No doubt that Shelley Winters assumed the title role in Whoever Slew Auntie Roo for a chance to really chew the scenery. That's what's great about films like Whoever Slew Auntie Roo, you can overact to the max and no one will criticize you.
By all appearances Shelley is a kindly old widow, an American transplanted to the United Kingdom of the Roaring Twenties and she opens her house once a year to a select group of children from a nearby school. In reality all I can say is she's a woman with issues. She lost her own daughter in a tragic accident and tries to communicate with her through a medium played deliciously by Ralph Richardson.
Mark Lester and Chloe Franks are a pair of misbehaving kids from the school who are brother and sister. They don't get invited to Shelley's place but stowaway in the trunk of the car that brings the others. That's when Shelley fixates on young Chloe who reminds her of her daughter. She kidnaps Chloe and Lester takes it upon himself to rescue her.
The story is a loosely told tongue and cheek version of the Grimm brothers Hansel And Gretel so if you remember the tale from your childhood, you've got some approximate idea of what happens to Winters. Lester turns out to be quite the resourceful kid.
Also take note of Lionel Jeffries as the local police inspector and Hugh Griffith as the local butcher who wants payment for services owed and won't take no for an answer from Winters.
There's also a bit of similarity with American Gothic classic Night Of The Hunter in how the kids outwit Winters the way they outwitted Robert Mitchum in that film.
Fans of Shelley Winters should enjoy this.
By all appearances Shelley is a kindly old widow, an American transplanted to the United Kingdom of the Roaring Twenties and she opens her house once a year to a select group of children from a nearby school. In reality all I can say is she's a woman with issues. She lost her own daughter in a tragic accident and tries to communicate with her through a medium played deliciously by Ralph Richardson.
Mark Lester and Chloe Franks are a pair of misbehaving kids from the school who are brother and sister. They don't get invited to Shelley's place but stowaway in the trunk of the car that brings the others. That's when Shelley fixates on young Chloe who reminds her of her daughter. She kidnaps Chloe and Lester takes it upon himself to rescue her.
The story is a loosely told tongue and cheek version of the Grimm brothers Hansel And Gretel so if you remember the tale from your childhood, you've got some approximate idea of what happens to Winters. Lester turns out to be quite the resourceful kid.
Also take note of Lionel Jeffries as the local police inspector and Hugh Griffith as the local butcher who wants payment for services owed and won't take no for an answer from Winters.
There's also a bit of similarity with American Gothic classic Night Of The Hunter in how the kids outwit Winters the way they outwitted Robert Mitchum in that film.
Fans of Shelley Winters should enjoy this.