Helen Hill (Shelley Winters) and Adelle Bruckner (Debbie Reynolds) are mothers of troubled young men sentenced to life in prison for a gruesome murder. They are harassed by the public and threatened by a stalker. They head out to Hollywood under new names to open a dance school. The constant threats send Helen into madness.
I don't much like Helen or her dire situation. In a way, it may be more intriguing to dive head-first into her madness. Instead, she's doing mad-melodramatic-acting. It's probably more a problem of Adelle. She's always shocked that Helen's doing crazy stuff. How can she be shocked? She's all clutching her pearls. The movie has a veneer of old style melodrama and it's not a good look. Despite the murders, it's not thrilling. It could have leaned harder on the mystery of the caller but Helen's madness overshadows it. It tries to be camp late with the ending image but it's too late. It's oddly uncompelling.
I don't much like Helen or her dire situation. In a way, it may be more intriguing to dive head-first into her madness. Instead, she's doing mad-melodramatic-acting. It's probably more a problem of Adelle. She's always shocked that Helen's doing crazy stuff. How can she be shocked? She's all clutching her pearls. The movie has a veneer of old style melodrama and it's not a good look. Despite the murders, it's not thrilling. It could have leaned harder on the mystery of the caller but Helen's madness overshadows it. It tries to be camp late with the ending image but it's too late. It's oddly uncompelling.