ThedevilChoose
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
earlytalkie
I saw this in the theater way back when and liked it. A lowish-budget thriller, it combines the talents of Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds and puts forth yet another story in the genre of older ladies' horror shows. The film is made in color and has some interesting numbers as the two ladies run a school for Shirley Temple wannabees in the 1930s. Agnes Moorehead is on hand as a radio evangelist who Shelly listens to. The ladies run the whole show here, and their fans are not let down. The script is fairly engrossing and the production design is very good. I can't imagine any fan of the two leading ladies not enjoying this. The credits list this as a Filmways production. That's right. The company which gave you Mister Ed and The Beverly Hillbillies now bring you Shelly Winters as a maniacal latent lesbian!
johnstonjames
Curtis Harrington is the most. i'd say to die for but that would be a pun that waxes ironic. but Harrington makes creepy psychological horror that is hard to resist not only because of the morbidity of their fascination but because they are so elegant, refined and obviously tailored to be so entertaining and fun.'What's The Matter With Helen' is a lot of creepy fun but it is also very stylish and extremely well crafted stuff. not only are Reynolds and Winters outstanding and memorable, but the production design and screenplay are above par. not to mention one of the wickedest and slyest sense of humour in dark comedy. the humour is so sly and subtle that it never relies on obvious or out and out gags. most people would hardly even realize there is even humour at play here.there have been complaints about there being too many plot holes within the story here. i disagree. you just have to pay more attention to the situation. if there is any fault here with the story is that there is possibly too much happening for the viewer to comprehend easily on one viewing. but the plot is coherent and tied together correctly, it just gets a little hard to follow with all the events that transpire. but in the long, it all makes perfect sense. there is also a real sense of believable timing here like in the suddenness of Helen's homicidal rage.as with Harrington's 'Auntie Roo', i feel like i'm giving short change by only rating this with eight stars. his film's have so much quality you feel they warrant more consideration. possibly so. maybe time will tell. where i'm concerned, Harrington's film's feel too entertaining and are too much fun, and that seems to be the ultimate point to them, which makes their contributions seem somewhat light and superficial. as far as entertaining fun goes, they are cinema classics.at any rate i think this film is a real hoot and holler. there may be better horror films and thrillers than this, but few as perfectly done and few are as fun as this.
MartinHafer
Some of the background details of this story are based, very, very loosely, on real events of the era in which this was placed. The story combines some of the details of the famous Leopold and Loeb case along with a bit of Aimee Semple McPherson.The story begins with two mothers (Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds) being hounded as they leave a courtroom. The crowd seems most intent on doing them bodily harm as their sons were just convicted of a heinous thrill crime. One person in the crowd apparently slashes Winters' hand as they make their way to a waiting car.Soon after they arrive home, they begin getting threatening phone calls, so Reynolds suggests they both move to the West Coast together and open a dance school. The dance school is s success and they cater to incredibly obnoxious parents who think their child is the next Shirley Temple. One of the parents of these spoiled kids is a multimillionaire who is quite smitten with Reynolds and they begin dating. Life appears very good. But, when the threatening phone calls begin again, Winters responds by flipping out--behaving like she's nearing a psychotic break and she retreats further and further into religion--listening on the radio to 'Sister Alma' almost constantly. Again and again, you see Winters on edge and it ultimately culminates in very bad things!! I won't say more, as it might spoil this suspenseful and interesting film.In many ways, this film is a lot like the Bette Davis and Joan Crawford horror films of the 1960s like "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", "Straight-Jacket" and "The Nanny". While none of these are exactly intellectual fare, on a kitsch level they are immensely entertaining and fun. The writing is very good and there are some nice twists near the end that make it all very exciting. Winters is great as a fragile and demented lady and Reynolds plays one of the sexiest 39 year-olds I've ever seen--plus she can really, really dance.My only concern about all this is that some might find Winters' hyper-religiosity in the film a bit tacky--like a cheap attack on Christianity. At first I felt that way, but when you meet Sister Alma, she seems sincere and is not mocked, so I took Winters' religious zeal as just a sign of craziness--which, I assume, is all that was intended.By the way, this film is packaged along with "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?"--another Shelley Winters horror film from 1971. Both are great fun...and quite over-the-top!
MARIO GAUCI
I had watched (and recorded) this a few years back on local TV and, having been underwhelmed by it, I subsequently erased the tape; however, when it was released by MGM as part of a "Midnite Movie" double-feature DVD of Curtis Harrington/Shelley Winters films for a very affordable price, I couldn't resist giving it a second look (this has since gone out-of-print). Actually, I received the DVD a few months ago but only now, with Harrington's passing, did I get to it; thankfully, this time around I was more receptive to the film and, in fact, now consider it one of the more satisfying WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962) imitations (with whom, incidentally, it shared screenwriter Henry Farrell).The film offers a splendid evocation of 1930s Depression America - with its child-star craze and sensational murders (exploited during the fake newsreel opening); it's stylishly made (kudos to Lucien Ballard's cinematography and the set design by Eugene Lourie') and boasts an effective David Raksin score. Shelley Winters, Debbie Reynolds and Michael MacLiammoir deliver excellent performances; the latter is especially impressive as the larger-than-life and vaguely sinister diction coach (though he ultimately proves a mere red herring!). Also featured are Dennis Weaver and Agnes Moorehead (hers is only a cameo, really, as the evangelist she plays is mostly heard over the radio).Many seemed to regret the inclusion of musical numbers by the kids (including an amusing Mae West imitation), but I personally wasn't bothered by them; the film does slightly overstay its welcome due to an unhurried pace and (perhaps needlessly) convoluted plot. Reynolds - a musical star herself - is ideally cast as the dancing-school owner and, despite their on-set rivalry, she and Winters work well together. The latter, in fact, gives a more balanced depiction of paranoia and insanity than in WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? (1971); the narrative, then, comes up with a number of ironic twists that lead up to the expected Grand Guignol-type denouement. Apparently, the film was toned down (it originally contained more gore and even a suggestion of lesbianism!) by producer Martin Ransohoff - against Harrington's wishes - in order to get a PG rating...
