Dreadfully Boring

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Despite an interesting premise and some enjoyable black comedy, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a tepid thriller that holds the attention thanks to Page and Gordon whose cat-and-mouse game could be memorable were it not for slack pacing, uninspired writing and a weak, poorly staged finale involving warm milk, a sculpture, and a wheelchair that is more laughable than scary. The supporting cast made up of vaguely familiar faces is flat, and they serve no purpose other than to provide tired exposition. At an hour and 41 minutes the material feels stretched-out and the production values of the film, largely confined to one setting, give it a made-for-TV feel. Page's hammy performance is fun and a rather restrained Gordon is immensely likable. Still, the film disappoints. Not as memorable as Baby Jane, but less tedious than Die! Die! My Darling!

As claimed by the title, this kitsch murder spree is a pastiche of that delectable Betty Davis and Joan Crawford camp classic WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962), in fact, it is produced by the same director/producer Robert Aldrich after the said film and a follow-up HUSH… HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964), so it loosely constitutes a trilogy where the plot pits two aging women, one good, one evil against each other, only this time, the one sits in the director chair is the TV journeyman Lee H. Katzin, who replaced Bernard Girard after four-weeks of filming.In Tuscon, Arizona, an uppity widow Claire Marrable (Page) lives in a house in the desert, she has been bequeathed by her late husband with nothing but a briefcase contains the stamps he had collected. To make ends meet and maintain a well-off front, she bloodily murders her housekeepers, buries them under the pine trees in her garden, in order to take possession of their life-long savings. The gentle Miss Edna Tinsley (Dunnock) is her latest victim. Time to hire a new one, here comes Ms. Dimmock (Gordon), aka. aunt Alice, who is also a widow with no one else in the world, which makes her an easy target. But as time goes by, Claire unexpectedly finds a whiff of compatibility with her. Yet, Aunt Alice has her own ulterior motive, soon suspicion arouses and a cat-fight has been brewing only to leave one of them breathing.The script is inconsistent in shaping up a plausible story (the ending with that deus ex machina is rather lame) and the subplot of a matinée-idol looking Mike Darrah (Fuller), who is the only one could rightfully refer to Ms. Dimmock as aunt Alice, courting a young widow Harriet Vaughn (Forsyth), who lives in a cottage nearby Claire with her son Jim (Barbera), strikes as tedious and out of place.Geraldine Page is in her full-fledged evil form, deliciously camp from her first scene until the very last one (honed up by Gerard Fried's overblown score), as if she was fully aware of the shoddy fodder at her disposal and decided to tirelessly ginger it up with unreserved histrionics to portray Claire's tortured mind, her poisoned thought about "courage to kill" and her absolute selfishness, and it is wonderfully ravishing, she is the one who single-handedly rescues this widow-exploited pulp fiction from being left into oblivion. Ruth Gordon, at the heel of her Oscar-winning victory in Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968), is less memorable in playing an upright role, but little does one know, after rooting for her from the onset, one might overlook that there will be a different denouement for her. Truly evil can never win in the long run, but en route to its doom, it might also take some good souls for company, that is rightfully acceptable under the context, which contrives to e a boon in this patchy murder follies after all.

What a riot! Geraldine Page plays a widow left destitute by her husband, who lives off the savings of maids she hires and then kills. Along comes Ruth Gordon, posing as a maid but actually investigating the disappearance of her lady "companion," and we, the audience, get to sit back and watch her salt-of-the-earth demeanor bounce off of Page's histrionic diva.Is it even possible to be bored by a Page performance? This script is far beneath her, she knows it, and decides to go for it, playing the role as about off-the-wall as you could get without descending into straight camp. She and Gordon are so talented, and so compulsively watchable, that you actually care what happens in this second-rate rip-off of other macabre crazy women films like "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte." Robert Aldrich, the director of both of those films, serves as producer on this one, so maybe it's not exactly ripping off if you're stealing from yourself.And it's a got a groovy score by Gerald Fried (random trivia: he would be nominated for a Best Original Score Oscar in 1975 for the documentary "Birds Do It, Bees Do It') that makes one wonder what he was smoking when he composed it. It sounds like something from a movie about Spanish bullfighters.Grade: B+

What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice is is poorly written, sloppily directed and badly edited. Still, it is watchable because of the bravura performances by the three seasoned actresses who managed to show up to work and give this their all. Geraldine Page is constantly over-the-top as the spoiled and ruthless headmastress - and sole resident - of her own house. Left penniless after her husband's death - she decides to increase her income by hiring servants, stealing their cash and burying them in her yard. Ruth Gordon and Mildred Dunnock both give excellent performances as two of her unlucky hirees. There are several other side-stories which serve absolutely no purpose other than to employ a few terrible actors - I'm looking at YOU, Joan Huntington! This could and should have been much better, but unfortunately it is not. Mainly for fans of bad movies with high camp performances, if you like What Ever Happened To Baby Jane and Mommie Dearest, this one will be right up your alley.