I went into this film with fairly high expectations given all that I'd heard about it, but the simple fact is that What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice did little for me. Given the fact that the title is an obvious rip-off of Robert Altman's 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, I was expecting this to be more of a comedy, but despite the fact that it's extremely camp; there's not a great deal of 'fun' to be had with it. There were a lot of horror films released during the sixties that featured a strong female lead, and while many of them (Altman's film and Lady in a Cage spring to mind instantly) were very good, this one is surprisingly lacking. The plot follows a woman who loses her fortune after the death of her husband. She decides to start taking in housekeepers and then dispatching them in order to steal their savings and rectify her financial situation, but after ridding herself of her latest housekeeper; she doesn't realise that the new applicant, an Alice Dimmock, was a friend of the old housekeeper and has taken the job with the intention of investigating the mysterious disappearance.
Director Lee H. Katzin doesn't do a very good job of creating atmosphere, and the film feels like it should be really be a comedy. The plot is very thin, and despite attempts to bulk it out with a number of sub-plots, the film still feels like it needs a little more impact than it has. The film relies on its female leads; Geraldine Paige and Ruth Gordon, too much and despite the fact that both give nice performances, neither one has enough to completely carry the film. The decision to film it in colour was a bad one as well - it gives the film a really cheap feel and I don't doubt that it would have been a hell of a lot better in black and white! The story flows quite slowly overall, and this is something of a nuisance as the attempts to build interest with plots involving a dog and a few other things don't provide enough of a distraction when the film starts to drag. It's all pretty tame until the part towards the end when the two leads finally have their battle...but even that is disappointing and while the twist at the end may please some, I was left rather unfulfilled. Overall, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice was a huge disappointment for me and therefore I don't recommend it!
Director Lee H. Katzin doesn't do a very good job of creating atmosphere, and the film feels like it should be really be a comedy. The plot is very thin, and despite attempts to bulk it out with a number of sub-plots, the film still feels like it needs a little more impact than it has. The film relies on its female leads; Geraldine Paige and Ruth Gordon, too much and despite the fact that both give nice performances, neither one has enough to completely carry the film. The decision to film it in colour was a bad one as well - it gives the film a really cheap feel and I don't doubt that it would have been a hell of a lot better in black and white! The story flows quite slowly overall, and this is something of a nuisance as the attempts to build interest with plots involving a dog and a few other things don't provide enough of a distraction when the film starts to drag. It's all pretty tame until the part towards the end when the two leads finally have their battle...but even that is disappointing and while the twist at the end may please some, I was left rather unfulfilled. Overall, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice was a huge disappointment for me and therefore I don't recommend it!