Picture Mommy Dead

1966
Unrated
1h 22m

IMDb RATING

5.3/10

772

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.

Play trailer1:46

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84 Photos

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

772

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 1:46

Trailer

Photos84

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9:57

Storyline

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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

6/10

Susan and Dad

Glamorous and gowned Zsa Zsa Gabor (as Jessica Flagmore) burns to death as a giggling girl removes her jeweled necklace. Three years later, sullen director's daughter Susan Gordon (as Susan Shelley) is released from a religious sanitarium and convent. The teenage young woman still seems have some mental problems, due to the shock of seeing her mother burned to death. The nuns warn father Don Ameche (as Edward Shelley) and beautiful blonde step-mother Martha Hyer (as Francene) that Ms. Gordon needs tender loving care. Since the young woman inherited everything, her parents seem more interested in getting some money...

An appropriately melodramatic and cartooning delivery help make this a fun "drive-in"-type horror movie. It also found a re-run home on TV during a time when TV movies of this type enjoyed great popularity. Bert I. Gordon's "Picture Mommy Dead" probably inspired producers to put more stories like this on their "Movie of the Week" production schedules. Just enjoy the silliness, TV movie style and snazzy score by Robert Drasnin. "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, in your stomach and out your mouth," is a mysterious clue. It's set in majestic Greystone Mansion. As a bonus, you get to see Zsa Zsa Gabor go up in flames.

****** Picture Mommy Dead (11/2/66) Bert I. Gordon ~ Susan Gordon, Martha Hyer, Don Ameche, Zsa Zsa Gabor