7 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
Times are tough for cotton-miller Archie but at least he has his child-bride, who'll soon be his wife in title and truth. The one-year agreement keeping them under the same roof - yet never in the same bed - is about to end. But a game with a sly business rival is about to begin. In Baby Doll, as in A Streetcar Named Desire, director Elia Kazan and writer Tennessee Williams broke new ground - earning condemnation by the then-powerful Legion of Decency. They earned laurels too: four Academy Award nominations, Golden Globe Awards for Baker and Kazan and a British Academy Award for Wallach. Watch this funny, steamy classic that, as Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide proclaims, "still sizzles."
Starring: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock, Lonny ChapmanDrama | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Condemned by the Catholic Church and eventually pulled from theaters, Elia Kazan's Baby Doll is rightly regarded as one of the most controversial films of the 1950s. Adapted by Tennessee Williams from his stage play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, it concerns the exploits of "Baby Doll" Meighan (Carroll Baker, in her third of many film appearances), the 19 year-old bride of lecherous middle-aged Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden), whose cotton gin business is as run-down as his Mississippi Delta plantation. Archie Lee's in a foul mood these days because the marriage hasn't been consummated yet... which she's reluctantly promised to do on her 20th birthday, right around the corner. But his failing business is the bigger problem, so he secretly destroys the gin of rival Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach, in his film debut), who brings truckloads of cotton to Archie Lee's door. Silva sees Baby Doll, and then things get really complicated.
Baby Doll is controversial for one thing, and one thing only: the title character's childlike nature is played to ridiculous heights, beginning with the fact that she sucks her thumb and sleeps in a crib. (The latter is justified when Archie Lee's furniture is repossessed, which makes it one of the only real places to sleep in the house.) Other than that, Baby Doll is mildly saucy at best, but the ick factor -- amplified by the film's original marketing, which includes the poster used for this Blu-ray's cover artwork -- is palpable at times and, if I'm being completely honest, really does nothing more than intensify her short growth cycle; after all, this entire movie takes place during the course of a day or two.
What's really memorable about Baby Doll are the great lead and supporting performances: everyone's perfectly cast and it's great to see
Eli Wallach so early in his career, a full decade before his most famous role in Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That, and the capable
direction by Elia Kazan (still riding on the strength of his previous two films, On the Waterfront and East of Eden), which is supported by great black-and-white cinematography by Boris Kaufman,
whose next project would be 12 Angry
Men. It's an intensely memorable show that's slightly hampered by its most notorious elements but still plays well enough today. Maybe
even better, thanks to Warner Archive's excellent new Blu-ray: fans are treated to another top-tier A/V presentation and two
DVD-era supplements, one of which features Eli Wallach (several years before his 2014 death) right around the same time he co-starred in The Holiday.
Sourced from an exclusive new master (which was likely a 2K scan of the film's interpositive), Baby Doll impresses on Blu-ray thanks to its stunning, silvery black-and-white cinematography by Boris Kaufman. Much of the film takes place in and around the run-down but still picturesque mansion owned by Archie Lee, from its long front staircase to the dark and dilapidated attic Baby Doll almost falls through. Simple but visually potent compositions keep things interesting from start to finish, bolstered by memorable sequences such as the initial cat-and-mouse meeting between Baby Doll and Silva, as well as the climactic nighttime shootout that's partially lit by a car's headlights. Deep silvery gradients and a huge amount of natural film grain adorn countless close-ups and mid-range shots alike (which run the gamut from deep blacks to whites that show no blooming), although some of the wider moments -- including a few establishing shots outside the mansion and a scene set within a segregated restaurant -- are extremely soft and much flatter in direct comparison. These are likely source material issues and nothing more. As a whole, Baby Doll looks remarkably consistent and purely vibrant in its visual proficiency, with Warner Archive's well-authored Blu-ray displaying no obvious signs of banding, edge enhancement, excessive digital noise reduction, or compression artifacts.
As usual, Warner Archive has uploaded several short YouTube video clips showing off their new remaster including the four-minute opening sequence and the first meeting of Baby Doll and Silva. The trailer can also be seen below.
Baby Doll's audio also impresses most of the time, although a number of badly-placed ADR lines -- many of which aren't even paired with lip movements -- distract in unlikely places. But that's no fault of the Blu-ray, which features crisp dialogue that blends well with background effects and Kenyon Hopkins' sultry original score. Source defects are few and far between with very mild hiss and crackle detected during a few brief exchanges, and no sync issues are present (aside from those unavoidable moments mentioned above). Dynamic range is in line with most one-channel releases from the era, as Baby Doll's narrow soundstage nonetheless gets the job done from start to finish.
Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the film only; they're formatted nicely with no sync issues.
Baby Doll arrives on Blu-ray in a standard keepcase with that controversial one-sheet poster as its cover artwork. The on-disc bonus features are limited in number but definitely worth a run-through.
Elia Kazan's Baby Doll may be your grandfather's saucy Deep South drama, but it survives based on the strength of a solid script, great cinematography and direction, and strong early performances from soon-to-be established actors. Warner Archive's stunning Blu-ray serves up another fantastic A/V presentation and, though the recycled extras are brief, it's a very satisfying package overall. Heartily recommended to fans and first-timers alike.
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