Geraldine Page & Ruth Gordon in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice (1969)

Obscurity factor: 8

Claire Marrable (Page) is a bitter, self important widow, who's husband left her penniless. Claire is resourceful, however, and moves to Arizona. To live the life she's accustomed to she hires housekeepers, swindles them out of their money, kills them, then buries them beneath pine trees in her yard. Her latest companion is different, however. Mrs. Dimmock (Gordon) is feisty, unlike her predecessors, and doesn't let Mrs. Marrable intimidate her. She's also not what she seems. Alice Dimmock was the former employer of Mrs. Marrable's last housekeeper (Mildred Dunnock), and she's suspicious of her sudden disappearance.

This film is the last in a trilogy of similar films produced by Robert Aldrich that began with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. It's fun to see such talented actresses fence with each other. Geraldine Page creates a fun portrait of evil and Ruth Gordon is restrained and effective. The production values are high, with great costumes and locations, and the man-scenery is good with Robert Fuller playing an initially shadowy figure. Look for Jerry the Dentist (Peter Bonerz) from the Bob Newhart show in a small role at the beginning.

This film was released on DVD, though is out of print now. It can be seen in its entirety on YouTube, thanks to an upload by 60sHorrorRealm. The poster above is available at MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 8 (available on DVD and YouTube, not well remembered)

Geraldine Page in Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory 1966

I wasn't familiar with this beautiful little story until I was researching specials for this blog, but now, I think it's one of my favorite posts this holiday week. Originally published in Mademoiselle magazine in 1957, the short story about young Buddy and his best friend - an older distant cousin named Sook - was produced for television and aired on ABC Stage 67 in 1966. It's a tender story of companionship and the joy that can be found in simple things. Directed by Frank Perry and set in the rural south in the 1930's, the largely autobiographical story finds Sook and Buddy making fruitcakes to give and send as gifts to people they feel a kinship with, and celebrating Christmas morning together. It stars Geraldine Page as Sook and she gives a delicate and touching performance. Truman Capote narrates the story himself and injects sly and distinctly southern humor into his narration.


The original production was in color, but subsequent broadcasts were in black and white as are erp65's uploads of it to YouTube. The first installment is above. It's available on DVD, however it's received some poor reviews for the quality of the print.

Obscurity factor 7 (Rarely seen on TV, poor quality print available on DVD, full version available on YouTube)

Image from Google Images