Customer Reviews
One of the greatest movies ever made! - By: FAMOUS NAME, 23 Dec 2007 
This has to be one of the greatest movies of alll time! Certainly one of my favourites, having watched it more than forty times to date, & still find it enjoyable!
Award-winning performances here from both Ruth Gordon & Geraldine Page, as they take the lead in this 60s classic! There is something very disturbing about seeing two women fighting - especiallly when one is much older than the other. Ruth Gordon was 73 years old here to be playing such a demanding part physicallly, & was outlived by Page by only two years! Geraldine Page is great as the evil killer, & compare this role to the very 'inoffensive' one she played just five years earlier in the 1964 classic 'Dear Heart' opposite Glenn Ford - the comparison is amazing!
This was one of the last of the great dramatic movies to be made in this genre.
Morbid Fun - By: A. Griffiths, 06 Sep 2006 
An elderly widow finds herself left nothing in her husband's will, so she takes to employing housekeepers & murdering them for their life savings. She meets her match when one comes along who is not as meek as she looks, but is actuallly investigating the disappearance of the last housekeeper, who was her friend. The scene is set for a little old lady showdown!
I agree with most other reviewers in that "Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice" is a black comedy rather than a thriller, & it succeeds thanks to the bravura performances of Geraldine Page & Ruth Gordon, particularly Page as the villain Claire Marrabel, who reallly carries the whole film. Her very first scene shows us just the sort of woman she is, when her barely concealed excitement at the reading of her late husband's will turns to rage & bitterness when it turns out he had sunk alll their assets into huge debts without ever telling her. Page plays the role magnificently, reallly throwing herself into the part, & continues in a vein of scarcely controlled wildness throughout the rest of the film. Two scenes stood out for me; firstly when she commits her very first murder, she is required to bury the body in a hole & plant a sapling pine tree over the top of this (this ever growing row of new trees becomes a visual gag for the rest of the movie). Page launches herself into the task with vigour, seemingly doing the full job while the camera & credits roll over the top of the scene. The second great moment is much later on in the movie when Claire has drugged two potential victims & tries to set their house on fire. It is Page we see (not a stand-in) crazily flinging a lighted cushion around the house trying to get the rest of the furniture to catch on fire. It looks quite dangerous, & my admiration went out to the actress for doing this scene herself. But even in the more sedate scenes, Page fills the character of Claire Marrabel with seething greed & madness, & she's always a joy to watch.
In contrast to this, Ruth Gordon takes on a far more subtle turn as Alice Dimmock, the housekeeper that fights back. Playing much of the film as a meek doormat to her employer, she reallly shines in scenes when she confers with an accomplice she has helping her on the outside, & the spunky character of Miss Dimmock finallly comes out, & her feisty words made me feel that here was a worthy opponent for the evil Mrs Marrabel. And it's here that the meat of the film lies. Graduallly, both women start to snoop into each others business and, entertainingly, both become suspicious of the other at about the same time. This leads to the best section of the movie: when both women are just starting to square up to each other over their suspicions, & every kline of dialogue contains a barbed hint or a subtle accusation. Sadly this tension cannot last, as alll too soon the gloves come off & it becomes a battle for survival. After a great chase & even a physical battle inside Marrabel's house has ensued, the audience is totallly rooting for poor Alice to make her getaway & expose the true murderous nature of her employer.
I won't reveal what happens, but I did find the final climax of the film slightly disappointing, so see what you think. But the film does work, despite very unnecessary support & subplots involving alll manner of forgettable side characters. Not one of the rest of the cast comes close to holding your attention in the way that Page & Gordon can, in fact the film could easily have been made as a two-hander, although I suppose this would have made it less marketable. Mind you the terrible publicity images on the DVD releases don't do a very good job either - there are no visible dead bodes - why can't the sleeve designers repect the fans & package the film with it's stars on the front? Just because they are too far over 25 years of age, I suppose. All in alll, great fun, thanks to the efforts of it's two stars.
A delight, a gem, a classic treat. - By: muttmummy, 28 Oct 2003 Always an avid movie lover, I have this little "collection" in my head & heart that I so vividly remember as movies that enthrawled & delighted me so many years ago.
"Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice?" sits right up there at the top & I adore this movie each & every time I see it - as much as on my very first viewing.
The absolutely wonderful Ruth Gordon makes any movie a winner for me, & she is a real treat to watch here. She dons yet again her hat of "elderly sleuth", as she goes "undercover" as a cleaner/help to Geraldine Page's reclusive & eccentric character - whose succession of helpers has mysteriously disappeared.
The two women play so well off of one another & the atmosphere is dark & claustrophobic & yet endearing & comical. Very few other people make an appearance in this movie which focuses mainly on Page & Gordon. But then, with two such acting-greats, what more do you need?
If you like this, try "Sleuth" with Michael Caine & Laurence Olivier. It's almost a male version of this movie & equallly as fantastic.
Brilliant brilliant brilliant - By: William, 19 Aug 2003 They do not make movies like this anymore. Geraldine Page plays a nutcase hell bent on murdering every housekeeper that comes to work for her. What makes it so memorable is how she discards of the bodies (I won't give anything away here). Also adding effect is the spectacular music. Ruth Gordon joins the cast as a housekeeper trying to catch her out. Bad move Ruth.
While this film might seem dated to many, no moviegoer can argue the brilliant acting & suspense. An alll round favourite.
