"The Bad Seed", Rob Lowe Edition

On September 9, 2018, the Lifetime television network broadcast the latest interpretation of Alabama author William March's final and probably best known novel, The Bad Seed. This version starred Rob Lowe as David Grossman, the father of the killer child named Emma. Lowe was also executive producer and director on the project. 

I've written a bit about March, his writing and that final novel in two blog posts, "Alabama Book Covers (9): William March" and "The Many Versions of the Bad Seed." I recently watched this latest Bad Seed and thought I'd share a few comments here. 

If you are familiar with the original novel and the classic 1956 film, you can already tell that this version makes some changes. The eight year-old girl was named Rhoda Penmark in the novel, the first film and the 1954 Maxwell Anderson play. Her mother Christine is the parent who realizes her child is a monster. In the 1985 film version Rhoda becomes Rachel, but the mother is still Christine. 

This latest film, scripted by Barbara Marshall, makes other changes as well. The penmanship medal Rhoda covets so much in the original becomes a citizenship medal. I suppose many people today might not have any idea what "penmanship" is or why a prize for it would be a big deal. The old grizzly gardener in the original has become a fetching young nanny, but she meets the same fate.  

This new film met with mixed reviews. Hanh Nguyen on IndieWire found the remake of an "outdated story" a "basket of misses". Patrick Ryan at USA Today and Nguyen again at least had fun pointing out all the places where the new version paid homage to the old one. 

In March's novel and Anderson's play, the mother dies and the evil child survives. Of course, a U.S. film made in 1956 had to punish evil, so mom survives her suicide attempt, and Rhoda is taken out by a bolt of lightening. The ending of Lowe's film follows the spirit of the novel. 

Today the child born "evil" is not as new and shocking a character as it was in the 1950's. The endless number of "demon" children in horror movies has added to the glut. Lowe has made a watchable though not gripping film that tries to tell a straightforward story. He succeeded at that and added a few pleasing twists as well. 

More comments are below.   

Lowe's version was shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. His film thus had a different look and feel from the original, which was a Warner Brothers production made at its Burbank, California, studio. 

The film opens with a domestic breakfast scene between father David and daughter Emma. You can find a detailed look here at the pretty impressive house where filming was done.

Emma interacts with the future winner of the citizenship medal she covets so much. 

Emma and the winner before his "fall". 

Actress Patty McCormick plays child psychiatrist Dr. March in the new film. 

Wait--why are those names familiar? Oh, yes, McCormick played Rhoda in the 1956 film; her chilling performance earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actress. She has since had an extensive acting career and even has an Alabama connection. In 1957 she played Helen Keller in the Playhouse 90 television production of The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. 

Her character's name of March is a wave to William March, author of the novel. She also has the creepiest lines of dialog in the film. As Ryan notes in the article linked above, 

After a frank conversation about death and empathy with the stone-faced Emma, Dr. March smilingly comforts her, saying, "I did the exact same things as you when I was your age." She assures Emma's dad that his daughter is "perfectly average" and "reminds me of myself." 

It's as if Rhoda has grown up, become a psychiatrist, and is now counselling another evil child. The mind does flips. 

After daddy's death, Emma is taken in by a relative. We know her job isn't finished. 

The Many Versions of "The Bad Seed"

The Bad Seed was Alabama author William March's final novel, published about two months before his death on May 15, 1954, in New Orleans. Thus this prolific novelist and short story writer never saw any of the long, strange afterlife of his book. The Lifetime cable network debuted a new version of the novel on September 9, so let's take a look at March and his last work. 

He was born William Edward Campbell into a poor family in Mobile in September 1893. He left school at 14 to work in a lumber mill office in Covington County, then at 16 moved to a law office in Mobile. March managed to obtain a high school diploma and then spent a year studying law at the University of Alabama. By 1916 he was clerking for a law office in New York City.

March enlisted in the Marine Corps in June 1917 and arrived in France in February 1918. He saw intense action in several battles, suffering wounds and received the French Croix de Guerre and the Distinguished Service Cross and Navy Cross for his bravery. Discharged in August 1919, March returned to Mobile and found employment with a new steamship company. He soon ascended to the post of vice-president with assignments in Memphis, New York, Hamburg and London. 

He began writing fiction in the late 1920's and his first published work, a short story, appeared under the pseudonym he would use for all his fiction. His first novel, Company K, came out in 1933 and drew on his wartime experiences. Many of his subsequent novels and short stories are set in Alabama. March spent many years living in New York, but by the late 1940's his physical and mental health had declined to the point where friends persuaded him to return to Mobile. Literary success had not overcome the traumas March suffered from his military service. In 1950 he moved to New Orleans and lived there until his death. 

A much fuller examination of March's life and work can be found in his entry in the Encyclopedia of Alabama and Roy Simmonds' 1984 biography The Two Worlds of William March. 

Much of March's fiction is based on his personal experiences, either in World War I or growing up and living in Alabama. The Bad Seed is something else. The book works the nature versus nurture approach--are killers born or made? The story follows Rhoda, a blonde and precocious child who happens to be a killer. And she has a grandmother who was a serial killer and executed in the electric chair. Her parents simply can't accept her daughter is capable of such acts.

The character is now a common trope in popular culture--the evil child. When March wrote the novel, the very idea was shocking. You can read a detailed summary of the story at the Wikipedia entry. More comments are below.

The Bad Seed was first published in March 1954 and remains in print today. This paperback edition appeared in 2015. Several other paperback editions have been published over the years. 

The edition I own is this one from Dell, a paperback published in February 1972. 

The first edition of the hardback that appeared in 1954 was published by Rinehart and Company. You can currently find a used copy described as "acceptable" for $895 and one as "very good" for $1142 on Amazon. But that's crazy; several copies can be found via Bookfinder.com for $100 or so. 

This edition appeared in Dell Publishing's Great Mystery Library series. Based on the price, I'd guess it was published in the 1960's. 

This 2005 paperback edition was published by Harper Perennial. 

March's novel appeared in March 1954, and on December 8 the play opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway. The novel was adapted for the stage by Maxwell Anderson, a prolific dramatist. The combination of March and Anderson's reputations and the subject matter drew interest; Life magazine covered the play in its issue published a week before opening. The play ran for 334 performances until September 27, 1955.

Nancy Kelly won a Tony Award as Best Actress for her performance as the mother. Patty McCormack starred as Rhoda her daughter. Eileen Heckert and Henry Jones also acted in the play. All four repeated their roles in the film.  

An Al Hirschfeld drawing of the Broadway play, The Bad Seed, adapted from the William March novel of the same name for the stage by Maxwell Anderson in 1954.

Courtesy of the W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama Libraries

Source: Encyclopedia of Alabama

Filming was done at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California, from May until July 1955. The film was released on September 12, 1956. As noted above, the four main actors in the play appeared in the film. Hollywood veteran Mervin LeRoy served as director. In the novel and play, Rhoda lives to kill another day. In the 1956 film she is struck by lightning and dies. 

Patty McCormack as Rhoda and Henry Jones as the caretaker in the 1956 film

This 1985 television movie was written by George Eckstein and directed by another veteran, Paul Wendkos. The cast included Blair Brown, Lynne Redgrave, David Carradine, Richard Kiley and David Ogden Stiers. Carrie Wells played Rachel (Rhoda). The novel's ending was kept, but other changes were made, including character names. I watched this version when first broadcast on February 7, 1985, on ABC but remember little about it.    

The 2018 version changes names and characters. Now we have Emma (Rhoda) and her widowed father who slowly begins to suspect the worst about his daughter. Rob Lowe plays the father, and also directs, which may account for the changes. Patty McCormack--the original Rhoda in the play and film--plays Emma's psychiatrist Dr. March. 

Alabama Book Covers (9): William March

Novelist and short story writer William March is probably best remembered for one novel published in 1954, The Bad Seed. Actually, adaptations in other media are probably better known than the book and author. That same year Maxwell Anderson wrote a two-act play from the book that ran for 334 performances on Broadway before closing in September 1955. In 1956 a film starring Patty McCormick in the title role was released and was a hit for Warner Brothers in both the U.S. and Great Britain. The ABC network premiered a version for television in 1985. The story is a classic evil-child tale that still resonates today despite the use of the idea by endless horror movies.

March was a Mobile native born in September 1893 as William Edward Campbell. A highly decorated U.S. Marine in World War I, March built a career in business after the war. Before his death in New Orleans in May 1954, March published several novels and many short stories. Most were set in Alabama. 

March wrote about his war experiences in his first novel, Company K. A film adaptation by Robert Clem appeared in 2004. Clem has filmed several other works related to Alabama. March's short story "The Little Wife" was adapted for television three times by 1955. 

March's papers are in the Hoole Special Collections at the University of Alabama. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Tuscaloosa. The Encyclopedia of Alabama and Wikipedia entries offer good introductions to his life and work. Roy Simmonds' book The Two Worlds of William March was published in 1984.

William March ca. 1933

Source: Wikipedia