The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a 1992 thriller starring Rebecca De Mornay as a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family. The film was directed by Curtis Hanson. The original music score was composed by Graeme Revell. The film was a commercial success ranking at number one at the box office for four consecutive weeks and earning a domestic total gross of $88,036,683.
Trivia:
After Claire discovers who Peyton really is, her husband calls the police. He reports the address as “808 Yakima”. This is the actual street address of the house in which most of the movie was filmed.
The musical theme that is featured in the opening credits, that Payton hums when strolling the baby through the park, and that Michael hears on the radio at the climax is “Poor Wandering One”, from the William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan musical “The Pirates of Penzance”.
Madeline Zima’s film debut.
The title of the film is taken from the poem of the same name written by William Ross Wallace. The poem praises motherhood as the primary impetus for changing the world.
Rebecca De Mornay had actually been angling for the part of Tinkerbell in Hook (1991). Losing the role to Julia Roberts prompted her to actively seek something a little darker instead.
Rebecca De Mornay
Sir Arthur Sullivan is cited on more occasions throughout the movie. Already mentioned: Peyton humming music of the “Pirates of Penzance” and the music at the title credits is based on the “Pirates of Penzance”. But also, Michael and Emma are singing Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” in the bathroom at the beginning of the movie; the clock radio in the basement plays more music of the “Pirates of Penzance”; in the house, a poster of Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” can be seen on the wall.
Kevin Spacey was considered for the role of Michael Bartell.
The Gilbert & Sullivan operas both refer to a nanny switching babies. In Pirates of Penzance, the hard-of-hearing nanny accidentally apprentices an orphaned baby as a Pirate instead of a Pilot. In H.M.S. Pinafore, the noble-born Captain and a lowly sailor were switched by a nanny at birth, and when this is revealed, they both switch positions on the ship.
Total Film’s Top 50 of villains
1 The Joker (Batman: The Movie)
2 Darth Vader (Star Wars)
3 Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
4 Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
5 Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
6 Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
7 Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
8 Michael Myers (The Halloween series)
9 Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)
10 Norman Bates (Psycho)
11 Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy (The Last Seduction)
12 Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th series)
13 Saruman the White (The Lord of the Rings)
14 John Doe (Se7en)
15 Baby Jane Hudson (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)
16 Peyton Flanders (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle)
17 Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)
18 Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
19 The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the
wardrobe)
20 Captain Videl (Pan’s Labyrinth)
21 Annie Wilkes (Misery)
22 Tony Montana (Scarface)
23 Catherine Tramell (Basic Instinct)
24 Michael Corleone (The Godfather)
25 Dr Christian Sezell (Marathon Man)
26 Reverend Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)
27 Ray (Nil by Mouth)
28 The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
29 John Ryder (The Hitcher)
30 Suzanna Stone Maretto (To Die For)
31 Combo (This is England)
32 General Zod (Superman)
33 Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
34 Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
35 Ivan Drago (Rocky IV)
36 Daniel Cleaver (Bridget Jones’ Diary)
37 Verbal Klint/Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)
38 Lex Luthor (Superman)
39 Don (Sexy Beast)
40 Begbie (Trainspotting)
41 Phyllis Dietrichsonn (Double Indemnity)
42 Mr Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
43 Dr Elsa Schneider (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
44 Frank (Once Upon a Time in the West)
45 Max Cady (Cape Fear)
46 The Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
47 The Truck (Duel)
48 Hans Beckert (M)
49 Mrs John Iselin (The Manchurian Candidate)
50 Mr Potter (It’s a Wonderful Life)
