Reply With QuoteHmm. Possibly, The Bad Seed (1956) - certainly has pg-tailed sweetie killing a janiter and others. I remember him raking leaves so he might have been a gardener too.
This one is pre 60s B&W and is about a horrible child who kills the family gardener but is caught out in the end by the imprint of the hobnail boot on his head......!!!
Did I see this or was I on LSD??
Hmm. Possibly, The Bad Seed (1956) - certainly has pg-tailed sweetie killing a janiter and others. I remember him raking leaves so he might have been a gardener too.
Cheers Graeme, that's the one
Didn't the gardiner in that die in a fire in the shed?
I've come across a West End play version of this, in theatre magazines. The gardener was played on-stage by Bernard Bresslaw. The little girl looks very spooky (had a look of 'Village of the Damned' about her) in the photo-stills from the production. I wonder if different productions (book/stage/film) had differing plot resolutions. In the play, the little girl was euthanised by her mother, who finally realised she had given life to bad seed, after the girl had killed the big friendly giant, that was Bernard. I think the little girl had 'framed' Bernard as the suspect for her ealier murders, and killed him after he found evidence of her evil and she had to stop him handing it to the police. I think part of the tragedy was that Bernard was a bit slow and didn't even realise the evidence pointed to the little girl, who he loved.
Sorry if that's a Spoiler, but it is sixty years old!!.......
Brilliantly harsh concept. Who would dare make such a charge against children nowadays? They would have to be possessed by a demon or something.
name='Moor Larkin']Brilliantly harsh concept. Who would dare make such a charge against children nowadays? They would have to be possessed by a demon or something.
In the film it's all down to bad blood - grandma was a seriel killer too and mum was adopted and didn't know her histroy until the tendency comes out in the little moppet. Nature vs nurture as it were. Very biological determinist view of crime.
In the end she dies in a lightning storm.
But...
Moppet and entire cast return during credits to bow and curtsy like it was a play and mom puts moppet over her knee for a sound spanking (I'm not making this up!)
Weird.And that really wouldn't be allowed these days...
name='summerisle']Cheers Graeme, that's the one
I have this on video if you're interested. But I will have to work out how to copy it .
Cheers Judy
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