"KATHY O' "......THE BAD SEED....GOES GOOD?

Kathy O' (1958)    First off......so sorry for no posting the last couple of days.......BQ was forced to take a few days off to endure another heart attack.....(our second)

             No worries......hardly a blip on the heart attack scale, no arterial damage or stents......we think our poor ticker got pissed off at the junk food we've been sneakily enjoying and decided to radiate a distinct "Want to live, sucker? Clean up your act!" message.....

               We took the hint. Bye bye Chinese food, fries and pizza......nice knowin' ya. We had a ball didn't we?

               So here's another strangely delightful little long-lost, oddball item we specialize in......supposedly designed as a star vehicle for that enfant terrible of "The Bad Seed", actress Patty McCormack.......

                McCormack, you may remember, astounded the sedate 1950's cinema world with the recreation of her Broadway role as the sociopathic child murderess Rhoda Penmark......(you could call it the template role for the army of demonic movie children who'd follow in her wake....)

                 'Kathy O', however was designed as a semi Disney-fied product, with McCormack playing an 'American Sweetheart' child star....... whose tempestuous, bratty public persona disguises a sweet lonely little girl who desperately craves someone to love her.

                  As we mentioned, it sounds like a fine recipe for a warm 'n friendly Christmas-themed  star vehicle for Patty......

                   Except it isn't, really.  The film relegates her to practically a supporting role in the story, choosing to concentrate on a whiny studio press agent (Dan Duryea) and the two women in his life......his Happy Homemaker Donna Reed-like wife (Mary Fickett) and his blonde glamour-puss Ex, (Jan Sterling).

                   Duryea spent a lifetime playing slimy villains and assorted heels.....so his miscasting here is painful to watch.  Forced to shelter the unhappy McCormack in his home after she tries running away, Duryea proves he's a careless, sarcastic character, bemoaning his own fate if he's accused of kidnapping McCormack. You can only wonder what either Fickett or Sterling saw in him.

                   Way too much running time gets eaten up with Duryea's machinations, when all anyone wants to do is enjoy the always charismatic McCormack, who's given precious few scenes in which she deftly reverses the 'Bad Seed' concept.........instead of a cruel soul masquerading as a sweet little girl, McCormack's Kathy O' Roarke is actually a gentle tyke, masquerading as a terror.

                   Like other boomers, we held fond memories of this long elusive film.......now that it's available on a variety of streaming sites, we're a little sad to see it's still got the heart and nice sentiments, but nowhere near as good as it could have been.

                    Maybe Walt Disney and his go-to child star Hayley Mills could have turned this into something special......."Kathy O' " settles for a merely diverting 50's bauble....2 & 1/2 stars. (**1/2)


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