Rosemary's Baby [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Roman Polanski, Agnieszka Holland

Overview

This gripping suspense saga begins when Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and husband Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) are newlyweds who find a reasonably priced apartment on New York's West side. Gus is a struggling actor whose friend Hutch (Maurice Evans) warns Rosemary that strange thing have happened in the building. The couple ignores him, and Hutch soon falls victim to a coma. Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and husband Roman (Sidney Blackmer) are the offbeat but seemingly kindly neighbors who bring some foul tasting food to the newlyweds. Rosemary chokes down the food to be kind, and is soon plagued by weight loss and stomach cramps. After a visit to Dr. Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy), he prescribes the same food given by the neighbors for her ailments. Rosemary vaguely remembers a huge monster making love to her with people watching, but Guy brushes it off as a food induced dream of indigestion. She takes a trip to her former physician Dr. Hill (Charles Grodin). He calls her husband, believing she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Soon Dr. Hill meets an untimely demise. Rosemary gives birth to a child, passes out and is told the child has died when she awakens. She rises from her bed when she hears the cries of a child, and proceeds to the apartment of her neighbors, who are joined in a coven of witches surrounding a bassinet. Director Roman Polanski received and Oscar nomination for his screenplay from the book by Ira Levin. Ruth Gordon took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in this chilling horror story that relies more on building suspense instead of spurting blood. Rosemary's Baby did very well at the box office and remains a classic.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/30/2012
UPC:	0715515100717
Original Release:	1968
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	2:16:00
Sales rank:	9,695

Special Features

New documentary featuring interviews with Polanski, actress Mia Farrow, and Producer Robert Evans; Interview with author Ira Levin from a 1997 broadcast of Leonard Lopate's public radio program New York and Company, about his 1967 novel, it's sequel, and the film; Komeda, Komeda, a feature-length documentary on the life and work of jazz musician and composer Krzysztof Komeda, who wrote the score for Rosemary's Baby; ; Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by critic Ed Park; Levin's afterword to the 2003 New American Library Edition of his novel; and Levin's rare, unpublished character sketches of the Woodhouses and floor plan of their apartment, created in preparation for the novel

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mia Farrow	Rosemary Woodhouse
John Cassavetes	Guy Woodhouse
Ruth Gordon	Minnie,Joan Jellico
Maurice Evans	Hutch
Sidney Blackmer	Roman
Ralph Bellamy	Dr. Sapirstein
Patsy Kelly	Laura-Louise
Charles Grodin	Dr. Hill
Victoria Vetri	Terry Fionoffrio
Emmaline Henry	Elise Dunstan
Phil Leeds	Dr. Shand
Hope Summers	Mrs. Gilmore
Wende Wagner	Tiger
Hanna Landy	Grace Cardiff
Gordon Connell	Guy's Agent
Janet Garland	Nurse
Joan T. Reilly	Pregnant Woman
Patricia Ann Conway	Mrs. John F. Kennedy
William Castle	Man at Telephone Booth
Walter Baldwin	Mr. Wees,Salesman,Mr. Wees
Charlotte Boerner	Mrs. Fountain
Sebastian Brooks	Argyron Stavropoulos
Ernest Kazuyoshi Harada	Young Japanese Man,Young Japanese man
Natalie Masters	Young Woman
Elmer Modlin	Young Man
Patricia O'Neal	Mrs. Wees
Robert Osterloh	Mr. Fountain
Almira Sessions	Mrs. Sabatini
Bruno Sidar	Mr. Gilmore
Roy Barcroft	Sun-Browned Man
D'Urville Martin	Diego
George Savalas	Workman
Viki Vigen	Lisa
Marilyn Harvey	Dr. Sapirstein's Receptionist
Paul Denton	Skipper
Frank White	Hugh Dunstan
Mary Louise Lawson	Portia Haynes
Gale Peters	Rain Morgan
George Ross Robertson	Lou Comfort
Carol Brewster	Claudia Comfort
Clay Tanner	Devil
Michael Shillo	Pope
Jean Inness	Sister Agnes
Lynn Brinker	Sister Veronica
Michel Gomez	Pedro
Linda Brewerton	Farrow's Double
Mona Knox	Mrs. Byron
Joyce Davis	Dee Bertillon
Floyd Mutrux	Man at Party
Josh Peine	Man at Party
Duke Fishman	Man
Al Szathmary	Taxi Driver
John Halloran	Mechanic
Elisha Cook Jr.	Mr. Nicklas
Zoe Saldana	Actor
Patrick J. Adams	Actor
Carole Bouquet	Actor
Christina Cole	Actor
Jason Isaacs	Actor
Olivier Rabourdin	Actor
Fran?ois Civil	Actor
Stany Coppet	Actor
Stefano Cassetti	Actor
Guillaume Dabinpons	Actor
Gail Bonney	Babysitter
Tony Curtis	Donald Baumgart
Christopher Komeda	Composer,Composer

Technical Credits

Roman Polanski

William Castle	Producer
Farciot Edouart	Special Effects
Roman Polanski	Screenwriter
Harold Lewis	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Roman Polanski took the traditional gothic horror story and moved it to New York in the 20th century (where it finds a home with surprising ease) in this superb adaptation of Ira Levin's best-selling novel. While trading in the frankly unbelievable throughout, Polanski always keeps one foot firmly in reality while the other gingerly dips its toe into the pool where things aren't quite right. Rosemary Woodhouse (played with perfect small-town reserve by Mia Farrow) is nearly the only recognizably "normal" character in the film (much more so than her self-absorbed actor husband, Guy, played with just the right touch of slime by John Cassavetes), and nearly everyone around her seems a tiny bit odd, especially her neighbors Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie (Ruth Gordon), an eccentric older couple whose interest in Rosemary and her expectant child seems strange without being obviously evil. Ultimately, Polanski's greatest strength in this film is his subtlety; his pacing and sense of mood are masterful without calling attention to themselves, letting the horror of the premise sink its claws in so slowly and quietly that you don't notice how far deep they've gone until it's too late. It wasn't until The Exorcist that a horror film connected with audiences quite as strongly as Rosemary's Baby, and while The Exorcist threw a variety of wild and brutal shock tactics at its audience, Rosemary's Baby lured its victims in with such tender loving care that the horrible logic of its conclusion was all the more effective; it may well be the best and smartest horror movie of the 1960s.