Someone made the unwise decision early on to stick as close to the hit Broadway play as possible in adapting "The Bad Seed" for the movies, including having several key actors reprise their roles, including Patty McCormick in the lead as a sociopathic youngster in long pig-tails. The piece has not been rethought for the screen, and what works on a bare stage doesn't always deliver in the more intimate medium of cinema. So it's not all McCormick's fault: she delivers a performance of a headstrong, evil child in a perfunctory, overly-rehearsed manner and probably deserved the accolades she received at the time. It is a very demanding role for a youngster. However, there are no shadings in the dialouge for McCormick to pick up on, and she's not fresh in the part. Worse, she's directed to be too terrific--enunciating very clearly and loudly, as if to reach the back row, all the details of a complex human being are ironed out. This couldn't possibly have been intentional, as the rest of the cast members are handled in the very same way. It's so forthright, uneasy, repetitive and awkward, it becomes a static transformation of stage material onto film. *1/2 from ****