02 02 26 Sanders' League of Unpaid Film Critics (SLUFC) The Bad Seed (1956)

Описание: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bad Seed is a 1956 American psychological horror thriller film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart, about an eight-year-old girl whose mother begins to suspect that she might be a psychopathic killer.[2]

The film adapts the 1954 play of the same name by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based on William March's 1954 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by John Lee Mahin.

Plot
Kenneth and Christine Penmark dote on their eight-year-old daughter, Rhoda, pristine and proper in her pinafore dress and blonde pigtails. Kenneth leaves on military duty. Neighbor and landlady, Monica Breedlove, is fond of Rhoda, who tells her about a penmanship competition that she lost to her schoolmate Claude Daigle. Rhoda then leaves for her school picnic at a lake.

While lunching, Christine and friends hear a radio report that Claude has drowned in the lake. Christine worries that her daughter might be traumatized, but Rhoda is unfazed by the incident. Rhoda's teacher, Miss Fern, visits Christine, revealing that Rhoda was seen grabbing at Claude's penmanship medal and was with the boy just prior to his death. She hints that Rhoda might have some connection to Claude's death, adding that Rhoda will not be welcome at the school after the current term ends. Claude's parents barge in; Mrs. Daigle is distraught and drunk, accusing Miss Fern of withholding information. When Christine finds the medal hidden in the lining of Rhoda's jewel case, she demands an explanation. Rhoda tells her that she paid Claude fifty cents to wear it for the day and only kept it in the confusion after Claude's death.