorBest Foreign ActressGolden Globe AwardsBest DirectorBest Actor – DramaBest Supporting ActorBest Actress – DramaNew Star of the YearWGA AwardsMcCarter TheatrePrinceton, New JerseyEmily MannList of American films of 1956TCM.comAFI Catalog of Feature FilmsAmerican Film InstituteCrowther, BosleyCoe, Richard L.McCarten, JohnVarietyTurner Classic MoviesBritish Academy of Film and Television ArtsWallach, EliTCM Movie DatabaseA Tree Grows in BrooklynThe Sea of GrassBoomerang!Gentleman's AgreementPanic in the StreetsA Streetcar Named DesireViva Zapata!Man on a TightropeOn the WaterfrontEast of EdenA Face in the CrowdWild RiverSplendor in the GrassAmerica AmericaThe ArrangementThe VisitorsThe Last TycoonA Letter to EliaCandles to the SunSpring StormFugitive KindNot About NightingalesBattle of AngelsAuto-da-FéThe Glass MenagerieYou Touched Me!Stairs to the RoofSummer and SmokeThe Rose TattooCamino RealCat on a Hot Tin RoofOrpheus DescendingSuddenly Last SummerSweet Bird of YouthPeriod of AdjustmentThe Night of the IguanaThe Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here AnymoreThe Seven Descents of MyrtleIn the Bar of a Tokyo HotelWill Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis?Out CrySmall Craft WarningsThe Two-Character PlayThe Red Devil Battery SignThis Is (An Entertainment)Vieux CarréA Lovely Sunday for Creve CoeurClothes for a Summer HotelThe Notebook of Trigorin