Movie – What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) – A former child movie star takes out her anger and self hatred on her sister who is trapped in a wheelchair.

Hard to imagine a story concept less appealing than this.  Bette Davis and Joan Crawford bring their personal, real life loathing for one another to the screen.  What the audience gets is a brilliant, seething, flame war of a movie.  It would be perfectly paired with the equally brilliant “Sunset Boulevard”, which examines the acid effects of stardom from a different angle.  You think you had sibling rivalry in your family?  You ain’t seen sibling rivalry.  What happened one night years ago haunts both of the sisters.  In the original promotional pieces audiences were asked to keep the ending a secret from folks who hadn’t seen it yet.  It all still plays beautifully fifty plus years later.

Why I Liked It – I will confess to not being a huge fan of either Davis or Crawford going into the movie.  Yet at the decline of their careers each found roles that will be remembered forever.  Every time you think that Davis’s “Baby Jane” can’t be any more vicious, can’t sink any lower she shows you something new.  That she was willing to let the movie make her ever more hideous looking speaks to Davis’s dedication to the role.  Crawford meanwhile plays a softer, more vulnerable character than I normally associate with her career.  The sibling relationship is a train wreck of monstrous proportions but one from which you will not be able to look away.

Why You Will Like It: Two great actresses at the height of their talents.  The combustion that takes place on the screen will consume their world.

Pre-rating system movie.  Intense, not for children.

Rating – ***** Highly Recommend