Baby Doll 02/27/21

Elia Kazan and Tennessee Williams blurred censorship barriers with their satirical take on overheated Southern Gothic pot-boilers — William Faulkner by way of Erskine Caldwell. New York actors Eli Wallach and Karl Malden conquer Southern accents as they circle like puppy dogs around luscious Carroll Baker, pretending that the same old game can be played with genteel manners. The billboard of Baker jammed into a baby’s crib and sucking her thumb was an affront to the censors when it covered an entire city block in NYC — is obscenity only in the mind of the beholder?  Reviewed by Charlie Largent; also with Mildred Dunnock, Lonny Chapman, Madeleine Sherwood, and introducing Rip Torn. On Blu-ray from The Warner Archive Collection.
02/27/21