Three years ago, I had a delightful dinner with Carroll Baker (star of "Baby Doll") at the Manhattan home of our mutual literary agent, Marianne Strong. About thirty years earlier, I once had lunch with Tennessee Williams (author of "Baby Doll") in Florida (I ate my lunch, he drank his). Ms Baker and Mr Williams were both very gracious to me, and they kindly answered my many questions about their respective careers ... but when I brought up "Baby Doll", both of them changed the subject. I understand why.
"Baby Doll" became instantly notorious when Archbishop Sheen (who hadn't seen it) denounced it as obscene before its release. This only persuaded people to go see it. For those seeking prurient thrills, this movie starts out promisingly: leering Karl Malden pokes a hole through the wall so he can spy on the infantilised (but very definitely nubile) Baker while she sleeps in a too-short nightie and a crib-like bed, sucking her thumb.
But that's as raunchy as it gets. From there on, we're firmly in Tennessee Williams's usual domain, where horny Eli Wallach tries to seduce sexy Baker by philosophising about good people and bad people.
"Baby Doll" takes place in the Mississippi Delta during segregation, so I was saddened that the only realistic parts of this movie were the all-too-real racial epithets, racist dialogue, and a shot of a black woman standing in front of a sign marked "Colored". Baker gives an excellent performance as a typical Tennessee Williams heroine: a ding-dong southern belle who would never exist in real life, and whose legal name is Baby Doll.
Speaking of names: why do American southerners insist on double forenames? In this movie, nobody ever addresses anyone else by a simple name like Archie or Rose: it has to be "Archie Lee" and "Rose Comfort".
Some actors have wide ranges, and some good actors are brilliant in a narrow range. Karl Malden has what I call a polarised range: he's very good at portraying incorruptible pillars of morality, and very good at playing complete scumballs with no redeeming traits, but far less effective at playing realistic human beings in the middle of the moral spectrum. Here he's in full scumball mode, drooling over Baker while burning down Eli Wallach's cotton mill. Malden's character is an alcoholic who could store his booze in a conventional liquor cabinet, but Williams has him stashing it in hiding places because this is more decadent. I was impressed when Malden shared his pint with a po' black man, but that could be for other reasons besides generosity: most alcoholics feel less guilt when someone else is drinking too.
Wallach, an actor I've admired elsewhere, gives an implausible performance here in a badly-written role. When his mill is torched, he goes to Malden's house (the standard southern Gothic mansion that's seen better days) seeking justice or revenge. But he takes one look at Baby Doll, and soon he's galumphing through the house blowing a trumpet, pursuing her in a live-action version of those cartoon chase sequences where two characters keep popping in and out of different doors. When Williams runs out of ways for Wallach to make a fool of himself, suddenly Wallach remembers that he's supposed to be angry about having his livelihood destroyed in a criminal act. Funny how these little things can slip one's mind.
Wallach's character is meant to be a sharpie, but he seems to believe that a note written by one person and signed under duress by someone else, with no witness nor notary, is an "affidavit". Nope.
Character actress Mildred Dunnock, usually brilliant, is here cast as one more ineffectual old southern ex-belle, losing her brains when she entered menopause. For most of "Baby Doll", Dunnock seems to be channelling Doro Merande and ZaSu Pitts, all adenoids and flutters ... but then she suddenly comes into her own, late in the film, when her character stands up for herself.
Rip Torn (seen only from the shoulders up) and Lonny Chapman are excellent in small roles. About 15 years after directing this movie, Elia Kazan wrote a novel, "The Arrangement", that affected to be a mature look at sexuality but which was all leering prurience. He directed this movie with that same attitude. Everyone here has done better work elsewhere, with the possible exception of a few genuine Mississippians cast in small roles in this film. My rating: 4 out of 10. Yew git awn back t' bed, Baby Doll, heah?