Picture Mommy Dead

1966
Unrated
1h 22m

IMDb RATING

5.3/10

774

YOUR RATING

Don Ameche, Susan Gordon, and Martha Hyer in Picture Mommy Dead (1966)

A woman is released from an asylum after the shock suffered during the death of her mother.

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Drama Horror Thriller

After her mother's fiery death, Susan leaves an asylum to live with her father and gold-digging stepmother, who schemes with her lover to find the dead woman's missing diamonds through the t... Read allAfter her mother's fiery death, Susan leaves an asylum to live with her father and gold-digging stepmother, who schemes with her lover to find the dead woman's missing diamonds through the traumatized girl.After her mother's fiery death, Susan leaves an asylum to live with her father and gold-digging stepmother, who schemes with her lover to find the dead woman's missing diamonds through the traumatized girl.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.3/10

774

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Hedy Lamarr was originally cast in the role that was eventually filled by Zsa Zsa Gabor, but she was forced to abandon the film when she was arrested at a Los Angeles department store for trying to shoplift an $86 pair of slippers.

Goofs
The plaque on the "convent" from which Susan is discharged reads "St. Maria", which must be reverse-mirror image Spanglish, as St. is the proper abbreviation for any saint, male or female, in English, in this case Mary, but Sta. is the proper spelling for a (female) saint in Spanish , here Maria. And then the nun goes and speaks French, so go figure.

Quotes
Edward Shelley: Is she still having those nightmares you wrote us about?
Sister René: Always vivid, horrid nightmares. Perhaps if you would have been able to visit her, even to write more often.
Edward Shelley: Yes, but, uh, we've, uh,, we've been travelling a great deal since.
Sister René: I'm sorry, that was unkind of me. But there are times that the phantoms of the past tear at that poor child's mind. There are times when she seems on the verge of...
Edward Shelley: [anticipating] Remembering?
Sister René: Oh, heaven forbid she remembers! No, God in his mercy saw fit to make her forget.

Connections
Featured in You Won't Stop Screaming (1998)

Soundtracks
The Hearse Song
(uncredited)
Performed by Susan Gordon

User reviews31

Featured review

DVD Where are you?

So many films have yet to be released that it's shocking what does trickle down from on high onto DVD. You'd think whoever owned this little souvenir of 70's syndication would want to start seeing some long overdue profits from it already. They must be working on a Director's cut. Right.

I haven't seen this TV movie for a very long time, but I remember it well. There was a song that played over the credits that was the eeriest thing about Picture Mommy Dead. It was a little nursery rhyme with the chilling refrain;

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, in your stomach and out your mouth," or something appetizing like that. Is it coming back to you now?

If not, check the DVD when it does come out and see what an evening's TV entertainment used to look like in America in the late 1960's. The best thing about these movies is that because there were only a couple of options on the toob back then, everyone seems to have seen them. These were the days of the 75% share for a TV movie. "Friends" doesn't even come close in viewership. For better or worse that age has come to an end and made us less of a family.