History Trivia / TheBadSeed1956

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Along with the two MadeForTVMovie remakes, there was a serious attempt to do a cinematic remake in the [[TheNineties early 1990s]] but it ended up going nowhere. The producer's first choice to play Rhoda would have been Rebecca Harrell, who had just come off of playing the lead in ''Film/{{Prancer}}''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: In the book, the original play and the two MadeForTVMovie remakes, [[spoiler:the girl survives her parent's attempt to murder her. However, at the time of the original film, the Hays code would not allow a murderer to go unpunished, but the Code also frowned upon children being the victims of homicides, putting director-producer Mervyn [=LeRoy=] in a bind as to finding a suitable punishment for Rhoda's monstrous misdeeds that didn't involve her being killed by an adult. Ultimately a scene was tacked onto the end of the film showing Rhoda dying via a literal BoltOfDivineRetribution]]. Likewise, [[spoiler:suicide was disallowed by the Hays Code, so the ending was rewritten to confirm that Christine survives and--more importantly in terms of the Code--regrets her attempt.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Along with the two MadeForTVMovie remakes, there was an attempt to do a cinematic remake in the early-1990s, but it went nowhere. The producer's first choice to play Rhoda was Rebecca Harrell, who just came off of playing the lead in ''Film/{{Prancer}}''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[spoiler:In the book, the original play and the 1985 MadeForTVMovie, Rhoda survives her mother's attempt to murder her. However, at the time of the original film, the Hays code would not allow a murderer to go unpunished, but the Code also frowned upon children being killed, leaving the director to come up a suitable punishment for the monstrous child that didn't involve her being killed by an adult. A scene was tacked onto the end of the film showing Rhoda dying via a literal BoltOfDivineRetribution. Likewise, suicide was disallowed by the Hays Code, so the ending was rewritten to confirm that Christine survives and--more importantly in terms of the Code--regrets her attempt.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: There was an attempt to do a remake in the early-1990s but it went nowhere. The producer's first choice to play Rhoda was Rebecca Harrell, who just came off of playing the lead in ''Film/{{Prancer}}''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[spoiler:In the book, the original play and the 1985 MadeForTVMovie, Rhoda survives her mother's attempt to murder her. However, at the time of the original film, the Hays code would not allow a murderer to go unpunished, but the Code also frowned upon children being killed, leaving the director to come up a suitable punishment for the monstrous child that didn't involve her being killed by an adult. A scene was tacked onto the end of the film showing Rhoda being dying via a literal BoltOfDivineRetribution. Likewise, suicide was disallowed by the Hays Code, so the ending was rewritten to confirm that Christine survives and--more importantly in terms of the Code--regrets her attempt.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[spoiler:In the book, the original play and the 1985 MadeForTVMovie, Rhoda survives her mother's attempt to murder her, and it is hinted that she plans to make her kind, eccentric landlady her next victim. However, at the time of the original film, the Hays code would not allow a criminal to get away with her crimes. However, the Code also frowned upon showing a child being murdered, leaving the director to come up a suitable punishment for the monstrous child that didn't involve her being killed by an adult. A scene was tacked onto the end of the film showing Rhoda being killed by a literal BoltOfDivineRetribution. Likewise, suicide was disallowed by the Hays code, so the film was rewritten to show that Christine survives and--more importantly in terms of the Code--regrets her attempt.]]

* ExecutiveMeddling: [[spoiler:In the book, the original play and the 1985 MadeForTVMovie, Rhoda survives her mother's attempt to murder her, and it is hinted that she plans to make her kind, eccentric landlady her next victim. However, at the time of the original film, the Hays code would not allow a criminal to get away with her crimes. A scene was tacked onto the end of the film showing Rhoda being killed by a literal BoltOfDivineRetribution.]]

** As if that wasn't enough, in a post-credits scene, after the rest of the cast step onscreen and take bows, the actresses portraying Rhoda and her mother come out of character so that Patty [=McCormack=] can get, on-screen, the spanking it's implied her character should have had long ago. Although in the novel Christine does think, after finding the medal hidden in Rhoda's bureau, that her daughter needs a good spanking.