Pretty Baby | 
| Director: Louis Malle
Actors: Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, Susan Sarandon, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.26
You Save: $6.72 (45%)
New (41) Used (20) from $7.27
Rating:  39 reviews
Sales Rank: 9211
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 110 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: PARD089404D
ISBN: 0792194136
UPC: 097360894042
EAN: 9780792194132
ASIN: B0000AUHQ6
Theatrical Release Date: April 5, 1978
Release Date: November 18, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A PROSTITUTE'S DAUGHTER INTRIGUES A PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT OF 1917 NEW ORLEANS.
Amazon.com essential video
A semi-scandal upon its release in 1978, this Louis Malle film is set in a turn-of-the-century, New Orleans bordello and focuses on a girl named Violet (then-child actress Brooke Shields) whose imminent twelfth birthday signals her "readiness" to become a career prostitute. Typical of Malle, the outwardly forbidden nature of the story and relationships within are morally obscured by the immediate experiences and unqualified urges of the characters. The little heroine brings a distinctly youthful and innocent view to the milieu, and the introduction of a photographer (Keith Carradine)--who eventually marries Violet--in the brothel carries the suggestion that there is art and beauty to be explored there. Susan Sarandon is beguiling as Violet's mother, who seems to unfold in the cameraman's presence. The film moves a little stiffly, a little slowly, possibly from a heavy emphasis on period art direction and Sven Nykvist's moody if gorgeous photography. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Buy the VHS not the DVD May 20, 2009
R. Hoover
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The DVD wide screen version is really bad,they crop out the bottom of scenes! i.e. the famous bathtub scene etc.
Never buy the DVD unless one wishes to see the uncut director's full screen version.
I was surprised to see that the VHS had closed captions,
isn't described on listing.
Louie Was Louie April 1, 2009
Will F. Decker (Norman, OK USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This week I purchased and viewed Louis Malle's movie "Pretty Baby". I have been viewing all of Malle's movies, next his documentaries.
I learned three things from "Pretty Baby":
1. A whore (I hate that name) can run a successful business: Madame Nell The Whorehouse Owner,
2. It is not only OK but good to fall in love with and bed an underage person: Ernest J. Bellocq The Photographer,
3. You endorse the two above positions our Christian Western Culture Do-Gooder-Know -It- All-No-Nothing's with their overwhelming resources, far reaching organizations, and laws will crush you telling you it is you that is arrogant and stupid, enjoy your lifetime sentence and shame.
I once saw Candice Bergen the wife of the Late Louis Malle asked in an interview what she thought about Louis' movie subjects and the views he expressed. Her answer was, "Louie was Louie".
 2.5 stars out of 4 February 23, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Ann Arbor)
The Bottom Line:
A movie set in a brothel (or directed by Louis Malle) can never be boring, but Pretty Baby doesn't really have a plot or characters interesting enough to drive a film; an interesting failure perhaps, but a failure nonetheless.
A work of art October 7, 2008
Roger Long (Port Clinton, OH USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Very few movies are truly works of art. This is one of them. There are no explosions that throw bodies through the air, no sensational car crashes, no severed human limbs. Rather there is a plot that unfolds on its own good time, well drawn characters, excellently written dialogue, perfect atmosphere, and gorgeous photography.
Still, I understand why some might find the film objectionable. There is nudity, even nudity of a pubescent girl. There is open talk of sex. And some quasi moralists are more offended by that than by graphic violence. Sex, of course, is part of life and is legal, but it must not be shown or suggested very clearly. Murder, on the other hand, is illegal but is shown every night on TV with little protest from the moralists.
The acting here is seamless. Susan Sarandon gives her best performance, as does Brook Shields. But the performance that I found most startling was that of the bordello madame.
There was an area of New Orleans called Storyville, for some 20 years, where prostitution was confined, ending about World War I. That much of the plot is true. And the photographer Bellocq existed; some of his art has survived. But he didn't look anything like the character in this film, or so we are led to believe from descriptions of him.
I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. There is nothing I've seen like it. It is truly an art film.
Good September 6, 2008
Edward V. Phillips (Silverdale Wa)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Every thing arrived in good order and in good time
I could not confirm that I am over 13 because the check mark didn't work this time I confer now that I am fifty years older than thirteen.
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