What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Henry Farrell (novel)
Lukas Heller (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 October 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?

Plot:

In a decaying Hollywood mansion, Jane Hudson, a former child star, and her sister Blanche, a movie queen forced into retirement after a crippling accident, live in virtual isolation.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Child Star | Aging | Former Child Star | Revenge

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Baby Jane Hudson
Joan Crawford	...	Blanche Hudson
Victor Buono	...	Edwin Flagg
Wesley Addy	...	Marty Mc Donald
Julie Allred	...	Baby Jane Hudson, in 1917
Anne Barton	...	Cora Hudson (as Ann Barton)
Marjorie Bennett	...	Dehlia Flagg
Bert Freed	...	Ben Golden (as Robert Freed)
Anna Lee	...	Mrs. Bates
Maidie Norman	...	Elvira Stitt
Dave Willock	...	Ray Hudson
William Aldrich	...	Lunch counter assistant at beach
Russ Conway	...	Police Officer
Maxine Cooper	...	Bank teller
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Dr. Shelby

Runtime:

134 min | Argentina:135 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:18 (1988 rating) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | France:-12 | Ireland:12 | Spain:18 | Germany:16 (f) | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:12A (re-rating) (2004) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

172 N. McCadden Pl., Hancock Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Trivia:

In scenes where Jane imitates Blanche's voice, the voice heard is actually Joan Crawford's voice, and not Bette Davis', as Bette could not master Joan's voice properly.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first scene featuring nextdoor neighbor Mrs. Bates, she places the telephone on the coffee table twice.

Quotes:

Blanche: [Upon hanging up the phone after discovering Jane is right behind her] That... that was...
Jane: I know who it was!
Blanche: No, Jane, it really was!
Jane: And I know what you're trying to do!
Blanche: I... I'm not trying to do anything, honestly Jane!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Get a Life (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

I'VE WRITTEN A LETTER TO DADDY

One of the great movies about the movies

One of the great movies about the movies, (and great movies about the movies aren't reverential, they bite the hand that feeds them), and the best of Aldrich's 'women's pictures'. Detractors see it as a misogynist load of horse manure about a couple of self-loathing sisters hauled up together in a decaying Hollywood mansion, a too-close-to-home study of the real life rivalry between stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford or even as a veiled study of homosexual self-depreciation with the sisters as ageing drag queens. But these are the very things that make the picture great. It is precisely because it can be read in this way that makes it such a perversely enjoyable, subversive piece of work.

As the sisters, Davis and Crawford pull all the stops out and then some. What makes Crawford's performance great is that she is never sympathetic even when Davis is feeding her dead rat or quite literally kicking her when she's down, while Davis is simply astonishing. With her face painted like a hideous Kabuki mask and dressed up like a doll that's filled with maggots it's an unashamedly naked piece of acting, as revealing as her work in "All About Eve" and almost as good. Unfortunately the film's commercial success lead both actresses into a downward spiral of not dissimilar but considerably lack-lustre material. But this bitch-fest is the real McCoy.