Die! Die! My Darling! (AKA The Fanatic) was one of two grande dame guignol, movies made by Hammer Studios in 1965, the other being the excellent The Nanny starring THE 'grande dame' herself, Bette Davis. Although Die! Die! My Darling! isn't quite on a par with The Nanny, it's not for want of trying, with an ingenious premise (screenplay by the brilliant Richard Matheson), an excellent supporting cast (Donald Sutherland, Peter Vaughan and Yootha Joyce), a likeable 'woman in peril' (a young Stephanie Powers) and, of course, its all important psycho pensioner, played by Tallulah Bankhead, who does her utmost to beat Davis at her own game, and very nearly succeeds.
Powers plays Patricia Carroll, who arrives in England with her fiance Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Before she can get married, Patricia feels obliged to meet the mother of her previous fiancé, Stephen Trefoile, who died in a car crash. Against Alan's wishes, Patricia drives to the sprawling home of Mrs. Trefoile (Bankhead), who turns out to be an extremely judgemental religious fanatic. Not wishing to offend the old lady, Patricia answers her probing questions, biting her tongue whenever the old lady gets too personal. But when the Mrs. Trefoile tells Patricia that she can never marry, because she has promised herself to Stephen and is, in effect, his wife, it is the final straw: she goes to pack her bags and leave. Unfortunately, Mrs. Trefoile isn't about to let that happen: with the help of her ruthless staff, Harry (Vaughan) and his wife Anna (Joyce), she locks Patrica in her room and keeps her prisoner, determined to make her pure for her son when they are reunited in heaven.
Told with a delicious streak of dark humour, Die! Die! My Darling! is definitely Bankhead's movie, the actress clearly relishing the opportunity to go full-on demented: she delivers her wonderfully camp dialogue with obvious glee, albeit with a suitably straight face. Known as a hellraiser in her youth, Bankhead revels in the irony of playing such a puritan religious zealot, knowing all too well that the audience is in on the joke. Powers, only twenty three at the time, does a good job of holding her own against the formidable Ms. Bankhead, but with the older actress getting all of the best lines ("Go and remove that FILTH at once!", "God's food should be eaten unadorned", "Corruptor!"), she has no choice but to settle for second place.
As for the supporting players, Vaughan plays one of his viler roles as brute Harry, who does whatever Mrs. Trefoile wants in the hope of future rewards, Joyce is excellent as Harry's conflicted wife Anna, who knows what she is doing is wrong, but does it anyway, and Sutherland is great as metally disabled Joseph -- not the most illustrious of roles, perhaps, but still very effective (his scene with the postcard is one of the film's highlights). Maurice Kaufmann is fine as Alan Glentower, but with everyone else given far more interesting characters to work with, he doesn't have much of an opportunity to shine. Look out too for an uncredited turn by Benny Hill sidekick Henry McGee as the local rector, a sinner in Mrs. Trefoile's eyes for marrying twice.
Powers plays Patricia Carroll, who arrives in England with her fiance Alan Glentower (Maurice Kaufmann). Before she can get married, Patricia feels obliged to meet the mother of her previous fiancé, Stephen Trefoile, who died in a car crash. Against Alan's wishes, Patricia drives to the sprawling home of Mrs. Trefoile (Bankhead), who turns out to be an extremely judgemental religious fanatic. Not wishing to offend the old lady, Patricia answers her probing questions, biting her tongue whenever the old lady gets too personal. But when the Mrs. Trefoile tells Patricia that she can never marry, because she has promised herself to Stephen and is, in effect, his wife, it is the final straw: she goes to pack her bags and leave. Unfortunately, Mrs. Trefoile isn't about to let that happen: with the help of her ruthless staff, Harry (Vaughan) and his wife Anna (Joyce), she locks Patrica in her room and keeps her prisoner, determined to make her pure for her son when they are reunited in heaven.
Told with a delicious streak of dark humour, Die! Die! My Darling! is definitely Bankhead's movie, the actress clearly relishing the opportunity to go full-on demented: she delivers her wonderfully camp dialogue with obvious glee, albeit with a suitably straight face. Known as a hellraiser in her youth, Bankhead revels in the irony of playing such a puritan religious zealot, knowing all too well that the audience is in on the joke. Powers, only twenty three at the time, does a good job of holding her own against the formidable Ms. Bankhead, but with the older actress getting all of the best lines ("Go and remove that FILTH at once!", "God's food should be eaten unadorned", "Corruptor!"), she has no choice but to settle for second place.
As for the supporting players, Vaughan plays one of his viler roles as brute Harry, who does whatever Mrs. Trefoile wants in the hope of future rewards, Joyce is excellent as Harry's conflicted wife Anna, who knows what she is doing is wrong, but does it anyway, and Sutherland is great as metally disabled Joseph -- not the most illustrious of roles, perhaps, but still very effective (his scene with the postcard is one of the film's highlights). Maurice Kaufmann is fine as Alan Glentower, but with everyone else given far more interesting characters to work with, he doesn't have much of an opportunity to shine. Look out too for an uncredited turn by Benny Hill sidekick Henry McGee as the local rector, a sinner in Mrs. Trefoile's eyes for marrying twice.