What's the Matter with Helen?

Plot synopsis:
Leonard Hill and Wesley Bruckner are seen being loaded into a paddywagon to face life sentences in prison for the Iowa murder of Ellie Banner. Their mothers, Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds) fight a crowd to their car.
In the car, Helen reveals that someone in the crowd cut the palm of her left hand. Soon at home and tending to her wound, Helen receives an anonymous phone call from a man, "I'm the one who cut you.... I wanted to see you bleed." This caller threatens to make the mothers pay for the sins of their sons. Helen and Adelle change their names, leave Iowa, and head to Hollywood, where they open a dance academy for little girls who want to be the next Shirley Temple.
Soon after arriving, Hamilton Starr (Micheál MacLiammóir), an elocution teacher, offers his services to Helen and Adelle's school, and Adelle takes him up on his offer, much to Helen's chagrin, as Helen is frightened of the menacing man. Soon, the phone calls resume and Helen believes a strange man is watching their home. She has hallucinations, especially at a show where she think she sees Starr with a knife.
Adelle falls in love with Lincoln Palmer (Dennis Weaver), the father of a student (Sammee Lee Jones), and Helen grows jealous of the budding relationship. Helen takes solace in her faith, listening to a radio show hosted by evangelist Sister Alma (Agnes Moorehead).
Helen's jealousy of Adelle's romance with Lincoln leads to a fight, at which point Adelle demands that Helen move out. Adelle then heads for her date with Linc. As Helen readies herself to move out, a mysterious intruder enters the house, walks up the staircase, and calls her real name. Helen reacts by pushing him down the stairs. When he lands at the bottom, his head is gashed open, blood is seeping onto the floor, and Helen envisions her late husband, who was mutilated by a plow, and the dead Ellie Banner.
Adelle arrives home to find the dead stranger and, fearing publicity, decides to dispose of the body. As the rain pours, she and Helen drag the dead man into the street and dump his body into an open hole, adjacent to their home, where crews had been doing construction. The body is discovered the next morning and it is presumed that the man fell into the hole to his death.
Helen's guilt builds and she visits the church to see Sister Alma and to atone for her sins. Sister Alma offers her forgiveness, but an irrational Helen creates a spectacle and is dragged away by Adelle. Helen is later ordered to take bed rest by her doctor.
Adelle goes to a miniature golf course with Linc, where he proposes. He drives her home to make preparations to elope that evening. Arriving home, Adelle notices that Helen is not in her room and follows a trail of blood out the back door and down to a rabbit cage, where she finds Helen's pet rabbits slaughtered. Helen steps out of the shadows and reveals that she killed them and that she pushed her husband off a plow to his death. Adelle leads Helen into the house and is phoning Sister Alma when she lets it slip that she plans to wed Lincoln. Helen then pulls a knife from her robe and stabs Adelle in the back. As Adelle falls dead, the doorbell chimes.
Helen answers the door, finding a detective who shows her a photo of the man she pushed down the staircase. When she claims not to recognize him, the detective reveals that the man was Ellie Banner's boyfriend, who came to California with plans to murder the ladies.
Later, Lincoln arrives, expecting to whisk Adelle away. From the street, he can hear someone pounding "Goody Goody" on the piano. He enters the house, calling Adelle's name, and follows the sound of the piano up to the rehearsal hall. There, he finds Helen giddily playing the song with Adelle's body, dressed in her signature dance costume, tied to a ladder on stage.
Helen laughs, unhinged.

Tags: revenge, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
The most bizarre of the cinematic sub-genres is the so called "The Great Ladies of the Grand Guignol": camp horror films which combined over-the-top melodrama with gothic thrills and always starred by seasoned and almost forgotten actress from hollywood golden age in unflattering roles of either long suffering victims or screeching evil harpies.
This genre provided them with an unusual acting showcase that allowed strut their stuff on the screen once again and win new generations of fans at expense of their glamorous images from yesterday."What's the matter with Helen" is the last drop of this sub-genre with stunning performances of both Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters as the troubled mothers of two convicted criminals who run away from their past to the sunny California in the 1930s to open a talent school to milk out the eagerly mothers who want their daughters to be the next Shirley Temple.
In California, Debbie gets happiness, clients, tango, tap dancing and a new love interest (Dennis Weaver meanwhile Shelley gets wacko with horrible flashbacks, menacing anonymous calls, menacing strangers, menacing Agnes Moorehead as a radio evangelist, cute little rabbits (!) and an unfortunate encounter with an electric fan (ouch!).The sloppy script (penned by Henry Farrell, the man who started all this genre with "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" along with master director Robert Aldrich, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis) is full of plot holes, red herrings and wasted opportunities that could had made this movie great: the underlying themes of twisted motherhood (with Debbie and Shelley's characters as "failed mothers" and the overbearing mommies of the child stars) and obsessive female bonding (Debbie and Shelley relationship and the fact that the few male characters of this movie are either sinister or sleazy even Dennis Weaver dream boat Texan) are wasted.
Instead we get Debbie Reynolds musicals interludes and dancing tots, although fun to watch take too much screen time of what is supposedly to be a psychological chiller.
And seeing an increasingly mad Shelley Winters screw every one of Debbie Reynolds' chances at happiness is a hoot to watch!8 out of 10..
The movie takes place in the 1930s--The mothers (Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters) of two murdering sons run away to Hollywood after their sons are convicted.
Reynolds and Winters are mothers of young convicted murderers (a nod to 'Compulsion') who run away to hide in Hollywood.
Debbie Reynolds perfects that 1930's platinum blonde/Jean Harlow image, and Shelley Winters gives what is possibly her all-time best performance as the maniacal Helen.
Fearing for their safety in their small town in 1930s America, star-obsessed Adelle (Debbie Reynolds) decides to get a fresh new start in Hollywood, and convinces the quiet and religious Helen (Shelley Winters) to join her.
Debbie Reynolds looks like a classic Hollywood starlet (fantastic costumes and makeup), and it is hilarious and sickening fun watching Shelley Winters in a downward spiral.
Recommended to fans of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" and anyone who entertained by Shelley Winters going crazy.
DEBBIE REYNOLDS and SHELLEY WINTERS try to escape their sordid past (their sons were convicted of a brutal killing), so they flee to Hollywood in the 1930s and open a talent school for kiddies who want to become the next Shirley Temple.It's a fun idea for a black comedy, and director Curtis Harrington makes the most of a story by Henry Farrell that pretty much adapts some of the same material he used in other thrillers written exclusively to give aging divas the chance to do some melodramatic emoting.
While this doesn't reach the heights (or depths) of BABY JANE or CHARLOTTE, it does provide a lot of camp fun for film addicts familiar with the '30s scene.DENNIS WEAVER has the only interesting male role, but the film belongs to Debbie (she sings and dances, too) and Shelley (who has a madcap time going insane) and there's even a shocking ending to keep the horror fans happy.If you enjoy this sort of thing, done previously in similar films like WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE?, this one is easy to take..
In the hands of any other movie crew, this certainly would have become a nasty and gritty exploitation tale, but with director Curtis Harrington ("Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?") and scriptwriter Henry Farrell ("HushHushSweet Charlotte") in charge, it became a beautiful and almost enchanting mixture of themes and genres.
Following the long and exhausting trial that sentenced their sons to life-imprisonment for murder, Adelle (Debbie Reynolds) and Helen (Shelley Winters) flee to California and attempt to start a new life running a dance school for young talented girls.
Two ladies, brought together when their sons commit a murder, try starting their lives over by running a tap-dance school for tots in Hollywood.
Good Fun. Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.Curtis Harrington and George Edwards approached writer Henry Farrell soon after "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" was a hit, hoping to get a screenplay.
It was their idea to change the setting to a 1930s dance academy for little girls.I think this works great, and although the horror aspects are minimal compared to the weird kid acting and dancing scenes, it is an effective story.
She frumps out in 12 directions as once as the put-upon, mentally unstable sidekick to Debbie Reynold's kicky, trashy, B-Movie-Greta-Garbo impersonation.The whole thing lacks production value in any form, yet is presented so earnestly and 'seriously' by Reynolds and Winters that your pity for their careers is heightened with every plot point.The movie is worth watching if only for the final shot of Shelly's face as she bangs out "Goody Goody" on the piano--the only song she seems to know--and, well, I won't give any more away.
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).
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.
There's enough psycho-sexual undercurrent here to keep a psychology student occupied for a full semester, but what really makes the film work are the central performances by Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters.
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.
True, her character is the perky one in contrast to Shelley Winters's disturbed one, but when was the last time that you saw Debbie Reynolds in a movie dealing with murder?
As unlikely a pair of co-stars you will ever find, Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters, team up for What's The Matter With Helen.
It's a film that borrows a lot from Whatever Happened To Baby Jane.Reynolds and Winters play the notorious mothers of a pair of thrill kill teen age homicide perpetrators who murdered the richest woman in their small Ohio town.
She's giving Reynolds lots of second thoughts about going into a partnership with her in a dance studio for children all of whose mothers see their little darling as the new Shirley Temple.Reynolds has an interesting if understated role here.
After a sensational 1930s murder trial sends their sons to prison, middle-aged mothers Debbie Reynolds (as Adelle Bruckner) and Shelley Winters (as Helen Hill) decide to escape the glare of photographers and nosy reporters.
Possessing an obvious skill in dance, Ms. Reynolds decides she and Ms. Winters should start a school for mothers who think their little girls have what it takes to be the next Shirley Temple.
Reynolds inexplicably tells Winters she looks like Marion Davies...Both women reveal more in their past than murderous sons.
This cycle began with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962) and Winters went directly into "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1972).****** What's the Matter with Helen?
(6/30/71) Curtis Harrington ~ Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters, Dennis Weaver, Micheal MacLiammoir.
This movie looks back to "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane," and forward to "Carrie." It is nowhere near as good as either of them, but does manage to keep the viewer involved and caring what happens.Debbie Reynolds looks great as a cheap Jean Harlow imitator.
It is really sad that Hollywood musicals were over by the time this movie was made because Debbie Reynolds was just made for them and manages to make even this material sweet and tasty.
The viewer is not quite sure whose side to be on a good portion of the movie.Dennis Weaver does a great job as Reynold's boyfriend who brings out Winters' insecurity.
Director Curtis Harrington and actress Shelley Winters collaborated on two movies in 1971 - this one, and Whoever Slew Auntie Roo; both are disappointing.
Shelley Winters delivers a rather good performance in the lead role, however and manages to give the film a little bit of credibility.
Classy, elegant Adele (marvelously played with dignified resolve by Debbie Reynolds) and batty, frumpy Helen (the magnificent Shelley Winters going full-tilt wacko with her customary histrionic panache) are the mothers of two killers.
On the other hand, religious fanatic Helen soon sinks into despair and madness.Director Curtis ("Night Tide," "Ruby") Harrington, working from a crafty script by Henry Farrell (who wrote the book "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" was based on and co-wrote the screenplay for "Hush ...
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.
After their sons are sentenced to life in prison, Adelle (Debbie Reynolds) and Helen (Shirley Winters) begin receiving threatening phone calls because someone fells their sons got off easy.
It may take a good deal of the movie's running time, but once she snaps, Helen is one Bad Mad Mutha.
I'm not going to spoil the movie, but the things Helen is capable of are totally over-the-top.As good as Winters is, Reynolds is totally ridiculous in her role as the gold-digging tap dancer.
Hey, Debbie, don't you realize that you're main purpose is to be a victim of Winters' insanity.I just love these former-female-stars-in-the-twilight-of-their-career horror movies.
Then, we see their mothers - played by Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds - as they bravely face an angry mob and drive away.
He's rich as it gets, rich enough to pay for gigolos to dance with her while he watches in yet another one of those moments that would get explored in a modern movie and are just another creepy aside in this one.Between Helen murdering people who break into their house, then trying to be forgiven by Sister Alma all while having flashbacks to her husband being run over by a plow, her madness soon overtakes the film and things proceed to a rather sudden and shocking conclusion.
There's also an extended miniature golf sequence and numerous rabbit murders, as well as the reveal that Helen may have been right to kill at least one of the intruders.This movie happened when director Curtis Harrington (Night Tide, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?) and producer George Edwards approached writer Henry Farrell (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) became a hit.
Hagsploitation was in, baby, and these dudes wanted in on the action!According to Debbie Reynolds, Shelley Winters's psychiatrist had warned her not to take this movie, as she was about to play a woman having a nervous breakdown while she was actually having one.
She claims that Winters became her character to the point that the studio considered replacing her with Geraldine Page, who had plenty of hagsploitation cred after starring in Robert Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?Winters also totally caught the lesbian undercurrents - well, they're not so well hidden, so let's say overcurrents - in the movie, but the scenes where she really played it up were left on the cutting room floor.It's worth noting that this was an Oscar-nominated film - for Reynolds outfits, that is.
It's written by Henry Farrell, who'd concocted an earlier story that was the basis for "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters star as Adelle and Helen, two women who flee unhappy lives during the Great Depression (their sons were convicted of a brutal murder) to open a dance school in Hollywood.
Things go fine for a while, as Adelle is romanced by a nice-guy rich Texan (the amiable Dennis Weaver), but feelings of guilt start weighing rather heavily on Helen.The story doesn't always stay quite on track, with musical numbers for Debbies' students as well as herself, but Harrington does have a masterful way with period recreation and Gothic atmosphere, and he does get effective performances out of his two leads.
The excellent cast also includes other familiar faces like Micheal MacLiammoir ("The Kremlin Letter"), in his last film role, Agnes Moorehead ('Bewitched'), Helene Winston ("A Boy and His Dog"), Peggy Rea ('The Dukes of Hazzard'), Logan Ramsey ("Walking Tall"), Yvette Vickers ("Attack of the 50 Foot Woman"), Robbi Morgan ("Friday the 13th" - 1980), Timothy Carey ("The Worlds' Greatest Sinner"), and Pamelyn Ferdin ("The Toolbox Murders" - 1978).The macabre visuals certainly are something to behold, but the studio would have done better to not put them on the poster.
There may be animal crackers in the little girl's soup, but there's madness in the mind of Shelley Winters as dance teacher Debbie Reynolds' partner in this sometimes silly, always entertaining entry of the hags in horror series that started with "Baby Jane" and was still going on a decade later.
Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds moved to California to escape from the scandal of their boys who killed a girl and went to prison for it, and all the gossip.
The film is almost laughable with Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters teaming up as the mothers of convicted murderers.
With the horrible notoriety after the trial, the two women team up and leave N.Y. for California in order to open and song and dance studio for Shirley Temple-like girls.From the beginning, it becomes apparent that Reynolds has made a mistake in taking Winters with her to California.
Reynolds, who puts on a blond wig, is soon romanced by the wealthy father of one of her students, nicely played by Dennis Weaver.Agnes Moorehead, in one of her last films, briefly is seen as Sister Alma, who Winters is a faithful listener of.The film really belongs to Shelley Winters.
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.
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.
Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds are excellent, and the characters are well-realized and interesting.
Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds play mothers of a pair of Leopold & Loeb like killers who move from the mid-west to Hollywood to escape their past.
One of the more curious subcategories of the horror field, the genre known as hagsploitation (sometimes called psycho-biddy films, Grande Dame Guignol and, as my buddy Rob calls it, aging-gargoyle movies) got its jump start with the release of the seminal "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?," starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, in 1962.
Case in point: "What's the Matter With Helen?," which opened in June '71 and starred yet two more former beauties, Shelley Winters and Debbie Reynolds, going hysterically bonkers for the audience's delectation.Unlike "Baby Jane," which had begun in the 1930s and flashed forward to modern times, the film in question transpires entirely in the '30s.
As the film opens, the viewer sees, on a news reel, footage of the distraught Adelle Bruckner (Reynolds) and Helen Hill (Winters), whose sons have just been sentenced to life in prison for the thrill killing of a woman in the town of Braddock, Iowa.
The two women, after receiving death threats from a mysterious stranger on the phone, decide to change their names and move to Hollywood, where Adelle opens a dance school for young Shirley Temple wannabes, with Helen acting as her assistant.
Although the film is an unqualified addition to the hagsploitation genre, Debbie Reynolds' Adelle surely does not look anything like an old crone here; in fact, she is quite gorgeous, especially after moving to Hollywood and assuming a Jean Harlow-like blonde hairdo.
"What's the Matter With Helen?" has been well directed by Curtis Harrington and offers up a winning script from Henry Farrell, who had written the original "Baby Jane" novel in 1960, as well as the screenplay for "Hush...Hush." The film's theme music by David Raksin, sadly, is fairly unmemorable; at least, as compared to his gorgeous and classic theme for 1944's "Laura," admittedly one of the finest of all time.