393. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Running Time: 134 minutes
Directed By: Robert Aldrich
Written By: Lukas Heller, from novel by Henry Farrell
Main Cast: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Maidie Norman, Anna Lee
Click here to view the trailer

BETTE vs. JOAN

We're in the home stretch now and with less than ten films to go before I present a new TOP 20, a new contender emerges. There seems to be a recurring trend with these TOP 20's and how every time I get really close, I end up watching something really good, making the list that much harder to make.

The year is 1917 and Baby Jane Hudson is the flavor of the month, as far as child star's are concerned. She performs to crowds, who eat her act up and even has her own doll (only $3.25 a piece!). With all of her success, her sister Blanche is treated like the ugly duckling, being forced to look on while here sister gets all of the attention. Flash forward to 1935 and the table's have turned. Now, Blanche Hudson (Crawford) is one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood and while Jane tries to make movies, they're usually regarded as rotten and sometimes even so bad that they don't get released. One evening, there is an accident and Blanche is crippled, presumably by her sister Jane, when she is run over by a car and her spine is broken. Flash forward to today, where Blanche and Jane live in the same house, with Blanche confined to the upstairs, forced to watch her success play out on television stations that air her old pictures. Jane is bitter, to put it mildly, living with Blanche and being forced to take care of her. Jane can't seem to let the past be, clinging to her days of stardom and burying her sorrows in liquor bottles. When Blanche makes some decisions to sell the house and admit Jane into a facility where she can get help for her drinking habit, Jane snaps!

As movie lovers, I think we've all had this feeling: You watch something that you had high hopes for and when it's finished you realize that it was just as good as you imagined. You're kind of disappointed, because you thought that it would be even better than you imagined and really throw you for a loop. That's what happened with me and "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", as I was actually disappointed when it was over and it just lived up to my expectations, failing to exceed them. However, I slept on it and it turns out that I was just being silly. It's hard to deny this film it's acclaim, as it stars two leading ladies really flexing their acting muscle. It probably helped that these two actually hated each other in real life (of course, I'm speaking of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford), because it probably only made them work that much harder. Imagine acting in a film, opposite your nemesis - you'd want to really put on a show to make them look weak, wouldn't you?

Actually, the real life feud between Crawford and Davis, in a way, overshadowed that greatness of the picture, as the entire time I kept thinking about how difficult this picture must have been to make. Imagine Robert Aldrich, a director just trying to tell a story, having to deal with this rivalry - poor guy. As far as the picture goes, as I said, it's brilliant. The story kind of borders on horror and drama and I couldn't help but remember James Caan, in his wheelchair bound state, in "Misery". The film has suspense, twists, great photography (loved the shot of Jane spinning around and around on the beach, clutching those ice cream cones) and as stated, marvelous acting.

RATING: 8.5/10 I'm tinkering with a shorter review format. I really feel that a lot of times, I just force myself to write more than I should and I'm trying to break that habit. More on this later. As for "Baby Jane", it comes with a terrific recommendation from yours truly.

MOVIES WATCHED: 392
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 609

January 10, 2012 11:58am