The Bad Seed (1956)

Nancy Kelly: Christine Penmark

Photos 

Quotes 

• Christine Penmark : Rhoda, what happened to old Mrs. Post in Wichita?

  Rhoda : There was ice on the steps and I slipped and fell against her, and that was all.

  Christine Penmark : That was all?

  Rhoda : No. I slipped on purpose.

• Hortense Daigle : [drunkenly]  I just want to have a talk with your little girl. She was one of the last to see my Claude alive.

  Christine Penmark : I know.

  Hortense Daigle : Where do you keep the perfect little lady who was the last to see Claude? I thought I'd hold her in my arms and we'd have a little talk where maybe she'd remember some little thing... any little thing.

  Christine Penmark : She's out playing, I think.

  Hortense Daigle : Well, I'm unfortunate, that's all. Drunk and unfortunate, ladies and gentlemen.

• Christine Penmark : This is my daughter, Rhoda.

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Hello, Rhoda. Well, isn't she a little sweetheart!

  Rhoda : Thank you.

  [she curtsies] 

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : That's the kind of thing that makes an old bachelor wish he were married.

  Rhoda : Oh, you like little girls to curtsy?

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : The best thing left out of the Middle Ages.

  Rhoda : I'm having dinner upstairs.

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : The loss is ours. All ours.

  Christine Penmark : You may go now, Rhoda.

  Rhoda : Yes, Mommy. It's been a pleasure to have met you, Mr. Tasker.

  [She exits] 

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Now there's a little ray of sunshine.

  Christine Penmark : Oooh, I've seen her stormy.

• Christine Penmark : You hit him with the shoes, didn't you? You hit him with the shoes, that's how he got those half moon marks on his forehead and on his hands. Answer me, Rhoda. ANSWER ME!

• Christine Penmark : Do you really mean to say that nice family surroundings and advantages could make no difference at all?

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Yes. It's as if these children were born blind permanently and you just couldn't expect to teach them to see.

  Christine Penmark : Well, would you notice any brutish expressions on their faces?

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : Sometimes. But more often they present a more convincing picture of virtue than normal folk.

  Christine Penmark : But that's horrible!

  Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker : It's just that they are bad seeds. Plain bad from the beginning. And nothing can change them.

• Monica Breedlove : What has she DONE?

  Christine Penmark : It isn't what she's done, it's what I've done...

• Christine Penmark : [End credits scene; Christine Penmark marches over towards Rhoda angrily]  And as for you...!

  [Christine bends Rhoda over one knee and begins spanking her repeatedly] 

  Rhoda Penmark : No! NO! AHH, NO! Ooh, ow! No...

  [the End text fades in on the screen] 

• Christine Penmark : Did she kill him? But she's my little girl. And I love her. Oh my baby, my baby!

• Christine Penmark : Operator? I'd like to... to call... Washington... D. C., please...

  [breaks down crying] 

  Christine Penmark : Oh Kenneth, my darling, my love! What am I going to say to you? That our baby isn't... never mind, operator. Cancel the call.

• [ending credits] 

  Christine Penmark : And as for you...

  [starts spanking Rhoda] 

• Rhoda : Oh, I've got the prettiest mother. I've got the nicest mother. That's what I tell everybody. I say I've got the sweetest mother in the world. If she wants a little boy that bad, why doesn't she take one out of the orphans' home?

  Christine Penmark : Get away from me. Don't talk to me! We have nothing to say to each other.

  Rhoda : Okay, mother. Okay.

• Christine Penmark : All right. All right now, we're gonna... We're gonna start at the beginning and you're gonna tell me the truth. I know you killed him, so there's no sense lying. Rhoda, I want you to tell me the truth!

  Rhoda : I can't tell you, mother! I want you to...

  Christine Penmark : I'm waiting for your *answer*.

  Rhoda : He wouldn't give me the medal like I told him to, that's all. So then he ran away from me and hid on the wharf. But I found him there and I told him I'd hit him with my shoe if he didn't give me the medal! But he shook his head and said no. So I hit him the first time. Then he took off the medal and gave it to me.

  Christine Penmark : And then what happened?

  Rhoda : Tried to run away from me. So I hit him with my shoe again! But he kept on crying and making a noise and I was afraid somebody would hear him... So I kept on hitting him, mother! I hit him harder that time and he fell in the water.