Baby, The (1972)

Indeed, the weird and wonderful 60’s and the spillover hedonistic 70’s produced more than their fair share of the bizarre, especially in cinema where new boundaries and barriers were constantly being explored and broken.

Ted Post’s early 70’s film The Baby is just about the strangest movie we have come across in decades of avidly pursuing the bizarre. For a mainstream, theatrical film with “proper” actors and decent production values, this is as strange as it gets.

The subject matter is just so twisted and demented that the film deserves more than one viewing to try to decipher what was going on. If it’s a feminist statement with roles deliberately warped beyond belief to prove a point, then the issue gets lost in the sheer weirdness of proceedings on screen.

However, it is a delight to see Ruth Roman, the wimpy, mousy, pathetic airhead of a tennis girlfriend from Strangers On A Train, show a resoundingly different side to her acting persona. She is sublimely monstrous as Baby’s mother, with a deliciously raspy smokers voice that adds to the manic persona she assumes so wonderfully in this movie. In this form, she would have given even the legendary Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) from Friday the 13th a close run for her money.

A favourite Mariana Hill also features the almost entirely female cast, who found instant fame within our madcap household in her fabulous guest appearances in the swinging Batman TV series from the ’60s. She was magnificent as Cleo, the moronic sidekick of King Tut, who naturally had a secret crush on Batman. Which girl wouldn’t have a crush on the gorgeous Adonis that Adam West was in his pomp. Mariana Hill provides a suitably demented performance as Baby’s extraordinary sister. This movie is just so damn strange it’s almost indigestible, and as it progresses, it gets more twisted and psychotic.

The final twist is an absolute scream and manages to provide the adequate climax to one of the very strangest films we have ever come across.

David Manzy turns in a pretty miraculous performance, totally defying description. He does an earnest job, but it’s just such a ridiculous role to have to play; one has to pity the poor fellow. It’s also not an enormous surprise that Manzy didn’t become a big star – it’s doubtful that anyone would be ready to hire him after this fantastic performance.

The story involves a demented mother and two daughters whose pride and joy is Baby – a fully grown man treated like an infant. He still lies in his crib, cooing and gurgling like a 1-year-old. It’s a most grotesque sight, to say the very least. Baby is befriended by a dedicated social worker who takes an avid interest in the family’s problems and the bizarre case of this Baby. The social worker eventually manages to kidnap Baby from his demented family, but unexpected and dark happenings lurk just around the corner.

Noticeable is the weirdly discordant violin-dominated soundtrack reminiscent of the brilliant Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice. A quick look back at the titles reveals that Gerald Fried was indeed responsible for both scores and must have been a master of the macabre in his time. It’s a perverse wonder of a movie deserving to be enjoyed to see a subject matter that is about as unique as any.

There is some more profound level of psychology involved with a distinct undercurrent that represents how people attempt to empower themselves by rendering others dependent.  There is more to The Baby than meets the eye.