By Hank Reineke
Though the Bert I. Gordon’s and William Castle’s of 1950s-1960s
Hollywood were successful in grinding out a string of their own low-budget suspense
films, it’s clear they both aspired for recognition as auteurs of
psychological-thrillers in the Hitchcock tradition. Producer/Director Bert I. Gordon would throw
his hat into that particular ring with the redoubtable Picture Mommy Dead. The
screenplay for Gordon’s picture was written by Robert Sherman, a television
writer with no feature film credits. This was to be Gordon’s second film for Joseph
Levine’s Embassy Pictures, his first being the outrageous exploitation/sci-fi
flick Village of the Giants (1965) (“Teen-agers
Zoom to Supersize and Terrorize a Town!”).
Casting for Picture
Mommy Dead began as early as November of 1965, the trades reporting Levine had
hopes of reuniting Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews (of Otto Preminger’s classic
noir Laura (1944) for Color Mommy Dead (the provisional title
of the film). Though Tierney appeared to
be interested – she had been working before the camera only intermittently in
the mid-60s – on January 12, Gordon announced her part was instead given to actress
Martha Hyer, since “the role developed more into a Martha Hyer type of beauty
than a Gene Tierney type beauty.”
If Dana Andrews was on Levine’s wish list to take on the
role of Edward Shelley in the film, the actor was either already working on
another project or simply not interested. The part would go to Don Ameche whose recent roles were also occasional
and on television. In a classic example
of Hollywood nepotism, actress Susan Gordon – Bert’s daughter – would beat out eighty
actresses auditioning for the role of the troubled Susan Shelley. “I solved the second femme lead,” the
producer explained, “by giving it to my 16-year-old daughter, Susan, but I’ve
got to find still another lady before we start shooting at Paramount on January
24.”
That “lady” still to be cast as the filthy-rich Jessica
Flagmore Shelley was the sultry screen-legend Hedy Lamarr. On January 18, a mere six days before that
character’s first scheduled shoot was to take place at Beverly Hills Doheny
Estate, it was announced the notoriously reclusive and eccentric Lamarr had
accepted the role. It was reported her acceptance
was mostly due to the coaxing of Marvin Paige, a talent agent and occasional
on-the-town paramour of the aging glamour queen.
But if the film’s casting appeared settled, events would soon
take a dramatic turn. In the interim of winning
this “comeback” gig Lamarr, the Garbo-like fifty-one year-old actress, found
herself behind bars at the Sybil Brand Institution for Women. The actress had been caught shoplifting
eighty-six dollars’ worth of merchandise from a Wilshire Boulevard department
store. Following the posting of a $550 release
bond, Lamarr told a throng of reporters the shoplifting accusation was the
result of a “misunderstanding.”
It was an odd turn of events but on January 28, 1966, the
very same day Lamarr was to be arraigned, Gordon promised the actresses’
casting was safe. “This unfortunate happening
will make no difference in our plans,” the director/producer told the
press. “I’m behind her 100%.” But in the days between her brief
incarceration and her first scheduled on-set date, it was obvious things might
not work out. Picture Mommy Dead was already ten-days into its shooting schedule,
with another three weeks of work to go. Lamarr, who had yet been called before the cameras, was considered integral
to those next three-weeks.
Hollywood gossip maven Dorothy Manners reported Gordon’s optimistic
suggestion that “the concentration her role demands” would offer Lamarr a welcome
distraction from her recent petty theft indiscretions. But Manners chose to stir the pot further, making
a passing reference to Lamarr’s prima
donna declaration that she’d work only “between the hours of twelve noon
and five in the afternoon.” It was
Lamarr’s contention that “Any actress who steps before a camera before noon is
indecent.”
The resulting press was making everyone invested in the
film a little uneasy. Embassy was quick
to remind Gordon the budget of Picture
Mommy Dead was a cool one million. The film’s backers were, not surprisingly, concerned over Lamarr’s
eccentric behavior and public statements. Though some conceded in Hollywood even bad or sordid publicity might
prove beneficial in the long run, Gordon was told if he “couldn’t guarantee” Lamarr’s
physical and mental commitment to the project, the actress would need to be
replaced.
Gordon chose to ignore the warning signs, determined to push
forward with his original plan. On Wednesday
morning, February 2, a limousine was sent to pick up the embattled actress at
her home. The driver was given
instructions to deliver Lamarr to the grounds of the Doheny Estate where her first
scenes were to be filmed. But there was
a new twist. When the driver arrived as scheduled Lamarr was nowhere to be
found: a maid explained the actress wasn’t in residence. She told the driver the actress had been
admitted to Westwood hospital only hours earlier.
The maid’s explanation was countenanced by both Lamarr’s
doctor and attorney. They offered their
client was suffering from “nervous exhaustion,” but would be prepared to go
before the cameras two day’s hence on Friday the 4th. This of course was problematic as a crew was already
awaiting her arrival on location. The
filmmakers decided to check on the Lamarr’s physical and mental well-being
themselves. But when they arrived at the
hospital they learned there was no record of the actress having ever been
admitted. This news was enough for
Embassy to pull the plug on Lamarr’s return to the big screen. A spokesman explained to the press, “We have
too much involved in production costs to chance any delay.” Embassy then announced that actress Zsa Zsa
Gabor had already been offered and accepted the role of Jessica Flagmore
Shelley.
Though Lamarr threatened a legal challenge, her lawyers
would not ultimately pursue the case. “Gordon made it clear,” an Embassy spokesman offered, “that his decision
was in no way predicated upon Miss Lamarr’s recent arrest on shoplifting
charges.” Calling a press conference in
the backyard of her home on the very day of her losing her role in the film,
Lamarr contested all she really needed “was a good night’s sleep,” defiantly vowing to “never act again.” She held
true to her promise. The 1958 noir The Female Animal would remain her final
appearance in a feature film.
The firing put Gordon in an awkward position. He tried his best to smooth things over
before getting back to his work on the film. “I cannot afford to gamble on anyone’s health, but I do have tremendous
respect and admiration for Miss Lamarr as an actress as a woman. And whenever she feels she’s able to work I
have a story in which I would star her.”
In truth, the role Lamarr was ousted from likely wouldn’t
have brought her anything but the briefest return to glory. As the dearly departed Jessica Flagmore
Shelley, Zsa Zsa Gabor really doesn’t have all that much to do. She’s seen in a few brief silent sequences in
the first half of the film, later enjoying a slightly more expanded role near
the film’s climactic end. The crux of Picture Mommy Dead is the mysterious
circumstances surrounding mommy’s death. Was it an unfortunate accident? Or was it murder?
The film offers red herrings aplenty. Shelley’s daughter Susan (Susan Gordon) is convinced
she’s solely responsible for her mother’s fiery demise. Such thoughts clouding her “fragile mind” would
cause her to spend three years convalescing at a convent. Susan’s father Edward (Don Ameche) arrives at
the convent to bring his daughter back home to the estate, bringing along his
new wife Francine (Martha Hyer), Susan’s scheming former governess. The kindly nun (Signe Hasso) who has been
caring for Susan since Jessica’s death warns the couple the young girl is still
not in a good place, traumatized by “phantoms of the past” and “vivid, horrid
nightmares.”
Bringing Susan home to the Shelley estate was, to put it
mildly, probably not the best of father’s decisions. For starters, there’s plenty of Peyton Place-style intrigue at play in
and around the palatial grounds: infidelities, back stabbings and duplicitous
folks scheming to get their paws on the sizable inheritance due Susan. The screenplay’s riddling mystery is who – or
whom – are behind the cruel plan to drive Susan out of her mind so they can
steal away the Shelley fortune.
The film as written is an uneasy pairing of those old-fashioned
mansion-dagger-inheritance mysteries of the 1930s made fresh with a dollop of
psychological mumbo-jumbo. I’m guessing
Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964) served as a
partial template for Sherman’s scripting. In fact, I kept thinking of Tippi Hedren’s
character of Marnie throughout the entirety of Picture Mommy Dead since Martha Hyer’s hairstyle is
near-identical. To be fair, the
difference ends there. Hedren’s Marnie
was simply a troubled gal, Hyer’s Francine is simply trouble.
Though there are a couple of interesting plot twists here
and there – and a falconry scene involving Susan running in terror for safety
is mildly suspenseful – Picture Mommy
Dead is, at best, a workmanlike feature. Neither a great film nor a poor one, it’s a semi-suspenseful time-waster
which attempts to hitch a formulaic murder mystery with Jungian psychoanalysis. Not so successfully, in my opinion.
This is no slight on director-producer Bert I.
Gordon. We “monster kids” of a certain
generation revere the filmmaker for his work on such cult classics as Beginning of the End (giant
grasshoppers), The Amazing Colossal Man
(giant nuclear blast survivor), The
Cyclops (giant mutation), The Spider
(giant spider) Food of the Gods
(giant rodents) and Empire of the Ants
(giant ants) etc. etc. But with Picture Mommy Dead, Gordon found himself
deep in the shadow of a cinematic giant of another sort, one more difficult to
triumph over: Alfred Hitchcock.
This Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray edition of Picture Mommy Dead is presented in 1920
x 1080p, with a ratio of 1.85:1, dts sound and removable English
sub-titles. The film looks brilliant,
Kino engineering this new issue from a new 4K restoration. The set rounds off
with five theatrical trailers that support other Kino product as well as an
audio commentary courtesy of writer-producer-directors Howard S. Berger and
Nathaniel Thompson.
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