Before watching The Mad Room (1969), I knew it was based on a play called, Ladies in Retirement; however, I didn’t realize until later that it is also a remake of the film, Ladies in Retirement (1941.) Director Bernard Girard was supposedly unhappy with alterations of this film during post-production, and I may be able to sympathize, because it seems nothing like a stage play or an early 1940s crime/drama. Plus, it’s oddly disjointed.
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I can’t imagine seeing a dog carry a severed hand around the house in its mouth in either a stage play or a film from the 1940s. There’s more that’s problematic than this inclusion, though. There’s no explanation for how or why the hand became severed in the first place and the plot squanders what could have been a terrific plot point: a well-hidden body, but someone’s going to find that hand!
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Well, they don’t. While it could be argued that a character thinking someone is going to find the hand could provide motivation for her to act, the execution is rushed and ineffective. The identity of the character may have been an intended twist, but I suspected it before the opening credits had even completed running. You don’t make a psychological thriller in the late 1960s/early 1970s that doesn’t have a “shock” ending.
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The Mad Room seems like a late effort to capitalize on the hagsploitation craze that started with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, but that’s not exactly what it is, even though it stars Shelley Winters. As usual, she’s the best thing about a film, though, and here gets to play a range of emotions rather than just her normal, consistently shrill old biddy. In fact, she conveys several emotions simultaneously when she learns that…
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…her personal assistant, Ellen Hardy (Stella Stevens) has been lying to her about the two younger siblings that she brings home with her from Toronto. Their uncle didn’t die leaving them orphans; they’ve really been visiting the Hospital for Mental Ills for the last decade or so since one of them murdered their parents. George (Michael Burns) is now 18 and cannot be held any longer. Mandy (Barbara Sammeth) is 16, but it wouldn’t be wise to separate them.
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It's both an interesting fact and a confounding one that it’s never known which of the two children committed the crime. They either legitimately have no memory of the event, or they’re covering for each other. So, when murder happens at Ellen Hardy’s house, each teen accuses the other one of doing it… because they know they didn’t do it. No spoilers, but if this isn’t a clue for you, then you’re not paying attention.
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The Mad Room isn’t horrible, it’s just flawed. Next to Winters, the highlight is Beverly Garland in her two scenes as Mrs. Racine, the drunk wife of Ellen’s philandering masseuse who crashes the meeting of the ladies’ auxiliary (or whatever it is) with a classic line: “Don’t think I don’t know I’m married to a male whore!” The entire movie needs more scenes like that one… or of a dog carrying a severed hand around the house in its mouth.
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