The Greatest Mother of Them All

The Greatest Mother of Them All is a 1970 short film made by Robert Aldrich.

Plot

A Hollywood director, Sean Howard, lives with a teenage girl, Dolly, whose mother forced her into stripping when the girl was fifteen.

Cast

Production

The film was inspired by the relationship between Errol Flynn and Beverly Aadland.

In October 1967, Robert Aldrich signed a four picture contract with ABC Pictures to make The Killing of Sister George, The Greatest Mother of 'Em All, Too Late the Hero and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?[1]

In January 1969, it was reported Leon Griffiths was writing the script.[2] A. I. Bezzerides also worked on the script.[3]

ABC were reluctant to finance the feature after the box office failure of Aldrich's last film about Hollywood, The Legend of Lylah Clare. Aldrich decided to make a "long trailer" for the film, a 20-minute short to encourage them to provide the money. In particular, he wanted to demonstrate the ability of the girl he wanted to play the lead, Alexandra Hay.[4] "She carries the picture," he said.[5]

It was only the second time Aldrich tested for one of his pictures, the first being Ursula Andress and Richard Jaeckel on 4 for Texas (1963).[3]

Filming started in July 1969. There were two days of rehearsals and eight days of filming - five days of interiors at the Aldrich Studios and three days of exteriors at Zuma Beach, the Los Angeles Zoo, Sunset Strip and Griffith Park. The budget was given for $75,000.[3]

Aldrich said he deliberately used "very stylistic sets" to "reassure" the cast that "not one inch of this test footage would wind up in the movie."[5]

The film did not succeed in attracting finance for a feature. Aldrich said in 1972 they made the movie "just at the time that everybody was getting very sanctimonious about sex pictures... I think it's pretty good. But nobody wanted this thing about a broken-down Hollywood director who found a 16 year old girl and shacked up with her and had a heart attack, etc. We spent $90,000 getting it mounted to show people what it was all about, which I thought was an ingenious piece of showmanship, but nobody else agreed with me. I also think that it was very stupid timing. If I had been bright enough, I would have known that the cycle had passed. Whereas a year before that picture would have sold like hotcakes. So no more war pictures and no more "Hollywood" pictures for a while. I'm a sucker for them. I can't find any; and I'm trying not to look."[4]

References
  1. "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Four-Picture Pact Signed" Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 6 Oct 1967: d13
  2. "MOVIE CALL SHEET: Miss Henderson in 'Norway'" Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 22 Jan 1969: i11
  3. "$75,000 SCREEN TEST SCHEDULED BY ALDRICH" Los Angeles Times 26 July 1969: a9
  4. "Mr. film noir stays at the table" Silver, Alain. Film Comment; New York Vol. 8, Iss. 1, (Spring 1972): 14–23
  5. "Alexandra Hay screen test to impress ABC". The Times Herald. 13 March 1970. p. 18.
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