Die Die My Darling
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Movie Reviews of Die Die My Darling
Movie Review: over the top dialogue, a lunatic mother who will never let go, and LIES ! LIES ! LIES !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Die! Die! My Darling is a well done albeit somewhat campy film from the mid 1960s that looks a bit tamer today than it probably did when it was first released. Nevertheless, we get stunning performances from the great Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers and Peter Vaughan; and the suspense builds up very well.
The action starts when Pat Carroll (Stefanie Powers) arrives in England to meet her fiancé, Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Pat insists that she must have a final meeting with her former fiancés mother, Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead). Alan doesn't like it; but Pat insists--you get the impression that Pat is used to getting her way. Pat drives off in Alan's car to meet Mrs. Trefoile--and when she arrives at Mrs. Trefoile's, the REAL action starts.
Mrs. Trefoile turns out to be a fanatical religious zealot who's also just plain crazy; she holds lengthy Bible meetings and ultimately imprisons Pat against her will when she finds out Pat wasn't going to marry her late son Stephen. Pat tries desperately to fight and escape; but Mrs. Trefoile and her "staff" are remarkably adept at keeping Pat locked up. Pat is even forced to write a letter to Alan explaining that she is detained so that he doesn't get suspicious and go to the Trefoile residence to see what's going on there.
Of course, the plot can go anywhere from here. Does Alan try to go after Pat or does he believe her letter? If Alan doesn't come, will anyone save Pat from a likely death? What about Mrs. Trefoile--will she really murder someone with the gun she always carries around with her? No spoilers here, folks, you'll have to watch the movie to find out the answers.
The cinematography works best in the scenes where Pat is running outside to try to escape as she is chased by Harry (Peter Vaughan), one of Mrs. Trefoile's servants. The choreography works well in the scenes in which Pat struggles to be free of her captors.
Unfortunately, the DVD has no real extras to mention. All we get is three trailers for Mr. Sardonicus; Straight-Jacket; and Homicidal. Oh, well. The movie is so good that I will overlook this disappointment; this movie really held my attention well.
Overall, Die! Die! My Darling! Has a great plot that gives us some camp mixed in with a horror flick about imprisonment, torture and insanity. Tallulah Bankhead acted brilliantly and she truly carried the film. Look for some great performances from Stefanie Powers and Peter Vaughan as Pat Carroll and Harry the servant respectively; and honorable mention goes to a young Donald Sutherland playing a mentally handicapped man who works on Mrs. Trefoile's estate.
I highly recommend this film for fans of horror films, fans of camp and the actors in this movie, too. This was Tallulah Bankhead's last movie; and she went out in grand style!
Enjoy!
Movie Review: Camp classic comes to DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a film that is great fun if you like Tallulah Bankhead and camp. Bankhead didn't make very many films, especially in her later years, but she did this one basically for the money and because other distinguished actresses (Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Olivia de Havilland, etc.) were making horror films. In "Die, Die, My Darling", a Hammer production (originally titled "Fanatic" in England where it was filmed), Tallulah plays a religious zealot who cannot get over the death of her son. When her son's former fiancee (Stephanie Powers) arrives to pay her a visit, she becomes more and more enraged when she finds that Powers has participated in all kinds of ungodly things like falling in love again and heaven forbid, wearing make-up! She then traps Powers in her attic where she torments her. It's all quite over the top, offering a minimum of suspense, but it is, nevertheless, quite entertaining.
Bankhead filmed the movie just a few years before she died. She was plagued by a number of health problems at the time (most of them caused by too much drinking and smoking). She wears no make-up, her hair was dyed gray and put in a bun and there were many harsh, unflattering close-ups. Before the film was released, it was shown to Tallulah and a small audience of her friends. After her first scene, she stood up and told everyone, "Darlings, I must apologize for looking older than God's wet nurse."
"Die, Die, My Darling" is a hoot to watch. The role had to have been 180 degrees from Tallulah herself, but she pulls off the role flawlessly. She delivers Bible verses in her sonorous voice in a rapid-fire manner. Her double takes, as in response to Powers appearing in red dress and red lipstick, are hilarious. It was Tallulah's only appearance in a color film and she is practically unrecognizable except for her distinctive voice, which gives her away.
It is great to see this film restored to dvd. The picture has never been sharper - you can actually see a fly buzzing around Tallulah in one scene where she is lying on her bed! The film featured a muted color palette and they appear true and not saturated. The sound (Dolby Digital monaural) is decent for a film over 40 years old. The extras are a disappointment though and feature only three trailers ("Homicidal", "Strait Jacket" and "Mr. Sardonicus").
Movie Review: As It Says In The Bible, I Must Kill! Kill! My Darling!
Summary: 5 Stars
Stefanie Powers is Patricia "Pat" Carroll, a beautiful young american woman visiting England with her fiance. While there, she decides to keep a promise she'd made to her late boyfriend's mother (Tallulah Bankhead) and pay her a visit. Bad idea! You see, mum is actually a hyper-religious maniac who's been going increasingly bonkers in her moldering old mansion. Pat arrives and the fun begins. Mrs. Trefoile (mum) is distressed by Pat's attitude and worldly ways. She had figured that Pat would remain a devoted "wife" to her dead son, saving herself for him in heaven. Pat does not measure up to mum's expectations at all! So, with the help of her housekeeper Anna (Yootha Joyce) and Anna's lecherous husband Harry (Peter Vaughan), mum sets out to "save" Pat by kidnapping, starving, and torturing her with hours of monotonous bible teachings. When Pat finally stands up to her, mum pulls a gun on her! Now, THAT'S some old time religion! Pat's clothes are shredded, her make-up destroyed, and her jewelry confiscated. Mum has a "simpler" life in store for her. Thankfully, Pat is not a complete mush, and does try to escape many times. Her character is fairly realistic and sympathetic. Mrs. Trefoile is of course the demented center of this story. Her hidden basement room contains the truth of her existence. What's in there? Why does she go there late at night? DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! is a tense cat and mouse flick with some nice sharp turns. I loved every minute! Check out Donald Sutherland as the gardener! Highly recommended...Movie Review: DELICIOUSLY CAMPY
Summary: 5 Stars
DIE DIE MY DARLING was one of Hammer's diversions into "psychological horror", and it is a very interesting and well-made film. Scripted by the talented Richard Matheson, the story unfolds lazily, although we know the minute Stefanie Powers meets the irrepressible Tallulah Bankhead, the fun is about to start. Bankhead's remarkably smoky voice propels this fanatical old woman, and her performance is remarkably restrained; I think she did better in some ways than Bette or Joan in their "horror" movie days. I actually came to hate the woman with each ridiculous dependence on her Biblical reasoning for tormenting Powers. Powers herself does an excellent job in going from the sweet young thing to the venomous hussy who wants to tell Bankhead exactly what kind of girl she is. Yootha Joyce as Anna, and Peter Vaughan as her lecherous husband Harry, are very good in supporting roles; Donald Sutherland's idiot role demonstrates what a versatile actor he was going to be. The film's opening credits, with the cat chasing the mouse, and the unusually bouncy jazz score, indicate that what's about to happen is being done tongue in cheek; yet the movie has a dark underlying evil that crescendos into a descent into madness.
This is a good, sturdy film.
Movie Review: Terrific, Terrifying Tallulah
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, it had to happen. After about everybody came out of the woodwork to make an aging-gorgon-goes-horror, Hammer trots out this seemingly sure fire camp-fest: Starlet Stefanie Powers menaced by gorgon Tallulah Bankhead.
But I don't know if they meant it or not, but they actually got a lot more than the sum of it's parts. Despite the rather sleazy script and some cheesy effects, we have a believable performance from Stefanie Powers as in danger girl (really, we have had too much exposure to Ripley and Buffy- if someone showed up casually firing a handgun near your cranium, you'd cower too!) paying a duty visit to the mother of her recently deceased boyfriend, played in a really surfing-the-edge performance by Tallu. As the demented religion-crazed Mrs Trefoyle, Tallulah is by turns delicate, regal, trashy, insane, sexy, ludicrous and commanding. In her later years, she's unconstrained from the 30's idea that she had to be the American Dietrich, and she commits to film the sort of daring performance she did on stage that made one reviewer comment he'd go to her plays because she was always skating on thin ice- and he wanted to see if she'd fall through.