In a decaying movie-star mansion live the Hudson sisters. Blanche is a 1930s actress who has been crippled at the height of her career in a terrible car accident. She now lives with and depends upon her sister Jane, an ex-vaudeville child star who is bitterly jealous of her sister’s fame. As she continues to turn to drink and self-pity, Jane soon turns their home into a house of horror and there is no escape for Blanche.
Based on a novel by Henry Farrell, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a dark and thrilling movie filled with plot misdirection, macabre practical jokes, violence, and stomach-churning performances that is the result of two screen queens going head to head and ripping each other to shreds.
In a decaying movie-star mansion in suburbia live the Hudson sisters. Blanche is a 1930s actress who has been crippled at the height of her outstanding career in a terrible car accident. She now lives with and depends upon her sister Jane, an ex-vaudeville child star who never grew up and is bitterly jealous of her sister’s fame. As Jane begins to turn more and more to drink and self-pity, she turns their mansion home into a house of horror and there is no escape for Blanche.
I think what is most disturbing about this movie is that it’s actually a thriller/comedy. Sort of similar to the comedic style of the Coen brothers, the humour of this movie is very dark and you need to persevere with the entire movie in order to understand what makes it funny. Throughout the film, all these horrible and macabre things happen and it all centres around a single misunderstanding or mistake. It’s really quite messed up when you think about it, but that’s what makes these sorts of films so brilliant.
And we must bow down to the two queens of the screen that have brought us this amazing movie. Joan Crawford stars as Blanche and she was wonderful. Playing the victim, in a wheelchair no less, can be no easy feat and Joan’s performance was marvellous. As she slowly realises what her sister is doing and the panic takes hold…well there really are no words to describe the way she played those scenes. One particular scene that really made my stomach turn over was when Jane serves Blanche a dead rat for lunch as a practical joke and Blanche just spins circles in her chair, screaming all the while. This was a very powerful scene and you felt just as scared as she was. The mark of a true actor or actress is when they can make the audience feel what they feel.
Bette Davis stars as Jane and her performance was nothing short of immortal, macabre genius. Going through a multitude of exaggerated emotions and states of mind, she really did dominate the screen. I was deeply disturbed, terrified, sympathetic, and completely and utterly in love with her from the start. Whenever she did a scene where she reminisced about her days of fame and her father, tears were so close to running down my face. You were frightened of her, but at the same time, sorry and wanted her to find peace. Hers was an absolutely stunning performance.
Starring Victor Buono, Wesley Addy, Julie Alfred, Anne Barton, Marjorie Bennett, Bert Freed, Anna Lee, Maidie Norman, Dave Willock, William Aldrich, Ernest Anderson, Russ Conway, and Maxine Cooper, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was a beautifully crafted and wonderfully sinister and disturbing thriller filled with plot misdirection, violence, suspense, macabre practical jokes, and blame. I absolutely loved it!
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