What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? **** (1969, Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, Mildred Dunnock) – Classic Movie Review 4,817

This extremely tasty 1969 black comedy mystery chiller film What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? stars Geraldine Page as an Arizona widow who has a bad habit of bumping off the home help for their money and burying the bodies in the garden.

This extremely tasty 1969 black comedy mystery chiller is producer Robert Aldrich’s third Grand Guignol horror film after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964).

However, this time there is no Bette Davis as star, and Aldrich hands over the direction to Lee H Katzin, who has no trouble stirring up the atmosphere and tension in Theodore Apstein’s screenplay based on the novel The Forbidden Garden by Ursula Curtiss, in which Tucson, Arizona, widow Claire Marrable (Geraldine Page) makes a bad habit of bumping off the home help for their money and burying the bodies in the garden.

The aging widow’s game plan is simple. She hires elderly female housekeepers and cons them out of their money before murdering them. 

She hires the timid Edna Tinsley (Mildred Dunnock) as a replacement housekeeper shortly after her latest murder, and starts milking Edna for her money via dodgy stocks before poor old Edna inevitably ends up in the yard beneath a new pine tree.

But now Aunt Alice (lovely old Ruth Gordon) turns up at Mrs Marrable’s home to take on the job of housekeeper so that she can find out what happened to her missing widowed friend Edna and eventually to trap Marrable.

The veteran actresses kick up a storm, with the admirable Page and Gordon stupendous, the twisting plot is chilling and funny in turns, Joseph F Biro’s cinematography is outstanding, and the movie is wickedly entertaining.

Also in the cast are Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, Mildred Dunnock, Joan Huntington, Peter Brandon, Michael Barbera, Peter Bonerz, Richard Angarola, Valerie Allen, Martin Garralaga, Jack Bannon, Seth Riggs, Lou Kane, Howard Wright, and Jess Riggle.

Lee H Katzin replaced an uncredited Bernard Girard who was fired as director after four weeks’ shooting, about half of the film.

Shooting began on October 23, 1968 on location in Tucson, Arizona, with other filming at Aldrich Studios in Los Angeles. In November, it was announced that Bernard Girard ‘has withdrawn due to differences in interpretation’. Principal photography finished on January 5, 1969.

It cost $1,690,000, and grossed $3,225,000, but still recorded a loss of $860,000.

Page, still in her early 40s, said she enjoyed the opportunity to play ‘a villainess’. Gordon said: ‘It’s a wonderful part and a wonderful script.’

It is the only movie produced by Aldrich and not directed by him.

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is directed by Lee H Katzin and an uncredited Bernard Girard, runs 101 minutes, is made by American Broadcasting Company (ABC), Palomar Pictures Corporation, and The Associates & Aldrich Company, is released by Cinerama Releasing Corporation, is written by Theodore Apstein’s screenplay is based on the novel The Forbidden Garden by Ursula Curtiss, is shot Joseph F Biroc, is produced by Robert Aldrich, and is scored by Gerald Fried.

They’ve come up with a name for films like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? Wait for it, it’s the psycho-biddy horror film sub-genre!

What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971) and Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? followed.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,817

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