ROSEMARY'S
BABY (1968)Director: Roman Polanski
Paramount
ROSEMARY'S
BABY (1968)An alternate title for this masterpiece of filmmaking might be "HOW TO MAKE A PERFECT HORROR MOVIE IN ONE EASY LESSON, by Roman Polanski." The ingenious scripter/director took the original novel by Ira Levine, tweaked it a little, and came up with a disturbing and claustrophobic classic, and arguably the best movie about the devil ever produced. If you don't want me to spoil the movie for you, do yourself a favor and read no further...
A young Mia Farrow plays Rosemary Woodhouse, a naive and impressionable housewife who moves into the gothic New York City Dakota apartment building along with her husband Guy (John Cassavetes). Mr. Woodhouse is a struggling actor who wants to make it big but whose credits thus far haven't amounted to more than a couple of bit parts and a few television commercials.
Into their lives come an elderly couple living just across the hall (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon, who won an Oscar for her work here) who quickly plant themselves into their world and invite them to dinner. During their initial get-together, Blackmer begins to comment on Guy's lack of great opportunities and whisks him off to the side for a man-to-man discussion, away from the ladies.
Soon after, Guy can't get enough of the old man's interesting stories and frequently returns next door to spend more time with him. Before long, Guy decides to make a child with Rosemary, and prepares a romantic dinner for two, which is briefly interrupted by neighbor Gordon's homemade chocolate mousse. After eating a few spoonfuls, Rosemary detects a nasty aftertaste in the desert just prior to passing out.
Rosemary begins to have weird, bizarre dreams. Among the haunting images she confronts is a seemingly inhuman creature raping her, amidst some sort of evil ceremony. When she awakens the following morning, Guy tells her that the fresh scratches on her body are from his own fingernails; he was so aroused that he couldn't help himself
A phone call from the doctor soon confirms Rosemary's hopes; she is indeed pregnant. When her nosey neighbors hear the wonderful news, they pay an immediate visit to congratulate the young couple, but insist that the Woodhouses switch to their own more reputable doctor (a stellar performance by Universal Horror veteran Ralph Bellamy) to monitor the pregnancy and eventually deliver their baby. About this time, Guy is suddenly getting great acting offers out of nowhere, the most notorious being a role he lost to another actor who now wakes up inexplicably blind one morning.
Under treatment from Bellamy, Rosemary experiences months of gut-wrenching pain yet is constantly told by her physician that everything will be fine in a day or so. Her old friend Hutch (Maurice Evans, fresh from his role as Dr. Zaius in PLANET OF THE APES) becomes suspicious of her unnatural weight loss and her eccentric neighbors that always seem to have their fingers into everything. He arranges to meet Rosemary one day to give her a book on witchcraft, but never makes it there, taking ill and dying shortly thereafter.
At Hutch's funeral she manages to acquire the book that he intended for her. Upon reading its contents she is lead to believe that her nutty neighbors are plotting to take her baby when it's born and use it for some sort of satanic ritual. Her gradual descent into instability mounts and mounts as she struggles to escape from her home before the baby's birth, all the while becoming lost in a den of hungry satanic lions...
As stated earlier, ROSEMARY'S BABY is a rare masterpiece in which all the pieces fit like a pristine jigsaw puzzle. Despite its long running time of 136 minutes, the viewer is so absorbed into the story that time is the last thing on his mind. Director Polanski perfectly creates a feeling of uncomfortable evil that permeates throughout the production and makes you relate to Rosemary and her plight. It's also done without mind-numbing special effects or guts and gore. Indeed, the simple notion that the people you live with could not be what they seem is extremely scary. It has seldom if ever been put to use as effectively.
The Paramount DVD looks very good, though I detect grain in dark scenes. The overall effect is positive, and the best this film has looked so far. It is featured "widescreen" with 16x9 enhancement ability. The audio is in dolby digital mono and sounds fine.
There is no theatrical trailer, but we are given interviews with Roman Polanski (looking eternally youthful) and co-workers Robert Evans and Richard Sylbert (production executive and production designer). Also included is a fantastic "making of" featurette from the sixties which should make devoted fans of the film drool. We get to see Polanski directing the cast, and are treated to some questionably flighty narration of the day from flower child Mia Farrow. It's an astounding piece of vintage film history.
ROSEMARY'S BABY is a disc that all self-respecting horror movie aficionados need to own. It's a respectable treatment to one of the (literally) greatest fright films of all time. (Joe Lozowsky)