THE BABY (1973)
Article 1973 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-9-2006
Posting Date: 1-6-2007
Directed by Ted Post
Featuring Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill

A social worker takes charge of a case involving a full grown man who is supposed to be mentally deficient; his mother and two sisters keep him in diapers and a crib, and treat him like a baby. She suspects that there may be more here than meets the eye, and decides to investigate.

Whatever else you can say about it, there’s no doubt that this movie is pretty sick, even if it rated no worse than PG on its release in this country. It should come as no surprise that the family that harbors the baby is not mentally well; part of the mystery of this movie is discovering just how unwell they are, compounded with the discovery that they may not be the only ones. The sickness of the movie (and a very good and logical final twist) are the movie’s best attributes, but sadly, the movie never really becomes compelling, and it fails to build up any suspense; the sequence where the family invades the social worker’s home is quite dull. The acting is also rather uneven, with David Mooney (in the potentially embarassing title role) coming off best. The movie is not without a certain degree of interest, but I doubt I’ll be watching it again.