Figure 1.--. |
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Mark Lester in a film about children terrorized by an elderly lady. He wears a suit with very long, baggy shorts. Unfortunately he is a poor orphan and it is not a very fancy outfit. I can't say I particularly liked the movie. I remember one reviewer commenting that Mark was too old to wear short pants, but that they wanted him to look boyish for the part. British reviewers probably would not made such a comment. Obviously an American reviewer who like many of us did not wear shorts as a boy. It is obviously not very professional to project ones experiences on other historical eras. Starring Shelly Winters (Auntie Roo), Mark Lester (Christopher Coombs), Ralph Richardson (Mr. Benton), and Lionel Jeffries (Inspector Willoughby). Filmed at Shepperton Studios in England. Set sometime in the Inter-war period, "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is a classic tale of obsession and murder, brought to you by B-movie producer Samuel Z. Arkoff ("Abominable Dr. Phibes", "I Was A Teenage Werewolf", etc), with an excellent look at period orphanage children's clothing.
"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo" was an American International Picture (AIP)/Hemdale Production
Produced by James Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff and directed by Curtis Harrington. It is available in MGM Midnight Movies DVD. , "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is a
classic tale of obsession and murder, brought to you by B-movie producer
Samuel Z. Arkoff (Abominable Dr. Phibes, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, etc),
with an excellent look at period orphanage children's clothing.
The movie starred Shelly Winters (Auntie Roo), Mark Lester (Christopher Coombs),
Ralph Richardson (Mr. Benton), and Lionel Jeffries (Inspector Willoughby).
Filmed at Shepperton Studios in England.
The film is set in England sometime in the Inter-war period.
An elderly widow, living off the fortunes
made by her stage magician husband, is obsessed with her dead daughter,
Katherine. To the townsfolk, young Katherine simply disappeared in 1913
without a trace when she was eight; even the police Inspector is clueless,
yet he suspects Roo of foul play. Young Katherine fell to her death one
evening as she tried to slide down the banister rail; Roo blames herself.
She keeps Katherine's remains in a secret upstairs nursery, the only doorway
is through her bedroom closet, behind a spring-loaded door. Once a week, Roo
tries to contact her dead daughter through a medium, Mr. Benton. Roo tries
to assuage her guilt by throwing an annual Christmas party for the local
orphans. She wishes she could keep the children young and pure, before the
world's evil crushes them.
Ten year old orphan, along with his younger sister
Katie, try to survive in an adult made world. To keep his sister happy, her
makes up stories. They have a rule: it's all right to lie to adults, but
never to each other. During their brief stay at the new orphanage, they have
adopted a code of silence with the adults after trying to run away. They
stick together and do not mix with the other orphans; Christopher does
occasionally tell wild stories that frighten the other children. The
orphanage staff labels them a bad influence. Christopher and Katie,
however, and with the optimism of children, secretly pray that they will
picked to attend Roo Forrest's famous Christmas Party.
Mr. Benton: a lush of a medium, in cahoots with Roo's staff to pillage her
fortune. Albie and Clarice: butler and maid or Roo Forrest. Albie plans on
blackmailing Roo Forrest out of some of her considerable fortune, after
gaining her confidence over a number of years.
The story themes are Gothic Obsession and Hansel & Gretel. Rose Forrest is visited by her trusted medium, in the hopes of contacting her dead daughter, Katherine. She is unaware of the pact made between Albie, Clarice, and Mr. Benton, and that the voice she hears is actually Clarice calling down from the dumbwaiter. Roo is hopeful that soon she'll be able to talk with Katherine again.
At the orphanage, Christopher and Katie watch as the other kids play
outside. The boys kick around the soccer ball, while the girls skip rope and
play with the stick and wheel. Christopher and Katie are then escorted to
the nurse for a pre-holiday physical. The nurse is friendly with the Coombs
kids, and she asks Christopher to not frighten the other kids with his story
telling. Later that afternoon, the children are called to formation in the
playground, and the Matron announces the ten "special" children selected for
Rose Forrest's Christmas party. Of course, Christopher and Katie are not
selected. It is announced that Inspector Willoughby will be driving the
children, and the nurse and Matron, to the Forrest Party.
Christmas Eve. After their arrival, Roo greets all of the orphans. The
nurse picks the Inspector's brain about information about the strange
disappearance of Roo's daughter; she had heard tales told, but wanted to
know the truth. The Inspector tells her that the girl was reported missing,
and no trace of her was ever found. Meanwhile, outside in the winter's
night, Christopher and Katie climb out of the Inspector's trunk (boot),
sneak around to the back, and try to steal away into the kitchen, where the
food and cookies are laid out. Unbeknownst to them, Albie sees them and
attacks Christopher with a knife, threatening to cut out his tongue. Albie
laughs, then leads the two trespassers into the party, revealing them to the
shocked Matron. Roo calms everyone down, and accepts Christopher and Katie
into the party. She makes certain that they have night clothes for the
overnight party.
As the children gorge themselves upon cookies and cakes and gingerbread men,
Auntie Roo reads to them, "The Night Before Christmas, while she sits in
front of the fireplace. Hung up on the mantle are the children's actual
stockings (the girls' are black, the boys' are gray). At bedtime, Roo
discovers Katie trying to slide down the banister, forcing her to re-live
her worst nightmare. But Katie doesn't fall, and Roo catches her at the
bottom, chastising her to be more careful. Clarice views Roo's horror and
inquires about it; Roo invites her to the night's seance, but she declines.
After Midnight, Mr. Benton arrives to begin the seance. He is having more
trouble than usual contacting the spirit of Clarice; Benton asks for some
personal object of Katherine's, and Roo grabs her favorite Teddy Bear.
Benton allows the bear to join the circle. The voices awaken Katie, and she
makes her way down the stairs. Christopher, ever watchful of his sister,
follows a bit behind her. Katie makes it to the study, and as Benton
beseeches the spirit of Katherine to materialize, Katie flings open the door
and stands revealed. Roo is shocked, but Albie holds her back and tells her,
"It's just Katie." Katie runs to the teddy bear and takes a hold of it for
it is just like she used to have, a bear she called "William." Benton asks
to be paid before he leaves, and Katie discovers Roo's secret stash of
jewels and money. Benton leaves, and Roo allows her to take it to take to
bear to sleep with.
Meanwhile, Christopher discovers a locked door in the hallway upstairs, and
hears someone behind the door, calling out like a child through the
dumbwaiter. He tries to gain entry, but can't. Intrigued, he sits outside
the door, waiting for Katie to return. She does, escorted by Roo.
Christopher tells Roo of the locked door, and she tells him that that door
is never locked. It's just a storage closet. She shows him that it is
unlocked, and he enters the empty room, spying the dumbwaiter. Roo takes the
kids back to there room. During the dead of Night, Roo steals back the Teddy
Bear, leaving Katie alone.
The next day, Christmas morning, Roo wakes the kids up to open up their
presents. She pays close attention to Katie. She asks Katie if she'd like
for Roo to adopt her, but Christopher objects vehemently. Roo pulls Katie's
thin finger, and tells her that "I need to fatten you up!" She allows the
kids to dress before the festivities begin.
As the orphans rip open their Christmas presents, Roo takes Katie aside, and
hands her her present. Katie discovers a new "William," but she doesn't like
it, since it doesn't look like William, like the other bear. Roo is
heartbroken and crestfallen. The children file out, to play outside.
Christopher and Katie wander around the back of the estate, and discover the
barn filled with Colonel Forrest's magician's stage props. It's a virtual
theater of blood, with guillotine and vanishing cabinet, severed heads and
strange, foreign statues. Christopher plays magician, and steps into the
vanishing cabinet; when Katie opens the door, there's only a skeleton. She
screams and runs away, but Christopher calls her back, and re-emerges. Katie
then asks what that large device is, and Christopher declares, "It's a head
chopper!" He lays Katie and her bear onto the table, and announces his
amazing feat. He pulls the chord, the heavy blade falls, and Katie jumps up.
Teddy isn't so lucky and looses its head. Frightened, suddenly a ghoul
shrieks and emerges from behind a curtain, chasing them from the barn. The
ghoul removes it's head, and Albie laughs in the children's wake.
Later, Roo pantomimes in front of the orphans, reliving her old stage show.
Katie steals back into the study and takes William. But Roo catches her,
chastising her harshly. Roo asks Katie again if she's like to stay, and
Katie says yes, she wants to stay with William. Roo leads her back to the
party.
Christmas night, Christopher is awakened by a strange singing. He doesn't
know where it's coming from. He lurks about, finds the source coming from
the laundry room, from the dumbwaiter. He decides to investigate, climbs
into the dumbwaiter and pulls himself up to an upper floor. Cracking open
the door, he discovers Roo taking the rotting remains of her daughter from
the crib and placing it into a small casket (in preparation for Katie's
arrival). Christopher gasps and scurries down the dumbwaiter, but Roo
heard.... something. She rushes down the stairs, out through the secret door
and then down the hall to Katie and Christopher's room, but finds them both
asleep.
The Day after Christmas. The orphans gather up their toys and file out of
the house and back into the waiting cars. Christopher is the last to arrive.
He tells the matron that Katie is missing, and that Roo has a secret room
with a mummy in it, and she must have kidnapped Katie. The Matron throws a
fit, as Roo rushes out of the house to see them out. Roo tells the matron
that if Katie is left behind, she's send the girl back whence she's found.
That evening, Albie makes his move. He confronts Roo, and blackmails her
into giving him 2000 pounds; he tells her he'll go to the authorities with
the facts that she has kidnapped and orphan. Roo acquiesces. Meanwhile,
Christopher steals a bicycle and rides two miles to Roo's estate in the dead
of night. He sneaks into the studies window, steals the jewels Katie had
told him about, and makes his way up the stairs and into the dumbwaiter. He
finds Katie playing in an enormous doll's house. Katie doesn't want to
leave, since she now has dolls to play with, and a rocking horse and doll's
house and such fabulous food! Christopher tells her that Roo is a witch and
was fattening her up to eat her, just like in Hansel and Gretel. Christopher
turns to leave through the dumbwaiter, realizing that they both wouldn't
fit. Katie shows him the stairs and the secret door through Roo's bedroom
closet. They sneak out while Roo is sleeping, unaware that she has awakened.
They run to the front door, open it, and Roo cackles, opening up her cloak,
crying out, "You children don't want to leave -- you a home now -- forever!"
She rushes them into the house and slams the door shut!
Days later, Inspector Willoughby arrives with police to sweep the estate.
Roo shows him the house, and asks for honesty. The Inspector tells her that
he doesn't trust her, and she'd be the firs to know if charges were filed.
Roo throws a fit, and screams at him to leave, since he didn't have a
warrant. The Inspector continues the grounds sweep with his men, but finds
nothing.
Christopher stuffs the jewels inside the back of the Teddy Bear, when
suddenly Roo arrives in the locked nursery with a trayful of food.
Christopher falls silent, and Roo pulls him closer to the dumbwaiter. "You
must remove temptation," she remonstrates, while taking a knife and cuts
through the dumbwaiter's pulley rope. Christopher yanks himself free, and
makes a run for it. He makes his way down the stairs, with Roo in pursuit.
He dashes towards the door, when the doorbell rings. Christopher opens it
and pleads for Mr. Benton to help him. Roo smiles and sees Benton inside.
Albie had confessed to Benton's involvement, and Roo bribes him with two
bottles of Napoleon Brandy. He ignores the frantic boy, calls Christopher
"confused". Roo smugly smiles, and hides the front door key in her clothes.
New Years Eve. Roo prepares a New Year's dinner, in front of Christopher.
Christopher then realizes that he and Katie are to be the main course! She
asks him to wash up Katie's tray, as she begins to start the oven. Not hot
enough. She needs more wood, and orders him to get more firewood. He had
watched her place the key to the nursery up on a high key ring, and as he
fetches a basketful of wood, he devises his escape. First he brings back the
basket of wood, but it won't be enough. She orders him to fetch another
basket. He leaves to retrieve more, throws down the basket and races back
around front and rings the doorbell. Again and again. He then races back,
runs into the kitchen and attempts to grab the key, but the stool he used
wasn't tall enough and he hears he begin to return. He grabs a chair, grabs
the key, runs outside and hurriedly fills his basket. He brings the basket
back, but she chastises him that two baskets is hardly enough, and orders
him to get more -- more! Roo then enters the pantry to fetch ingredients,
and Christopher runs back inside, closes the door and rockets up the stairs
to grab Katie. But the wind blows the back door open, and Roo discovers them
trying to escape. She locks the back door, races up the stairs for them. The
children run back for the Teddy bear, when Roo confronts them. Christopher
throws the large bear at her, and she falls to the ground, while the kids
run free. The run towards the back door, discover it locked. Roo comes
around behind them. Christopher grabs a knife; Roo grabs a large piece of
fire wood and duels it out with the boy, leading them into the pantry, where
she locks them in.
Roo has a mental break, wondering why everyone leaves her, then she cries
out for Katherine. Roo hurries upstairs, to replace her daughter's remains
in the nursery. As she lifts the decaying body out of the coffin, the corpse
disintegrates before her eyes -- and now she has nothing. Nothing but two
evil children locked up in the pantry! She returns to the kitchen, intent on
finishing the dinner for her two children.
Christopher devises an escape plan, and calls out to Roo in a pitiful voice.
He asks Katie to do so, since "she likes you better than me." Katie calls
back, saying "it's cold in here." Katie pleads with her Aunt Roo. Then
Christopher tells her to call out to Roo with "Please, Mummy!" Roo listens,
and opens the door and walks inside. But the children are hiding up on the
shelves, and Christopher pushes off the jars and supplies onto Roo. The
children escape, locking her inside. The rush back up the stairs for the
Teddy bear, but wait -- they forgot the key. Roo tries to claw her way out
of the pantry with a cleaver. Christopher instructs his sister to help him
build a fire. They do, and as Roo stares out of the holes she's made in the
doors, Katie cries: "A Witch, A Witch!." Christopher rushes back upstairs
for the Teddy, but the house is now an instant inferno. Chris gets the bear,
and they run out the front door, meeting up with the butcher making the New
Year's dinner delivery: a baby roasting pig. Katie's chastises her brother:
"You said she was going to eat us!." He smiles and says, "She was, only
later."
The police and fireman arrive, but Roo and the house are all but gone.
"Bloody good fire," Christopher remarks. The nurse comes for the kids. The
Inspectors explains that it seems to have started in the kitchen.
Christopher inserts, "We tried to help." They are seen as innocents, and the
Inspector fears that they'll be plagued by nightmare for the rest of their
lives. Christopher then recites the last of Hansel and Gretel in an overdub:
and they lived happily ever after. Christopher smiles wide while Katie
clutches the jewel-filled Teddy bear. The end.
All browns and grays. Most of the boys wear short pant suits,
some with jumpers. All with black lace-up ankle boots. All with gray knee
socks. Outdoor wear includes overcoats and scarves and caps; some are
without overcoats, and just wear suit coats. A few exceptions. At least two
boys wear knickers. The eldest boy, Jonathan, wears a gray knee pant suit,
with long gray stockings; in the Christmas party scene, it is revealed that
the long stockings are rolled up just over the knee, and not supported by
visible garters. All of the boys' clothes are drab in color, except one with
an argyle jumper(browns and golds and olive/tan shades); but Christopher has
a red (the only color besides gray and brown) jumper. Another orphan, Peter,
has a Dutch boy type of haircut to match his blond hair.
Plain, simple dresses, white, blue, gray, pink; girls wear smocks over their dresses. Black stockings; outdoor woolen overcoats, a few
with dark shawls. Seems more uniformed than boys clothes.
For much of the movie Christopher (Mark Lester)
wears the same clothes. He wears a gray button-up shirt, top button
buttoned. Red jumper, brown short pants, black boots, wide ribbed gray socks
pulled up and cuffed at all times, gray suit jacket (that is too small for
him, bottom comes just to his waist, sleeves cut just above wrists when arms
are at sides, and a double breasted brown woolen overcoat, brown scarf and
limp tweed cap. Sleepwear provided by Auntie Roo: blue and white striped
long sleeved/leg, broadcloth (not flannel) pajamas, with pocket on breast of
top; keeps top button buttoned. Usual Mark Lester mop of dirty blond hair.
Fairly good close ups of all of his wardrobe.
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