The Killing of Sister George
With Beryl Reid, Susannah York, Coral Browne.
US, 1968, 35mm, color, 138 min.
Print source: Disney
The Killing of Sister George is a dark, quasi-absurdist play about a beloved soap opera actress and her combative relations with two other women: her lover and a network executive. Robert Aldrich produces a no-holds-barred screen adaptation, famously amplifying the lesbianism inherent in the original. The film’s semi-explicit sex scene and racy tone earns it one of the first “X” ratings in American cinema and the label of cult and/or camp classic. The Killing of Sister George also marks a high point for the Grand Guignol cinema that Aldrich defined earlier in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and The Legend of Lylah Clare and a furthest expression of his continued fascination with cruelty, faded stardom and the spiked cocktail of impossible love.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Four Star Playhouse: The Squeeze, The Witness and The Hard Way
The Southerner
