What's the Matter With Helen?

The problem with casting Shelley Winters in a role like this is that she seems a little bit nuts to begin with, so when it is finally revealed that she has actually gone off her rocker, you're never overly surprised. Many have identified this film with the wave of "crazy lady" horror film that began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and continued with Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte. Director Curtis Harrington doesn't really bring anything new to the subgenre in terms of thrills and chills, but he does bring with him a love of 1930's Hollywood and an eye for period detail. Winters and Debbie Reynolds play a couple of high strung mothers whose sons were both arrested as murderers. To escape the scandal, the two of them pack up and head off to Hollywood where Reynolds teaches dancing and Winters plays the piano for aspiring young starlets (Shirley Temple young). While Reynolds escapes into the world of glamor and begins dating a millionaire, Winters escapes into a private world of guilt and religious fanaticism (is there any other kind?). Probably the most memorable scene in the film is when Winters attends a revivalist service and begs the (priestess?) played by Agnes Moorehead (whom Winters listens to on the radio) to forgive her. Moorehead insists that she's already forgiven, but Winters refuses to believe it. Of course guilt leads to madness and soon she begins murdering bunnies and a few people. Harrington seems clearly at home with the era, which is probably his strength, but I was never really provoked to suspense and certainly not fear. Nevertheless, and interesting, though forgotten entry into the genre.