What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1991) (TV)

Director:

David Greene

Writers (WGA):

Henry Farrell (novel)
Brian Taggert (teleplay)

Release Date:

17 February 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

An elderly, bedridden former movie star is "cared for" by her sister, who hates her and keeps her a virtual prisoner in the family mansion. |

Plot Keywords:

Mansion | Psycho Thriller | Spoiled Child | Revenge | Sister Sister Relationship

Cast

Vanessa Redgrave	...	Blanche Hudson
Lynn Redgrave	...	Jane Hudson
Bruce A. Young	...	Dominick
Amy Steel	...	Connie
John Scott Clough	...	Frank
John Glover	...	Billy
Samantha Jordan	...	Baby Jane
Erinn Canavan
J. Michael Flynn	...	Mr. Hudson (as Michael Flynn)
Alexandra Johnson
Bradley Mott
Vinny Argiro
Pat Skipper
Barry Dennen
Beans Morocco

Also Known As:

What Ever Happened to...? (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Spectacor Films

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Nanny: The Yummy Mummy (#6.13)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Tomorrow Is Not Far Away

I generally don't care for remakes, but THIS.....

Hey now, I'm not really one for remakes, especially when it comes to classics. The original "Whatever Happened...?" is far creepier and sinister than this, and it remains one of my favorite movies, but I really liked this new version too. Perhaps it works because Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave really ARE sisters? And not two has-been glamor-girls trying to out-hag each other (although Joan Crawford still looked pretty good in the original, Bette Davis was enough to scare the hell out of you). So Lynn as Baby Jane Hudson seems somewhere between a 60's flower child and Edith-Anne, the role Lily Tomlin played on Laugh In many years ago. She dresses and fixes her hair like a little girl ALL the time, whereas Davis was WAY more grotesque and flopped around in a housecoat. Her make-up kind of reminds me of a raccoon, though, a raccoon with a booze problem. Vanessa does a great long-suffering Blanche. Definitely their interaction is a lot less understated than it was in the original, Baby Jane is unhinged, to be sure, but she doesn't exude the cruelty that Davis did. Now, we throw in John Glover in sort of the role that Victor Buono played, and by sort of I mean that a more "modern" twist has been thrown in. His character Billy seems a tad light in the loafers, but that's not all that obvious until his big scene with Jane on stage (in her mind, the start of her big "comeback")at a nightclub in good old Hollyweird. Oh my. This is probably one of the sequences that would send me running back to the original, but it's fairly minor and doesn't really detract from the movie. I found this to be surprisingly good, and if you like the original it's well worth checking this one out. Highly recommended.