Throughout the day and evening, the domineering, evil, vindictive, manipulative matriarch does everything in her power to remind her children who controls the family finances and ultimately their futures.

Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley, and James Cossins were signed to reprise the roles they had played in the stage production.

Original director Alvin Rakoff was replaced a week into filming after he clashed with Davis, who felt he "didn't have the first fundamental knowledge of making a motion picture, let alone what an actor was all about".

"[2] Davis was required to wear self-adhesive eye patches for her role, which not only proved to be a constant irritant,[3] but affected her equilibrium as well.

The concept of the Hollywood star system was foreign to Hancock, a veteran of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre, and she resented the fawning attention paid to Davis based on her past successes.

[1] In her review in The New York Times, Renata Adler said the film "is not a distinguished example of the Terrifying Older Actress Filicidal Mummy genre, but it isn't too heavy.