A Grand Guignol classic that uses two aging stars caricaturing themselves along with their long-time feud and a big-time director who wants to look at the darkest alleyways of Hollywood – a combination which results in a menacing psychodrama that is part ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ part ‘Psycho’ and all macabre.
‘What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?’ was released in 1962, an era in which the careers of the two film’s leading ladies, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, were far past their prime. Headlining some of the biggest films of the 30s and 40s and common knowledge dictating that they were rivals and competitors throughout this period, this film was the first to star both prolific actresses and what a film to make their duet debut in! – easily two of the most inspired casting choices ever. Although rumor has it that when Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were suggested for the roles to Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner, his reply was “I wouldn’t give a plugged nickel for either one of those two old broads.” – little did he know the success the picture would have as a result of the casting.
A film helped immensely by the popularity of ‘Psycho’ two years earlier, the similarities are as obvious as the differences. Stark black and white photography and a chilling musical score - in which both films actually culled from Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Les Diaboliques” from 1955 for inspiration. This film resulted in a resurgence of the careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as well as spawning a mini-genre of sorts with aging stars occupying crazy old bats roles – Tallulah Bankhead in “Die, Die My Darling” from 1965, Shelley Winters in “What’s The Matter With Helen?” and “Who Slew Auntie Roo?” (both from 1971), Lana Turner in “Persecution” (1974) with Bette Davis popping up in the Hammer films “The Nanny” from 1965 and “The Anniversary” from 1968 and Joan Crawford in Castle’s “Straight-Jacket” (1964) and “Berserk” (1968). And who, of course, can forget the film “Mommie Dearest” (1981), a film made about Joan Crawford’s own life-story starring Faye Dunawaye that comes across as crazy old bat film in and of itself.
So what better inspired casting is there to cast two aging movie star rivals as two aging sister rivals? The film starts off with a prologue set in 1917. Jane Hudson is a hugely successful and popular child vaudeville star who demands attention at every turn and is able to get anything she wants – an ice cream even when it’s nap time? You betcha – she does, after all, have life-sized dolls patterned after her that sell out at all her shows. Waiting silently in the shadows of the shows is her sister Blanche, a nice girl justifiably consumed with envy. Watching her parents suffer the indignities of the spoiled goldilocks with a cherub smile that would make Shirley Temple fume, Blanche bides her time until it’s her turn….
We move ahead almost two decades to 1935. We meet a director in a smoky screening room cursing Jane up on the big screen. Jane’s talent didn’t age well and we realize Blanche’s patience has paid off as she is now a huge Hollywood star carrying Jane on her back, throwing her roles the equivalent of bones. Now its Baby Jane’s turn to be jealous despite the fact that Blanche bought an old house that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino for them both to live.
Then a tragedy occurs, an automobile accident that destroys both their careers. Blanche is crippled in the driveway of her own home and the perpetrator is strongly hinted to be her sister. The years fade away and we arrive at “Yesterday”. We meet the sisters again, Blanche confined to a wheelchair clinging on to that last bit of celebrity and Baby Jane ravaged by alcohol with a streak of meanness as potent as ever. With a make-over that would make Divine blush, Baby Jane has seen better days, her face in a constant state of distortion painted over by thick make-up and a hair-style emanating from her vaudeville days. One look at her would send the bravest of men heading for the hills.
To make matters worse for poor Blanche, Baby Jane has also seemed to lose her grip on reality so while ill will and rivalry was always in place, things have now taken a turn for the worse. With Blanche in a wheelchair, Baby Jane is able to make her a prisoner, providing meals on her whim, feeding her what she chooses be it pets or rats, depriving her of any other human contact. ‘Burnt Offerings” (1976) and ‘Misery’ (1990) immediately come to mind.
As Jane becomes almost completely detached from reality, she decides to revisit her glory days by hiring an accompanist, a slovenly, over-weight middle-aged musician (Victor Buono) who still resides with his mother (‘Psycho’ anyone?) and is willing to put up with the most disgusting of circumstances for a little cash. His piano back-up to Jane’s warbling, painful rendition of her child-hood vaudeville song “I’ve written a letter to daddy” in full nostalgia regalia is a sequence one will not soon forget, probably the most twisted sequence in the film. To delve more into the plot would be to spoil surprises as the methodical, screw-tightening narrative slowly builds in tension to a truly bizarre climax.
I imagine the majority of the effectiveness of this film will be lost on the young, as a good part of the grotesqueness of this film was seeing these two once upon a time glamorous stars (largely Bette Davis) being reduced to beasts and raving lunatics. That this film comes packaged in the Bette Davis Vol. 2 collection from Warner Brothers is a cause to see how brave Bette Davis was about approaching the role, throwing all vanity out the window, especially in sharing the screen with the comparatively understated Joan Crawford. It’s a performance that easily deserved her Best Actress nomination, a true camp classic.
Crawford’s performance was expectedly overshadowed by Davis’s performance but she adds a sense of realism and true menace to the film that keeps it from toppling over into pure schlock. Also nominated in the cast was newcomer Victor Buono for Supporting Actor. I’m assuming it was a slow year in the Supporting Actor race considering the performance. Not bad, per se, but not a lot of meat to it…there were some good scenes between he and his mother and he played okay off of Bette Davis but it was certainly a role devoid of any showy scenes. Maybe the Academy thought he deserved a nomination for showing up to work knowing what he would have to face.
Director Robert Aldrich who is most well known for his action classics ‘The Dirty Dozen’ and ‘The Longest Yard’ shows a deft hand at suspense here. Previously directing two of the better film noirs of the 50s, ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ and ‘The Big Knife’ both from 1955 (in ‘Baby Jane’, watch for a cameo appearance of the Malibu house from Kiss Me Deadly), he knows how to set up the tension and when to let the film draw from the theatrics of the two stars. Aldrich later reunited with Bette Davis for the similar ‘Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte’ (1964), a film also worth seeking out.
The film is not without its faults, however, in which a running time of 133 minutes may stretch the patience of the most consummate of cinephiles. A little editing would have benefited in a more cohesive structure but it’s a menial drawback, it certainly remains watchable throughout the running time, even if the film does seem to be a bit talky, like it was derived from the stage. The film was badly remade in 1991 as a TV movie starring real-life sisters Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. Avoid if possible.
The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is enhanced for widescreen televisions. A comprehensive package, the sole special feature on disc one besides the theatrical trailer is an audio commentary by Charles Busch and John Epperson (Lypsinka). Warner Brothers having a bit of fun with the film’s cult following, apparently, employed two actors/writers well-known for their transgender roles to supply us with various anecdotes and insight into the film all in a very loose and entertaining manner.
Disc two contains three “Fabulous Documentary Profiles”: ‘Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition’ is a twenty-nine minute in-depth doc of the two actresses by various writers and historians, ‘All About Bette’ is a lengthy forty-eight minute doc on the actress hosted by Jodie Foster circa 1993 and then there is the BBC-produced “A Film Profile: Joan Crawford,’ a twenty-eight minute featurette all about Joan. Needless to say, after these three docs, you’ll know all you want to know about these two golden-era dames. There is a short six-minute “vintage” featurette ‘Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane’ and an intriguing short excerpt featuring Bette Davis on “The Andy Williams Show” where she belts out a song not far from her performance in the film.
‘What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?’ is a film in which the two aging stars are clearly relishing the chance to make a comeback, vanity and appearances be damned. Bette Davis especially carries the film with her camptastic, over-the-top performance with Joan Crawford supplying the grounding counterbalance. The film has some flaws and as in all genre films can stretch credibility a bit, but it still remains an effective, grotesque melodrama, a chiller of a bygone era.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (Two Disc Special Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD’s database for more information. The movie is also part of the Bette Davis Collection Vol. 2 which is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD's database for more information.
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