Baby Doll

Hugely enjoyable feast of character and mood from Tennessee Williams, as the titular Baby (Carroll Baker) contends with her loutish husband (Karl Malden) and his suave rival (Eli Wallach) in a crumbling bayou mansion. Not much story, but the acting is so good--the lead trio are all sublime--and Elia Kazan's strange, slightly crude direction adds so much flavor, that it seems positively irrelevant. Boris Kaufman's cinematography and Kenyon Hopkins' score ice the cake.

NOTHING HAPPENS! EVER!

This isn't anywhere near as risqué as I expected but it's still a damn fine film thanks to the performances. Malden is appropriately unlikable and Baker exudes innocent sensuality, but it's Eli Wallach who steals the show with a superb performance. There are some nice bits of comedy and drama strewn about, but the film is mostly about the tension between the characters. The first half is rather slow but the second half is great.

Elia Kazan and an original screenplay from Tennessee Williams. That makes it worthwhile right there. As you'd expect, it's about as perverse as a '50s Hollywood film could hope to be

Y'all are crazy, this is even better than Streetcar. Walden is flustered impotent rage personified, a great counterpoint to Wallach's suave but chilling instrumentality. But Baker's the heart of the piece: As the film progresses, she drops her temperamental entitlement and childish play-acting for a sober conviction that retains an essential naivete -- and is all the more heartbreaking for it.

Pure entertainment from start to finish because of the cast who evidently have enjoyed the filming process thoroughly, with Malden, Wallach and Baker being unforgettable. The quirky writing of the dialogue helps supplement this beautifully and creates what is, frankly, the most entertaining film I've seen in a long time. Big parts of the film are closely knit with the cine-play genre, executed and acted masterfully. Several iconic shots - the crib, obviously, the seduction scenes. Brilliant.

Actually a little more innocent than what the imdb summary suggests, but nevertheless subversive. It is funny and sexy. Most of the film is all build-up.

Scorching adaptation of Williams by Kazan is helped immeasurably by a trio of fine stars in peak form; Malden (a natural fit for Williams) is matched by one of Baker's finest hours, but it is Wallach who steals the show, as the suave, smarmy interloper; his astonishingly steamy seduction scene with Baker ranks amongst the finest examples of suggestive sexuality in cinema. Kazan's intentionally intense and opressive direction only adds to the pressure cooker atmosphere.

One of Kazan's finest moments is that tight close-up of Baby Doll and Silva sitting in the swing, Silva caressing Baby Doll's neck, Baby Doll on the line between complete fear and total seduction. Wallach is insane in this film, playing a seductive lunatic. Malden is great too, unleashing all of the pent-up energy Archie has built over two years. And Carroll Baker is the superb center of it all. 100% better than Streetcar.

# 531

Kazan was one of the better directors of actors in the 50s, and Baby Doll, while not quite on the same level as Streetcar, builds a similar pressure cooker atmosphere of sensuality and squalor. It suffers from tonal problems---humour wasn't Kazan's strong suit--but the performances are very solid, especially Malden, who has never been better, and it ends with a bang.

I tried to like it but even with the strong performances i just couldn't do it.

Sexy melodrama. When you consider what Kazan was able to do with Brando in 1951, Dean in 1955 and Baker here, all in their first real role, he really did have an ability to find young actors from whom he could draw performances evincing a highly sensual relationship to the camera bound to get attention from audiences, at a time when most filmmakers were still not comfortable with sexual themes and subject matter. In all three cases, critics were unsure whether to call it art or sensationalism.

terrible

Although there's a whiff of Tennessee Williams–salaciousness, the overall film-making is a mess.

Really strong writing and acting from all involved. A fairly bland but controversial (for its time) story made more interesting by the writing.

87.500

It's all pretty silly, but the acting (especially from Wallach) is amazing.

Not as riveting or powerful as Streetcar Named Desire but watchable and entertaining. It's very raunchy and suggestive for its time... though not quite as daring as its reputation. The comedy is well executed, particularly due to Wallach's charming performance, and I found Archie Lee to be a fascinating character. The brutishness and rage of Stanley Kowalski, but with a heaping dose of frustration and ineffectual uselessness thrown into the mix. He's a born loser and he doesn't know it.

The summary from IMDb pitches this as a "steamy tale". Needless to say, that is by 1956 standards. This should come as no surprise. What does, though, is how slow and uneventful the movie is. That said, Malden is positively great, as always.

Makes me quite upset that Karl Malden passed away. Maybe his best work. Kazan truly knows how to make Tennesse Williams come alive.

Clumsy in places but lots of fun. Tempting to imagine a version with an "upstairs-downstairs" aspect more involving of the many black servants who as it is only stand on the sidelines.

despite of some dramatic weaknesses, i like it.

Maybe this passed for great acting in 1956.

For this movie to be from the 50's, it's packed with sexual tension.