Product: Rosemary's Baby (El Bebe de Rosemary) [ NON-USA FORMAT, NTSC, Reg.4 Import - Latin America ] (1968)
Rating: 5.0
4 1/2 Stars
Roman Polanski wouldn't win an Oscar until over 30 years later (Best Director, 'The Pianist'), it was this film that skyrocketed him. That's not to say it's his best film or even his most popular, but it's the film where people really started to take notice of him. Polanski directs and writes the screenplay for the horror film which stars Mia Farrow ('The Purple Rose of Cairo'), John Cassavetes, and Ruth Gordon (in an Oscar winning role) among others.Farrow plays Rosemary Woodhouse, typically called Ro. Ro and her husband Guy (Cassavetes) are moving into a nice apartment in New York where Guy lives as a struggling actor. As Guy struggles to get movie roles, Rosemary befriends a young woman in the laundry room of the apartment building. The woman, a rehabilitated drug addict, says she lives with an old couple named Minnie and Roman Castevet (Gordon and Sidney Blackmer);A few days later, the woman has jumped from the Castevet's window. After the tragedy, Rosemary gets to know the Castevets. While, Ro finds Minnie nosy...Guy is smitten with them and strikes up a peculiar friendship with them. Suddenly, Guy's rival actors are going blind leading him to get main roles and Rosemary is pregnant. I won't go much further than that. Polanski adapted this from the Ira Levin novel (Novel also, famously, penned "The Stepford Wives"); I've never read the novel but based solely on this material, I realize that there were many things Polanski could've done with the material.He could've made it a puzzle and kept you guessing, he could've gone for disturbing-scary by showing monsters (I don't know if this will SPOIL anything for anybody...It shouldn't affect your view of the film, but you never see the baby). Polanski took a different route. You know what's going on immediately and you will know what's happening up to the final scene. Rosemary's decision isn't the most surprising thing in the world, but it's quite shocking...It was probably especially shocking in 1968. The movie has it's flaws, it's certainly not "possibly the best horror film ever made" like it's cover boasts. But it's got some great acting (Farrow and Gordon are priceless), some creepy moments, and great cinematography. You can really see some innovative camera-work here too; One scene in particular is when Minnie uses the phone, her face concealed by a door which urges you to lean to the side and get a look. Bottom line...A mature, smart, and creepy horror film.GRADE: A-/B+