Terrifying in 1968 and still haunting today, 1968's ROSEMARY'S BABY is a testament to Robert Evans vision as a young producer and Roman Polanski's as a new wave Director.
Hollywood was beginning to see the impact of a new generation, with "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate" baffling older moviegoers and aging studio heads in 1967.
A very young Robert Evans was newly appointed as the head of Paramount and worked with schlock b-movie horror master William Castle (The House on Haunted Hill) to bring Rosemary to the big screen.
Castle wanted to direct, but Evans convinced him that Polanski, who had never made an American film before, was the visionary they both needed to bring Ira Levin's blockbuster novel to the screen.
They went about assembling one of the most eclectic casts in sixties films to portray the residents of The Bramford, a Manhattan apartment building where struggling actor Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) and his young bride Rosemary (Mia Farrow) move. The Bramford has a long history of deaths, murder and witchcraft, all entertainingly conveyed to the couple by their friend Hutch (Maurice Evans of "Planet of the Apes" fame).
Their neighbors are certainly an odd lot, led by Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude) as Minnie Castavet. Minnie is loud and so are her outfits, she talks loud, she eats loud, Gordon is a full volume blast. Minnie is married to aging man of the world Roman Castavet, played by Sidney Blackmer (High Society) who seems to bond very quickly with Guy.
Rosemary isn't so sure of the older couple and likes the young woman Terri (Victoria Vetri) that the Castavets have welcomed into their massive apartment.
Rosemary updates the Central Park West apartment, growing more weary of her intrusive but seemingly caring neighbors.
Tragedy strikes yet again at The Bramford with an untimely death. Rosemary begins having nightmares about her neighbors and a horrifying, tangible dream in which she is raped by Satan.
When Rosemary finds out she's pregnant, the Castavets insist that she see their friend Dr. Saperstein (Ralph Bellamy) the leading obstetrician in New York. 'Don't Worry!" Minnie says, "he'll give you the friends and family rate!"
Guy's career suddenly explodes and he's rarely home.
Rosemary becomes increasingly suspicious that her elderly neighbors and husband have sinister designs on her baby.
Farrow is fantastic in a role she calls her career best. Fresh off her role on TV's "Peyton Place", she proves to be a movie star. Gordon won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Minnie. You can't take your eyes off of her.
Evans has said in interviews (including on the superb Criterion Collection Blu Ray that I watched) that Polanski was always in trouble with the Studio Heads, but Evans backed him all the way, because the daily footage was brilliant.
Hard to argue. Polanski's camera seems to always be positioned at an unexpected angle to keep you a tad off center, adding to the creepiness. He's a master at suspense as well, making you wonder what's in that closet? What are those sounds from next door? Just who IS on Rosemary's side?
One scene has a dazed Rosemary walking into NYC traffic and it was shot for real, no stunt people, with Polanski and his hand held camera following Mia Farrow into traffic. They filmed it three times, with Polanski assuring her "Don't worry, no one will hit a pregnant woman!" Based on the sequence in the film, that's true, but barely.
He worked many one-take, "camera moving around the building" sequences into the film decades before it became the norm.
This was the first time that Polanksi had adapted someone else's work for the screen and his screenplay is remarkably faithful to Levin's novel, lifting entire sequences of dialogue from the book and even following the look and feel of the apartment from Levin's descriptions.
Great moments abound. Watch Cassavetes reaction when a very pale, almost gray & gaunt Rosemary feels the baby move, exclaiming "It's alive!", She doesn't notice his repulsion, and neither did I until this time watching it.
As you can imagine in 1968, Paramount had no idea how to market a film with this subject matter. Evans worked with a Manhattan Ad Agency who told him that they would create an entire campaign for the film for free, but if Paramount used anything, it would cost them a flat $100k.
They created the now legendary poster of the baby carriage on the mountain range against a plain green background with four simple words. Pray for Rosemary's Baby.
The rest is history. Audiences flocked to the film, making it a huge hit and an early massive win for Evans, who would go on to produce "Love Story", "The Godfather" and "Chinatown" at Paramount.
Filmgoers of all ages have, I would think, heard about "Rosemary's Baby", but it is that rare nearly 60 year old film that holds up as a horror classic on every level. The photography by William Fraker (Bullitt, Heaven Can Wait) is clever and Production Design by Richard Sylbert (Chinatown, The Cotton Club, Reds) nails the stage set creations of the inside of The Bramford.
The exteriors of the building are the famed Dakota Apartments in Manhattan, where John Lennon lived and was assassinated in 1980. It's a scary building from any angle.
This is famously the film that cost Farrow her marriage to Frank Sinatra. Their relationship was rocky and Sinatra insist she leave the film when production went very long over schedule. He wanted her to star in his film "The Detective" and demanded she leave the film.
Evans showed Mia the dailies and told her she'd win an Oscar for Rosemary.
She stayed and Sinatra's lawyer served her with divorce papers in the middle of filming a scene several days later. Come on, Frank!!
Mia was staunchly Catholic at the time she took the role (that's not her in most of the nude scenes) so not all of Rosemary's anguish needed to be faked!
The film is so cleverly constructed that you could debate if the events actually take place or if the entire thing is a figment of Rosemary's imagination. OK, maybe until the last 30 seconds anyway...... Sanity, betrayal, both are in play.
Paving the way for "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" to follow, ROSEMARY'S BABY remains a classic worth revisiting. After all these years, it still hammers directly on the dormant suspicion within each of us that wonders if we truly know the people that surround us. Once it taps into that nerve, it never lets go.
This masterclass in acting, writing, direction and set design gets an A.
Watch for a new series "APARTMENT 7A" on Paramount+ in September 2024. It promises to tell you just what happened in their apartment before they moved in.
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