The Forbidden Garden; Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? — Ursula Curtiss

Mrs. Marrable, an elderly widow, hid a ferocious animal cunning behind her mask of tart respectability. Her main interest was gardening, which fitted in admirably with her business of murder. She kept a line of handsome poplars at the edge of her country lawn, and at intervals Mrs. Marrable had occasion to order a hole dug for another tree. These occasions usually arose when there was a body to dispose of -- a body that had been a hired companion, one without relatives but with a tidy nest egg which enabled Mrs. Marrable to enjoy her little luxuries.

Mrs. Marrable might still be planting poplars and companions if her nephew had not trapped her into renting a cottage down the road to an Eastern girl with a ten-year-old nephew. It was a mistake, Mrs. Marrable sensed. How big a mistake her tenant Harriet Crewe was to find out. Harriet would never have dreamed that the enchanting blue-doored New Mexican house would become a place of such terror…

But she finally made a mistake...


WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE? Is the movie based on this chilling suspense novel. Now showing at theaters everywhere, starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, it's a Cinerama release, produced by Robert Aldrich, and presented by Palomar Pictures International.