Girls, It's Time We Had A Fun Bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

          
                              When it came to playing bitches, darlings, especially later in her career, no one excelled
at it, like Shelley Winters.  From Ma Parker on the "Batman" TV series, to Rose Ann D'Arcy in "A Patch Of Blue", (which Shelley played to an Oscar-winning turn, creating a character who was so despicable, once
I saw this film as an adult, I knew I could not watch it a second time) where her treatment of her daughter, played by the tragic Elizabeth Hartman was heartbreaking to watch.

                              Nevertheless, Shelley seemed to be having a high old time of it when she played the
role in the film, whose character merits mention as this week's Bitch Of The Week.

                                The winner of the Raving Queen Bitch Of The Week Award is....Auntie Roo!

                               She is, of course, the title character of the film, whose title is often misquoted.
Most refer to it simply as, "Who Slew Auntie Roo?", which I personally prefer, because of the marvelous
alliteration. However, the correct title of the film is "Who Ever Slew Auntie Roo?", which establishes it
firmly in the genre of "What Ever Happened To...?" films, pioneered by 'Baby Jane'.

                               Honey, you have to see this one to believe it.  The opening scene is a real howler!

                               Shelley's Auntie Roo is actually Mrs. Forrest, a wealthy American widow living on
the outskirts of an English village on an estate that reeks of the Universal back lot, called Forrest Grange.
Each Christmas, Auntie Roo invites ten specially selected orphans (not unlike the National Honor Society, back in Highland Park High School) to be invited to the estate on Christmas Day, where they are given nice presents and a bounteous feast.

                                 Being invited is, of course, a highly coveted honor (not unlike the NHS), and so when two kids, Christopher (a post-"Oliver!" Mark Lester) and his friend, Kat, are not selected, he arranges for them to sneak onto the bus, so they can go to the mansion with the others.

                                    However, this being the opening scene, the audience learns up front that Auntie Ross is not wrapped too tightly.  The opening shots of a thunderstorm blasting the estate, which is right out
of "Bride Of Frankenstein," continues with the camera panning through the house, and up the stairs, where we hear a woman singing a lullaby to a child.  Opening the door into the attic room, we discover a child in a crib, and Shelley, dressed in red like she is impersonating Belle Watling in "Gone With The Wind."  Hey, I guess she just wants to look her best!!!!!!  The child in the crib seems unusually still, even for a well behaved child, a bit large for the crib stage.  As the camera pulls in, we discover the child's face to be...skeletal!!!!!!!

                                    The child in question is/was Auntie Roo's real daughter, Katherine.  She died in childhood, and what I want to know, which we never seem to learn, is how.  I have a feeling that, as delusionally loving as she may be, Auntie Roo, who, of course turns out to be a big, old Control Queen, had something to do with it.  Hence, her guilt, and her delusion that the child is safe in her crib, and she  can love it.

                                     Now, the way, I understand the rest of the film (directed by Curtis Harrington, who has come a long way, baby, from this!!!!!!) , the kids arrive, and Auntie Roo is especially charmed by Christopher and Kat, especially the latter, whom she sees as resembling her dead daughter, Katherine.  That is right, girls; before you can say, "Die! Die! My Darling," she wants Kat all to herself, imprisoning her so she can have her to love forever.  But of course Christopher sees things differently,  and, of course none of the adults will believe him about Mrs. Forrest/Auntie Roo!

                                     What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse, or maybe a grim variation on the fairy tale "Hansel and Gretel," with Auntie Roo cast as the witch.  Things work out well for Christopher and Kat, and Forest Grange, with Auntie Roo, are destroyed in a big conflagration, but what I want to know is, was Auntie Roo, like the witch, pushed into an oven by Christopher, because, how, in God's name, I ask, does one get a witch the size of Shelley Winters--Shelley Winters, for heaven's sake--into a standard sized oven????  This alone would make the film worth seeing.

                                          But nothing can top that opening scene, with Shelley hamming it up all the way, and chewing through every bit of scenery there must have been on the set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           You just have to LOVE Auntie Roo, darlings!!!!!!!!!  Which is why you could not ask for a more fun Bitch Of The Week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Bitch, bitch, loves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!