Video Beaverhausen: Die! Die! My Darling!

A few years ago, I went to see a play on Broadway called Looped. It was about the all-day and late-into-the-night session of trying to get Tallulah Bankhead to dub (loop) a single, simple line of slurred dialogue into the film Die! Die! My Darling! Bankhead arrives, looped herself on drugs and booze, making the session nearly impossible and extremely frustrating.

At left is a picture of Stephanie Powers as Tallu in Looped. Who would remember her better from that time?

Die! Die! My Darling! was Bankhead's final film. Ironically, she plays a religious fanatic, scarier than Carrie's mom. This Hammer horror flick is one of their best and, in fact, Fanatic was its original title. However, when Columbia Pictures released this film in the USA, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte was such a hit, they changed the title to something Bankhead actually says in the film.

Bankhead basically plays Jane to Stephanie Powers' Blanche in this delightful tour de force! Campy as all get-out. Outstanding support from the great character actress Yootha Joyce and a young Donald Sutherland as her henchmen.

Here is Bankhead in all her messy glory, one of the best Grand Guignol hags in Movieland, her glamor roles long behind her. Perfect for Halloween and not to be missed.

This 1965 film is currently part of Columbia's Choice Collection on dvd and available on Amazon.com.