What was the book that Christine was reading to Rhoda? - The Bad Seed (1956) Discussion

[–] maregee 16 years ago

I just re-watched this movie today. The first book that Christine is reading is titled "Beside the Castle Wall". I did a very quick search on Amazon.com and couldn't find it, but I didn't go through all of the results. It may not be a real book. The second book she reads sounds like "The Little Match Girl", but not really sure. Been years since I've read that.

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[–] Sunflower64 16 years ago

I'm not sure if "Behind/Beside the Castle Wall" is a real book, but the story Christine is reading sounds a lot like "Lanval" an Arthurian legend included in "The Lais of Marie de France" which I heartily recommend. Also I would bet money the second book--with Polly going to see the Christmas tree--is "The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew." It's not "The Little Match Girl," though it does sound very similar.

Now Father, you're living in the past. This is the 14th century!

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] grantch 16 years ago

Most (if not all) of the Five Little Peppers series are available on Amazon either reprinted or through resellers. My grandmother had the complete set and I loved those old books with the glossy inserts for illustrations.

If you haven't seen The Bad Seed as a stage play, you can probably not imagine the shock of that original ending on audiences in the '50's and '60's.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Sunflower64 16 years ago

I can understand that. I was ten or eleven the first time I saw this movie and Leroy's screams were what scared me most of all too especially since you only heard him. You never saw him--only Christine's reaction to him. It really does a number on the imagination.

Now Father, you're living in the past. This is the 14th century!

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] fallen_anakin 14 years ago

The music when she is talking to Rhoda after she has given her the sleeping pills is creepy too.

The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.

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[–] GregoriusInLA 14 years ago

"What was the book that they were reading during bed time? Or what it just scripted?"

The only place where I see knights, ladies, and "cates and dainties" all mentioned in one place is in John Keats' 1819 poem "The Eve of St. Agnes." It's been awhile since I read the William March novel, so I'm not sure if it originally appeared there. So, I would surmise that the story was created by Maxwell Anderson for the play and film.

"The knight had not gone more than a dozen paces before he saw beside the path a beautiful lady who laid out a fair damask cloth under an oak and set thereon cates and dainties and a flagon with two silver cups." 'Knight,' she called, 'knight, come and eat and drink with me, for you are hungry and thirsty and I am alone.'"

"Then the knight answered her, 'I thank you, fair lady, for I am not only hungry and thirsty but I am lost within the forest.' Then he let his palfrey graze near-by and he feasted with the lady, who gave his loving looks, sweeter than the wine from the flagon, though the wine was sweet and strong, and in this fashion the time passed till the light was gone out of the wood and it was dark."

"And he was aware that the pavilion had not been there in the daylight, but had been created out of darkness—by magic—"

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on."

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[–] nolaladyj 13 years ago

CAKES and dainties.

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[–] GregoriusInLA 13 years ago

It is actually "cates and dainties." My source is the script of the play, Act 1, Scene 3, pages 27 and 28, of which I own an original published copy.

RHODA: What are cates and dainties?

CHRISTINE: Little cakes, I think. (or "oh, you know, little cakes" -- in the film version, I believe.)

RHODA: Oh.

"The dogs may bark, but the caravan passes on."

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[–] learmoak 13 years ago

I always thought the first book was THE DOOR IN THE WALL by Marguerite De Angeli, but I watched the movie last night and it was either Beside, Inside, or Behind the Castle Wall.

The one at the end was one of THE FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS series, I'm pretty sure.

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[–] cmashieldscapting 9 years ago

Sorry, guys, but that scene does not occur in any of the Five Little Peppers books, the first of which takes place before electric lights were common and it seems unlikely that candles would be left burning unattended. The only results for that passage come up in a book of the play The Bad Seed and the English subtitles for the movie so unless someone can show differently presumably it was written for that story. It does have a Five Little Peppers/"Little Match Girl" feel.

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