Baby Doll (1956)
One of the best of Tennessee Williams's steamy southern
dramas about mendacity under the magnolias, this rare,
seldom-revived movie classic is a welcome treasure.
The great Elia Kazan directed, and this gem launched the
career of luscious Carroll Baker as a Lolita-like Mississippi
child bride who drives men wild with frustrated lust.
Karl Malden is magnificent as her mad husband, Eli Wallach
gives one of the greatest performances of his illustrious career
as a lecherous cotton baron, and Mildred Dunnock is merely
sensational as Baby Doll's retarded Aunt Rose Comfort.
When it was first released, this film was denounced by the
Catholic Church, condemned by the Legion of Decency, and the centre
of a storm of censorship controversy.
Now it's regarded as a high-water mark in cinema. It's sexy,
but also howlingly funny.
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