Charlotte Hollis, wealthy southern spinster, is shunned by her community for the grisly murder some 40 years prior of her intended, John Mayhew. Even though her guilt in the matter was never proven, the townspeople liken her to a modern-day Lizzie Borden. The murders are similar in nature and the children even taunt her with cruel rhymes. For this reason she lives a life secluded from the mainstream of society. Her needs are cared for by her faithful servant, Velma. Now, progress in the guise of new highway construction threatens the Hollis plantation, her home and the family domicile since Civil War times. She refuses to leave when she is issued an eviction notice by the Sheriff and even takes pot shots at the highwaymen when they encroach upon her property line. Charlotte summons “Cousin Miriam” to fight the public battle to save her home. To her chagrin, Miriam has come with the intention of assisting with the packing — not to save the mansion from the bulldozers. After Charlotte, Miriam is the sole heir to the Hollis estate. This is motive enough for Miriam to have Charlotte committed for her strange and reclusive behavior. But, is Charlotte insane? Doctor Drew seems to feel she may need some help across the threshold of insanity. —IMDb
Robert Burgess Aldrich was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, the son of Lora Lawson and newspaper publisher Edward B. Aldrich. He was a grandson of U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and a cousin to Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller. He was educated at the Moses Brown School, Providence, Rhode Island, and studied economics at the University of Virginia. In 1941, he left university for a minor job at the RKO Radio Pictures, thus beginning his career as a cinéaste.
He quickly rose in film production as an assistant director, he worked with Jean Renoir, Abraham Polonsky, Joseph Losey and Charlie Chaplin, working with the latter as an assistant on Limelight. He became a television director in the 1950s, directing his first feature film, The Big Leaguer, in 1953. In that time, Aldrich was the rare American example of the auteur film maker, depicting his liberal humanist thematic vision in many genres, in films such as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), today a film noir classic, The Big Knife (1955), a cinematic… read more
Evocative deep south atmosphere, lavish production design, and excellent black and white photography by Joseph Biroc make this one of the most stylish of its genre - and how can a veteran all-star cast be anything more than an incredibly entertaining scenery-chewing competition. The plot may be a bit conventional, but the style and tone still makes this a classic.
