# Rosemary's Baby **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732 "2017-03-08T21:24:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/1 "2017-03-08T21:24:43Z")
I saw this movie decades ago and thought I was watching a movie about a mentally ill woman who was paranoid and imagining bizarre things. But I just saw it again and it seemed like she was really surrounded by satan worshippers and gave birth to the devil’s spawn. Which interpretation is correct? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/2 "2017-03-08T21:29:01Z")
The latter. Never even heard the former mentioned until just now. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/3 "2017-03-08T21:35:47Z")
Yep. Really was the devil’s kid. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/4 "2017-03-08T22:33:32Z")
It was about the banality of evil. The Satan worshippers mostly seem like quite ordinary people. It wouldn’t be scary if she were just imagining it. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/5 "2017-03-08T22:50:31Z")
Absolutely 100% no doubt about it: a coven brought Satan incarnate up from hell to impregnate Rosemary. (I love this movie, and as long as we have a thread open: Polanski overplayed it during the rape sequence. It would have been better if there had been just a _tad_ of ambiguity until the end…but he gives us shots of scaly fingers and demonic eyes, and Rosemary saying “This is no dream…this is really happening!” Jeez, no need to hit us with a 2x4, Roman.) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/6 "2017-03-08T22:55:10Z")
Book was better. Ira Levin was responsible for two of the best thrillers of the second half of the 20th century: this, and _A Kiss Before Dying._ ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/7 "2017-03-08T23:05:49Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Absolutely 100% no doubt about it: a coven brought Satan incarnate up from hell to impregnate Rosemary. > > (I love this movie, and as long as we have a thread open: Polanski overplayed it during the rape sequence. It would have been better if there had been just a _tad_ of ambiguity until the end…but he gives us shots of scaly fingers and demonic eyes, and Rosemary saying “This is no dream…this is really happening!” Jeez, no need to hit us with a 2x4, Roman.) Some of us need to be hit with the 2x4 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/8 "2017-03-08T23:15:52Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > Some of us need to be hit with the 2x4 😉 OK, I didn’t want to point any fingers … 😉 I’ve seen it a million times, but I noticed something on the last viewing that I never did before. A scene between pregnant Rosemary and Guy…Rosemary says something that Guy finds (secretly) alarming. He makes an excuse about running out to get ice cream, and leaves. A second later (what I never noticed) we hear a faint “bing bong” of the Castevets doorbell. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/9 "2017-03-08T23:35:39Z")
Ukelele Ike wrote: “Book was better.” Book was identical. (Or was that a whoosh?) Seriously, I can think of no single instance where you can more accurately say: “If you’ve read the book, you don’t need to see the movie. Or vice versa.” (Shawshank comes close.) But as long as we’re throwing Ira Levin titles out there, “This Perfect Day” is a pretty good read. Closer to pure SF than anything else he’s written though somewhat dated now. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/10 "2017-03-08T23:40:33Z")
After you see _Rosemary’s Baby_, watch Polanski’s _The Tenant_. The latter film is especially good if you know about _Rosemary._ ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/11 "2017-03-09T00:21:02Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Seriously, I can think of no single instance where you can more accurately say: “If you’ve read the book, you don’t need to see the movie. Or vice versa.” (Shawshank comes close.) Also _To Kill A Mockingbird_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/12 "2017-03-09T00:22:26Z")
There’s no question that she was being seriously gas-lighted though. She certainly thought she might just be nuts. I had the same question after watching it. “What have you done to its eyes?” felt more like an injury of some sort to me. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/13 "2017-03-09T00:29:13Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Book was better. > > Ira Levin was responsible for two of the best thrillers of the second half of the 20th century: this, and _A Kiss Before Dying._ Also one of the absolute worst, _Son of Rosemary_. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/14 "2017-03-09T00:36:04Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > But as long as we’re throwing Ira Levin titles out there, “This Perfect Day” is a pretty good read. Closer to pure SF than anything else he’s written though somewhat dated now. Wow. Haven’t thought about that book in years, and as soon as I read what you posted, the rhyme hit me. I don’t remember it all, but I believe the first two verses were: > [@](#): > > Christ, Marx, Wood and Wei > Led us to this perfect day. > > Wei, Wood, Marx and Christ > All but Wei were sacrificed. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/15 "2017-03-09T00:41:37Z")
I thought Levin’s _The Boys From Brazi_l was a fine book, and movie too. I think the latter was the only role in which Gregory Peck played an outandout, no doubt about it evil villain. He played some oddballs and a few amoral types, but playing Josef Mengele is just about as evil as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/16 "2017-03-09T01:25:56Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Also one of the absolute worst, _Son of Rosemary_. I was still in the publishing biz in those days, and I read that book in manuscript. “Jesus…is Levin KIDDING…?” Still can’t believe it was published as was. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/17 "2017-03-09T01:30:47Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > Ukelele Ike wrote: “Book was better.” > > Book was identical. (Or was that a whoosh?) > > Seriously, I can think of no single instance where you can more accurately say: “If you’ve read the book, you don’t need to see the movie. Or vice versa.” Disagree. The final scene in the book is shattering, IMO. Film version, not so much, with the floaty devil eyes and all. I love the movie (Ruth Gordon is a national treasure) and love Polanski’s work in general. But the book has greater subtlety, and is far more effective. I agree that every Rosemary fan should see _The Tenant_, as well as the previous film in the loose Polanski “city paranoia trilogy,\*” _Repulsion._ \*London - New York - Paris ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/18 "2017-03-09T02:43:59Z")
Clothahump wrote: “but I believe the first two verses were:” I recalled a third “Wood, Wei, Christ, and Marx, Gave us lovely schools and parks.” And I’m sure there was a fourth as well. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/19 "2017-03-09T03:25:42Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Absolutely 100% no doubt about it: a coven brought Satan incarnate up from hell to impregnate Rosemary. > > (I love this movie, and as long as we have a thread open: Polanski overplayed it during the rape sequence. It would have been better if there had been just a _tad_ of ambiguity until the end…but he gives us shots of scaly fingers and demonic eyes, and Rosemary saying “This is no dream…this is really happening!” Jeez, no need to hit us with a 2x4, Roman.) What did you expect from Polanski? (Also the raw liver scene was real liver, not fake. Farrow wasn’t too happy about having to do so, but Polanski really pushed her to do it. Blech) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732/20 "2017-03-09T04:55:26Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Book was better. > [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Disagree. The final scene in the book is shattering, IMO. Film version, not so much, with the floaty devil eyes and all. > I love the movie (Ruth Gordon is a national treasure) and love Polanski’s work in general. But the book has greater subtlety, and is far more effective. Agreed! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rosemarys-baby/781732.md?page=2)