Rosemary's Baby and The Worst Best Apartment (The Dakota, New York City 1968)
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- čas přidán 1. 04. 2021
- Rosemary's Baby has the worst best New York City apartment in the movies. It's a very New York movie and it's filming location and inspiration building, The Dakota is iconic. Directed by Roman Polanski, and starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes as a young couple in search of the perfect apartment, John and Rosemary Woodhouse get more than they bargain far when the find the perfect New York City apartment.
In Rosemary’s baby, never has New York City living seemed so desirable and yet so frightening at the same time. Production designer Richard Sylbart constructed such an authentic set and decorated it with a modern 1960s aesthetic that Rosemary's apartment looks like it belongs in the Dakota.
Polanski makes the apartment and its exterior Dakota location another character in the film and it's the perfect home. . . .until it isn't.
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Rosemary's Baby (1968) DVD: amzn.to/3JVgHH1
Blu-Ray: amzn.to/3KZbWgW
Rosemary's baby by Ira Levin (Paperback): amzn.to/390UL0h
This Is No Dream: Making Rosemary's Baby (Hardcover): amzn.to/3vso1Vb
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Director Roman Polanski said he wanted the apartment to be another character in the story and In Rosemary’s baby, never has New York city living seemed so desirable and yet so frightening at the same time.
I still want to live in that apartment. I'll take my chances!
Me too. It's not the building it's the neighbors!
Despite their eeriness there's something appealing about The Dakota, The Hotel Des Aristes, The Ansonia-I don't know what exactly.
The Dakota Co op board is notoriously VERY particular about who they allow as tenants. I read where a potential tenant has to hand in a pile of financial paperwork (everything from bank statements to income tax receipts to something like five references). The co op board may still reject a client even if the person has all the paperwork in order and has a major swiss bank account! (The board refused to accept Madonna as a tenant!). So it's not easy. Also one thing that I always wondered is how the character of Guy in Rosemary's Baby-a struggling actor-could ever have afforded such a luxury apartment in the first place? I mean those apartments in those fancy buildings cost up to a million or more! In the book it's mentioned that Guy was earning 18,000 dollars every so often from a few acting jobs but still it doesn't seem likely that even at that he could've afforded a place like that!
I live in a house that is just like that, but sadly not in
nyc, and i am moving to NYC ironically, not just an apartment like hers.
I fell IN LOVE with that apartment and The Dakota..always wondered if it was an actual apartment..now, I know. What an amazing set!
Ohhh, wow! I'm 54, first saw RB when I was around 12, and this whole time I assumed they filmed inside the Dakota. Welp, there's another illusion shattered, lol.
In the '60s, eliminating Victorian decor - and even such buildings in their entirety - was considered desirable. In the case of the Woodhouse apartment, all the original dark stained wood trim is painted white. Today, most people would cringe at such a thing happening, since replicating such wood and its original appearance is pretty much impossible, or would at least be outlandishly expensive. With most of it gone, we now can appreciate it better.
Yes. In fact we had this issue in my home. It was built in the early 1920s and in some rooms the wood moulding, doors and trim were painted white. Also, some of the original light fixtures were removed but we found some in the attic.
This is real atmosphere of '60....amazing and I like it😊😊😊
Thank you for watching! 🙏🏽
Love the white and ☀️ sunny yellow 💛 of the apt.
Me too! I’m ignoring the devil worshipping and evil neighbors because the kitchen is perfection.
@@CinemaCities1978 I adore the kitchen. And how the table was placed. This is a great video essay!
I just love your narration. You definitely have the voice for it. Can't wait for future broadcasts.
Wow, thank you so much!
Having watched this gem several times, I can say that you notice new things with each viewing. It's that kind of film. It just seems so carefully crafted in so many ways. I fall in love with little weird touches, like when the foursome are eating cake and Minnie devours hers as if she is some little gargoyle that's been starved for a while. It's marvelous to behold.
Someone once said that when this movie was first shown in theaters, during the scene in which Minnie is talking to the doctor on a phone in a bedroom, and the camera does not let us see her, the entire movie audience leaned over to their right to try to get a peek at Ruth Gordon. So, you can actually make viewers move around in their seats if you make a movie the right way.
Apartments like this (sets made for a movie) are often so appealing that we'd love to move in ourselves. I felt a similar way when I first watched the classic movie _The Odd Couple_ from 1968. Oscar's place was terrific ... but he was too messy to keep it nice.
Always been my dream apartment! And I love how they decorated it!
Me too. Hey they were ghosts. I would love to live at the Dakota
The movie was filmed in summer and autumn 1967.
I suspect Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" may have had some inspiration from this film.
I agree. Also, Rosemary's Baby did a lot to legitimize the horror genre and make it an acceptable place to explore themes beyond its previously traditional shock and gore. It for sure helped open a space for prestige horror like The Shining.
Terrific mini-overview! ❤
thanks for watching!
Its more frightening than the nostromo, especially in the beginning and when she Sees the neighbours appartement with the pictures up.
I watch this a lot because of the apartment. 😅😅😅😅😅
Me too!
In 'Rosemary's Baby' (produced by William Castle) Elijah Cook Jr. gives the tour of the apartment. In 'House on Haunted Hill' (produced & directed by William Castle) Elijah Cook Jr. gives the tour of the haunted house. My advice: If Cook Jr. gives you a tour of a place, pass on it.
Yes! That baby face of his might lead right to your doom.
I loved this video! I'm a big fan of "Rosemary's Baby" and of the Dakota. I've thought of the apartment as one of the characters in the movie and was glad to hear someone confirm that. I like the worn, down-at-the-heels quality of the Bramford, which might be called faded gentility. Fascinating to learn that the apartment is based on Ms. Bacall's own apartment. If I'm understanding right, Lauren Bacall's apartment in the movie version is both the Castevet and Woodhouse apartments. When it was available on You Tube I would watch over and over the scene in which Rosemary and Guy first visit the apartment. I've become fascinated with the idea of how the closet is really just part of one hallway in one apartment, the idea of a hidden doorway.
An excellent book is "Life at the Dakota'--New York's Most Unusual Address" by Stephen Birmingham, 1979. That and the movie made into a lifetime fan of the Dakota. Lots of information about the building and great stories. A more recent book is Andrew Alpern's 2015 book "Dakota--A History of the World's Best-Known Apartment Building". This book is about the building itself, no human interest stories. Informative but not what might be called entertaining, more of a reference book but useful for someone with a strong interest in the Dakota.
Also some people who practice witchcraft will make straw houses in a wooded area. Rosemary and Guy's last name is Woodhouse.
I am so glad you enjoyed the video. I'm not sure if Bacall's apartment was used for the Castevet's but the floor plan was definitely recreated for Guy and Rosemary's apartment. I too find the Dakota a fascinating building, the city basically grew up around it and it 's a pice of old NYC (which is getting harder and harder to find) that still stands.
I love book recommendations, thanks so much for sharing I really hope those books are available at my library because I've added them to my must read list. Also, that little fact about the name Woodhouse adds another layer to the story and I wish I'd known that when I made the video because I 100% would have included it.
I'm too scared to watch Rosemary's Baby. I really want to.
@@Saxonbedwitch It took me a long time to watch the movie. I went through a phase when I wouldn't watch horror films. It took even longer to watch The Exorcist.
@@Saxonbedwitch I used to think it was the scariest movie ever made. But then, I was raised a Catholic.
@@westzed23 I'm thinking if someone else is with me I'll watch it. If it gets too much I'll stop. I'm Catholic also. It could be that I feel it's a sin. Thanks for replying.
The scene where she looks to meet up with Hutch at the Time Life building looks almost exactly the same today as it did in November 1967 when that scene was shot.
My Daughter and I stopped there in Sept 2022....Even the initial doorway still looks the same with the art deco inside..
In 2017 my son and I visited the upper west side.. we had visited Central Park and the monument of John Lennon… suddenly a very dark sky appeared and heavy heavy rain came gushing down… I was almost fatily wounded by a flying object my son freaked out people came to me asking me if I was OK… this happened precisely across the street from the Dakota … I found it rather odd.
Wow. That’s a crazy story. I think there Dakota building is beautiful but it definitely has a hint of the sinister about it.
My dream is to live there!
Mine too! Just keep the witches away!
"There is plenty to be afraid of!" (opposite of original phrase)
I think of Mrs. Castevet was my neighbor I would instantly be wary.
I wouldn't drink the "smoothie" or the "chocolate mousse(mouse).@@CinemaCities1978
Love, love, love this film! I totally thought this was filmed on location. Crazy it was a set!!!
It's amazing how film sets can create such realistic and believable environments that it can be difficult to tell if a movie was filmed on location or not. The production design was so good it made me want to live in that apartment.
Once again, thanks for catching me up with great insights. Watched this movie when it cane out. It scared the proverbial hell out of me!
Absolutely fantastic vid! I never knew a lot of the info you've packed into this. Thanks CC! Another stellar job!
Thanks for watching!!!! This was a fun one! I didn't even know the apartment was a set until I started researching.
@@CinemaCities1978 I didn't even know they used the Dakota as the exterior. Really enjoyed this one and the VO is perfect.
This movie contains what I consider the best dream sequence ever filmed - not the half-dream/half-reality one when Rosemary has her tryst with the devil; it’s comes earlier in the film and ends with a fully-habited nun pointing to a broken window and Rosemary tearfully explaining how it got that way. Freud and Dali combined couldn’t have improved on it.
Just don't eat the chocolate mouse.😘💋
😂😂😂
Thanks for that.
The paranormal novel/book Audrey Rose uses the Hotel Des Artistes apartment building to eerie effects, while the novel Time And Again also uses the Dakota Building also to eerie effects. Everybody who's been to the Dakota has said the building has a very strange atmosphere to it.
I remember being terrified, yet intrigued, by the cover of my grandmothers mass market paperback copy of Audrey Rose. The Dakota even has an eerie/strange presence on screen so I can imagine how that's amplified in person.
@@CinemaCities1978 The spirit of John Lennon has been spotted at the Dakota. I would love to meet him!!!
Indeed!!
I read the 1979 book "Life at the Dakota---New York's Most Unusual Address" by Stephen Birmiingham and that turned me into a lifelong Dakota enthusiast. I recall one anecdote about a Dakota resident walking home from work, looking up from the street into his apartment and seeing the chandelier in the dining room---except at the time he lived in the Dakota there was no chandelier in the dining room.
In the Shining a young couple moves into an old hotel building which also has an eerie, gothic history (and like the couple in Rosemary's Baby, are warned of the building's unpleasant history by an older, wiser friend)
Good video! I’m not harping on this to be bitchy, but just so we’re all on the same page: Re: 01:45 - The interior details of Rosemary’s apartment are influenced by Lauren Bacall’s unit in the Dakota, which Richard Sylbert was familiar with… but the layout of the film’s apartment is exactly as described in the book. There’s even a sketch of the floor plan author Ira Levin did when he was writing it, so he could keep it straight in his mind. Apartment 7E has 2 bedrooms, while, as you note, Ms. Bacall’s had more.
that's not bitchy at all! I definitely appreciate the clarification!
Cool video and nice shout out to "Naked City."
Thanks for watching! Also, I'm a huge fan of the movie Naked City and its late 50s-60s TV show spin off.
@@CinemaCities1978 I haven't seen the movie but I have watched several episodes of the TV show.
If you get a chance, check out the movie. It's one of the first films to shoot entirely on location in NYC so it gives you an amazing look at the way the city used to be in the middle of the last century. It's like time travel.
@@CinemaCities1978 I will for sure.
I still can't believe someone had the awful idea to make a sequel to this milestone ..!!, 8 years later,very respected editor Sam O'Steen who worked on this film made a tv sequel called Look what's happened to Rosemary's baby...🤔💣, probably made to surf on The omen success, or i don't know why...
Other scary neighbours movie i love: Mientras duermes(spanish classic),El propietario/The owner(its blueprint), The tenant of course even if too long and The 4th floor is okay too.
Yes! The apartment! I got a dresser in a local antique shop ages ago and it turned out to be the same one as in Rosemary's Baby, in the bedroom. I painted it white. The other apartment I covet is the one in Cat People.
I loathe what Ro did to that apartment. Yes it WAS dark but to those of us who love antiques and a bohemian lifestyle, possible even for the middle-class! Guess it's a highly personal issue. Not a fan of Ikea and Bauhausian lifeless spaces. Roman Polansky would have made a huge misstep though if he hadn't updated the apartment to what was then, the "in" look. Personally I find the vibe of the original Mrs. Gardenia decor much more claustrophobic and ominous but maybe his thought was similar to Stephen King's: true horror is often found in the mundane. And by dispensing with all the interesting Victoriana ( my love!) he exposes even more of Guy's narcissistic personality. IMHO Roman Polanski's brilliant film, elevated a mediocre book to a classic cult film that holds up over time. I still watch it several X a year and STILL shudder and the cast, such brilliant actors!
I'm somewhere in the middle with regards to the interior design. I love the Castevet's old world, antique stuffed, wood paneled apartment but I also love Rosemary's kitchen. I get why the Guy and Ro, a young couple, would update the apartment. Polanski spends a lot of time on showing us the decorating process, mentioning the furniture and having others comment on it. It's great because we get to watch Rosemary think she's creating a safe and comfortable space. Her interior design style is a nice contrast to everything else in the building, a reflection of her personality and the hip young style of the late 60s. But the only thing sunny about the Bramford is her decor and the place is definitely not safe.
I believe the book was the first with a horror story happening to a very ordinary couple in a very ordinary setting. No ghosts, haunted houses, portentous thunderstorms, monsters. The ominous Victorian decor is even changed to an ordinary modern one. That's why I found the ending so chocking and surprising. You can correct me if I'm wrong about its being the first of the genre.
Pretty standard coop board.
😂
You have teased me sufficiently to track down this movie. I've seen it once as a kid and was frightened but I didn't understand it. Thanks again.😊
Mission accomplished! 😂
There is little more to say about this masterpiece other to ask one key question. Was Elisha Cook, Jr. in every film ever made?
Yes, yes he was. . .😂
@@CinemaCities1978 Agreed. :) He appears in 6 of my 100 or so favorite films (the order…evolves 😉): BALL OF FIRE, HAMMETT, I WAKE UP SCREAMING, THE MALTESE FALCON, PHANTOM LADY, STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR.
The Dakota is a fascinating-looking building. Lots of famous residents. It became quite infamous when resident John Lennon was shot to death one night as he was re-entering the bldg.
Mark David Chapman lay in wait for him. He wanted to become famous by killing someone with global fame.
This palace is absolutely a master's degree in which it is difficult to get an apartment (there is a very active selection) They inhabited Nurayev king of dance and a row of artists of all arts
!! It was the terrible place where Lennon was killed!! I love the Dakota which is on 72nd Street in the UWS where the most important buildings in New York City are located 🍀❤️
It is so good
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it.
Mia was married to Frank Sinatra. But he wanted a Divorce . When Mia cut off her hair and He really did not want her to be in the Movie. So he filed for a Divorce. And the Rest is History 😊
I love minnie and roman
They were not allowed to film INSIDE the building . Everything INSIDE is a set - constructed in Hollywood. How amazing is that ?
John and Yoko sublet their apartment from Robert Ryan and his wife. When the both abruptly died in the early 1970s, the bought it from the estate.
This is the first video of watched in this channel. Focusing so much on the apartment seems an unusual choice. Is that the focus of this channel?
UPDATE : YOKO ONO no longer lives there ! She moved out due to COVID . Yeah, 2020 sucked.
The meat eating and the cake are the most disgusting thing....
the meat eating got to me too.
The "it might as well be in the Dakotas" is a myth. There's a Dolota documentary documenting the myth.
There are other buildings in the area with Native American naming.
I lived in a building nearby named the Seminole.
The Dakota would be the site of the muder of John Lennon
My recolection is: husband makes bargain with devil, "I start intercorse with wife, I pull back, you devil, push in,she has your devil baby, I husband, get success, fame and wealth, wife gets insanity, NYC gets a real live Devil."
That story of how the Dakota was named is incorrect. Owner Clark simply liked the name. Fact.
Interesting video. A few facts to clear up. Between 1880-1884 much of Manhattan was not "still farmland." Why on earth would you not fix that? The image at :52 is NOT the Dakota. The story about how the Dakota got it's name is a myth. Edward C. Clark simply liked the name. He also owned a building called The Wyoming in midtown. I've written several books about the architecture and history of the Dakota. I knew Lauren Bacall. I know her apartment very well. The apartment in the film was NOT designed based on her apartment. That is a myth. Kindly check the out to learn more. Beyond that, keep up the great work.
This couple was based on Polanski and Tate.
Tate was killed in 1969.
My favorite apartment ever!!!
That kitchen inspired my own kitchen design/decor.