The Bad Seed

1956 was way too soon for an unfettered treatment of the central premise: an 8-year-old serial killer. On the other hand it was too late in Mervyn LeRoy's career for him still to command enough speed and style to overcome the staginess of it all (source: a creaky Broadway play by Maxwell Anderson). The ending, with McCormack and Kelly (monster and Mom respectively) coming on in propria personae to assure us they was only funnin', must be one of the most ignominious in movie history.