Baby Doll
Director: Elia Kazan
Year Released: 1956
Rating: 3.0
Camp classic by Kazan and screenwriter Tennessee Williams about, naturally, Williams' obsession with sexual repression and the ensuing 'insanity' it produces if not 'released.' When 19-year-old 'child bride' (since when was a 19-year-old a child? oh, America...) Carroll Baker refuses to consummate her marriage with repressed farmer/arsonist Karl Malden, he in turn takes it out on his African-American staff and behaves like a crazed wolf (he even bores a hole in the room next to Baby Doll's so that he can watch her sleep in her crib). Eli Wallach acts as Baker's liberator, freeing her from her previously infantile behavior (after he 'sleeps' in her crib, she appears to have 'transformed') and succeeding in driving Malden into madness. It's silly and heated, but like Inge's Picnic, is not without its charms: the scene with Wallach and Baker on the swing outside the house is a masterpiece of acting and direction.
