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Sugar and spice
And sometimes not so nice
By Melissa Campbell
Rhoda is framed in simple, clean wood and surrounded by pretty things. Her treasure chest, we later learn, is not quite as pretty as it seems, for it is filled with trinkets of unfortunate accidents
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."
-“The Lord of the Flies” William Golding
Many of the world’s most famous serial killers have started young, often killing small animals or family pets. Many come from abusive and violent households, though some have not, which begs the question: nature or nurture? Experts have argued about this with no clear resolution.
Such debate is the subject of the 1956 film, “The Bad Seed,” directed by Mervyn LeRoy, from the play by Maxwell Anderson, based on the William March novel. The film is a tightly woven drama that will leave you disturbed and confused, even through the surprising, yet satisfying ending.
“The Bad Seed” tells the story of the charming and well-behaved Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack). By all accounts, she is the perfect child.
Yet when the little boy who beat her in the penmanship contest drowns at a school picnic, Rhoda’s teacher and the boy’s mother become suspicious. The Penmarks’ lurking handyman also sees through Rhoda’s façade, and constantly berates her.
When Rhoda’s mother Christine finds the penmanship medal hidden in Rhoda’s treasure drawer, she can’t help but wonder. Chritine’s own doubts about her true heritage feed her fears that Rhoda is a bad seed. Rhoda’s antics take a taxing toll on her mother, and she soon must take drastic measures to restore order in the family.
LeRoy seems to have preserved the story’s theatrical quality to a T. He allows the actors to breathe and develop on stage, and the film’s rhythm becomes more about the acting than the editing.
That is not to say that the film is without cinematic precision; it was nominated for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White in the 1956 Oscars. The scenes are carefully composed, with each part of the frame placed intentionally. Many close-ups with the characters are carefully filled with trinkets that illustrate the Penmarks’ wealth.
One noted scene features Rhoda looking at herself in her mirror. Her treasure chest sits on the dresser, a snow globe on its top.
Rhoda is framed in simple, clean wood and surrounded by pretty things. Her treasure chest, we later learn, is not quite as pretty as it seems, for it is filled with trinkets from unfortunate accidents.
The players pull off the script’s heavy and sometimes unbelievable story with the mark of true professionals. The young Patty McCormack shows extraordinary depth as an actor considering her age.
She nails the perfect concoction of sweet and sinister. Her eyes are always not quite what the rest of her seems. Likewise, Eileen Heckart embodies a drunk grieving mother whose son drowned at Rhoda’s school picnic. She dances the line between ridiculous, pathetic and heartbroken flawlessly.
The film is just over two hours long, yet is paced incredibly well. LeRoy dangles us up on a high-wire for a while, and then just before we fall, reels us back in.
The rhythm feels much like a rollercoaster: we move forward, learning more about Rhoda, getting closer to the truth behind the mysterious deaths, before turning down towards another side story.
Our inquisition is almost satisfied before we are shrouded in mystery again. This makes “The Bad Seed” incredibly engaging, both visually and narrative-wise.
In today’s mad world, where young killers are not such a foreign concept, we struggle to find an answer. We take comfort in supposing that it is because of their upbringing, their background. But maybe, like “The Bad Seed” suggests, a bad environment does not always make people evil, but instead it is something some are born with, and there isn’t enough love or affection in the world that can drive it out.
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