13 Phones of Halloween #9

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Remember what I was saying last week about poor Rosemary Woodhouse never ever having a moment outside of prying eyes? Look at that shot above, at that woman standing outside the booth giving her the death stare - it never ends.

I don't think I'd ever consciously noticed it until watching the scene through this time that this shot in the film is nearly five static minutes of Mia Farrow acting with a pay phone. And it is so incredibly dynamic! Right here in a nutshell (or sweltering hot-box of a phone-booth, rather) you've got why this movie holds up so damned well -- Mia's giving this movie so much life in every single frame.

And then what is quite clearly Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy) swerves into the frame. We know it's him because Polanski, ever mindful...

... has already shot Sapirstein from the back earlier in the film; 

Polanski planted the seed without us even noticing. 

Rosemary notices. But with one despairing prayer...

... she's able to momentarily wish the horror away. Of course if you're knowledgable about such things, you'd know that cigar-chomper might not be Dr. Sapirstein but he sure is...

... producer William Castle. His mug would've probably been more recognizable to 60s movie audiences than it is today; he put himself front and center in his hokey movie campaigns of the time (Viva la Tingler!) a la Hitchcock. But knowing it's him there immediately deflates Rosemary's relief, I think...

... there's no safe place in that schlockmeister's sinister grin.