{"id":1510,"date":"2025-08-01T00:42:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T04:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1510"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:40:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:40:54","slug":"the-killing-of-sister-george-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1510","title":{"rendered":"The Killing of Sister George-1968"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Killing of Sister George-1968<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Robert Aldrich<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Beryl Reid, Susannah York<\/strong><\/p>\n

Top 250 Films #210<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #228<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"220px-Original_movie_poster_for_the_film_The_Killing_of_Sister_George\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed March 13, 2015<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Killing of Sister George is a British film drama, adapted from a 1964 stage production that was a risky subject matter to tackle for the times- lesbianism- in the late 1960s.<\/p>\n

Directed by Robert Aldrich, well known for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, The Killing of Sister George is a similarly dark tale of loneliness, desperation, and an actress who falls from former grace and success into despair, confusion, and anguish.<\/p>\n

It also has some witty, crackling, comedic moments to avoid being a true downer.<\/p>\n

Sister George is a successful, well-regarded actress on a popular soap opera named Applehurst. Her character is the wholesome presence in a town fraught with manipulation and drama. She is the moral focal point of the show.<\/p>\n

In real life, however, George (interestingly called by her character\u2019s name), is troubled.<\/p>\n

She is bitter, angry, and a person with alcoholism, and she frequently berates and even abuses her partner, Childie, played by Susannah York. A third central character in the film is TV Producer Mercy Croft, who is powerful and confused about her sexuality.<\/p>\n

When the soap opera powers-that-be decide to kill off the beloved Sister George, the real George’s life begins to spiral out of control.<\/p>\n

As enjoyable a film as it is and certainly featuring the competent talents of Beryl Reid in the title role, I cannot help but ponder and fantasize how wonderful the casting of Bette Davis- reportedly considered for the role and inexplicably not cast- would have been.<\/p>\n

Davis, famous for playing grizzled, mean, unsympathetic characters, would have knocked this role out of the park, and, sadly, she did not have the chance.<\/p>\n

At its core, the film is a sad character study of one woman\u2019s pain and anguish at being discarded. Presumably unable to be hired anywhere else, her soap opera character is<\/strong> her life.<\/p>\n

She loves Childie but is not entirely fulfilled by her, either, and the vibrant, polished Mercy threatens that relationship.<\/p>\n

This is an interesting triangle as George does not always treat Childie well, but loves her all the same. Childie is a simple character, childlike, and needs a strong mate to counter-balance the way she is- someone to take care of her.<\/p>\n

Without a job or prospects, this would be difficult for George. Does Childie love George or want a meal ticket?<\/p>\n

The film is understandably rated X for content, presumably for a very explicit sex scene between Mercy and Childie, and when a drunken George molests two nuns in the back seat of a London taxi cab.<\/p>\n

These scenes are both cutting-edge and admirable in their risk-taking.<\/p>\n

The scene set at the real-life London lesbian club (the Gateway Club) and featuring mostly real-life lesbians is excellent. It provides a real-life glimpse into the gay\/lesbian world and lifestyle during the period.<\/p>\n

A brave, groundbreaking, risk-taking film with bravura direction from Aldrich, The Killing of Sister George (1968) is a forgotten gem that needs to be rediscovered by film fans everywhere and is an early journey into gay and lesbian cinema.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Killing of Sister George-1968 Director Robert Aldrich Starring Beryl Reid, Susannah York Top 250 Films #210 Scott’s Review #228 Reviewed March 13, 2015 Grade: A- The Killing of Sister George is a British film drama, adapted from a 1964 stage production that was a risky subject matter to tackle for the times- lesbianism- in … Continue reading The Killing of Sister George-1968<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7716,18,2864,440,8628,192,339,122,615,2859,7464],"tags":[7717,62,2865,441,8629,193,123,340,616,2862,7460],"class_list":["post-1510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-210-favorite-film","category-1968-films","category-beryl-reid","category-british-films","category-coral-browne","category-dramas","category-lgbt-dramas","category-gay-films","category-robert-aldrich","category-susannah-york","category-top-250-films","tag-210-favorite-film","tag-1968-movie-reviews","tag-beryl-reid","tag-british-films","tag-coral-browne","tag-dramas-2","tag-gaylesbian-films","tag-lgbt-dramas","tag-robert-aldrich","tag-susannah-york","tag-top-250-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1510"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22312,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1510\/revisions\/22312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}