Baby Doll is a funny film. I wasn't expecting that.
When it appeared on the Criterion Channel last week as part of their new Southern Gothic collection, I was ready for something more perverse, erotic, and, yes, even a little melodramatic. Having not read the Tennessee Williams play, all I knew about the film was the "controversy" that Google AI splashed at the top of the results page.
But the film is not that. Kazan was having fun confounding expectations before the film was even released. Caroll Baker in a crib sucking her thumb on a massive billboard right in the middle of Times Square? Yeah, that's going to draw some attention in 1956.
Since I know that John has not watched this yet, I won't include any spoilers or more commentary other than this: Baby Doll is a wonderfully fun take on the changing power structure of the South in the late 50's. The acting is superb. Baker and Wallach play off each of their character's quirkiness perfectly. From minute to minute, it's hard to pin down what they want from each other or from the viewer. Malden's character is both despicable and pitiful - the white man trying to hold on as he continues to be emasculated and ridiculed by the black men that used to work for him, his young wife who made an agreement about when the marriage could be consummated (of which everyone in town is aware), and the Sicilian putting him out of business.
That's about all I can say without spoilers. I do look forward to discussing the ending.