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Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Cast and Crew

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1962 film by Robert Aldrich

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

Theatrical release affiche
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Screenplay past Lukas Heller
Based on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
by Henry Farrell
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Starring
  • Bette Davis
  • Joan Crawford
Cinematography Ernest Haller
Edited by Michael Luciano
Music by Frank De Vol

Production
company

Seven Arts Productions
Distributed past Warner Bros. Pictures

Release date
  • October 31, 1962 (1962-x-31)

Running time

 134 minutes[i]
Country The states
Language English
Budget $980,000[2]
Box office $9.5 million[three]

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological horror-thriller motion-picture show directed and produced by Robert Aldrich, from a screenplay by Lukas Heller, based on the 1960 novel of the aforementioned name past Henry Farrell. The film stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and features the major film debut of Victor Buono. It follows an aging former child star tormenting her paraplegic sister, a former movie star, in an quondam Hollywood mansion.[4] [5] [half-dozen]

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was theatrically released in the United States on Oct 31, 1962, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film was met with critical acclaim and was a box function success. It was nominated for five University Awards and won ane for Best Costume Pattern, Blackness-and-White, with Davis receiving her tenth and final nomination for All-time Actress.

The intensely bitter Hollywood rivalry between the moving picture's 2 stars, Davis and Crawford, was heavily important to the film's initial success.[7] This in office led to the revitalization of the careers of the 2 stars. In the years afterwards release, critics continued to acclamation the film for its psychologically driven black comedy, camp, and cosmos of the psycho-biddy subgenre.[vii] [eight] The film's novel and controversial plot meant that it originally received an Ten rating in the U.Thousand.[i] Considering of the appeal of the film'due south stars, Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times has identified it as being a "cult classic".[9] In 2003, the character of Infant Jane Hudson was ranked No. 44 on the American Picture show Establish'due south list of the 50 Best Villains of American Movie theatre.[10]

In 2021, the pic was selected for preservation in the United States National Picture show Registry past the Library of Congress as beingness "culturally, historically, or aesthetically meaning".[11]

Plot [edit]

In 1917, "Baby Jane" Hudson is a spoiled and capricious child actress who performs in vaudeville theatres across the land with her father, who acts as her director and accompanies her on stage on the pianoforte. Her success is such that a line of porcelain dolls is made in her image. Meanwhile, her shy older sister Blanche lives in her shadow and is treated with antipathy by the haughty Jane. As the sisters pass boyhood, their situations undergo a reversal; Jane'due south manner of performing falls out of mode, and her career declines as she descends into alcoholism, while Blanche becomes an acclaimed Hollywood actress. Mindful of a promise made to their mother, Blanche attempts to maintain a semblance of a career for Jane, going as far as to impose on producers to guarantee a number of acting roles for her. 1 evening in 1935, Blanche's career is cut brusque when she is paralyzed from the waist downwards in a mysterious car accident that is unofficially blamed on Jane, who is found three days later on in a drunken shock.

By 1962, Blanche and Jane are living together in a mansion purchased with Blanche's movie earnings. Blanche's mobility is express due to her reliance on a wheelchair and the lack of an elevator to her upstairs bedroom. Jane, psychotic and resentful of Blanche's success, regularly mistreats Blanche and prepares to revive her old human activity with hired pianist Edwin Flagg. When Blanche informs Jane she intends to sell the house, Jane rightly suspects Blanche will commit her to a psychiatric hospital one time the house is sold. She removes the telephone from Blanche's bedchamber, cut her off from the outside globe. During Jane's absence, Blanche desperately drags herself down the stairs and calls her doctor for help. Jane returns to find Blanche on the phone and beats her unconscious before mimicking Blanche's voice to dismiss the dr.. Subsequently tying Blanche to her bed and locking her in her room, Jane abruptly fires their housekeeper, Elvira, when she comes to work. While Jane is abroad, the suspicious Elvira sneaks into the house and attempts to access Blanche'south room. Concerned by the lack of a response, Elvira tries to break open the door with a hammer. Jane returns domicile and reluctantly gives Elvira the fundamental. As shortly as Elvira enters Blanche's room, Jane takes the hammer and kills Elvira.

A few days later, the constabulary call to tell Jane that Elvira'south cousin has reported her missing. Jane panics and prepares to leave, taking Blanche with her. Earlier they tin leave, an inebriated Edwin is escorted to the house by police and discovers Blanche bound to her bed. Edwin flees and notifies the government. Jane, in a fit of infantile regression, takes Blanche to a beach where she sang as a child, attracting the attention of nearby beachgoers. Blanche — lying starved, dehydrated, and almost death on a blanket — tells the existent story of the car accident to relieve Jane of guilt, saying she is paraplegic through her own fault: On the night of the blow, Blanche tried to run Jane over because she was angry at Jane for mocking her at a party before that night. Blanche's spine broke when her machine struck the iron gates outside their mansion, and she dragged herself in front of the motorcar'due south hood to phase the accident and frame Jane. Blanche took reward of Jane's daze and subsequent bough, removing the existent dynamics of the accident from her listen, and subjected Jane to a life of guilt, loneliness, and servitude. Now enlightened of the truth, Jane sadly states that the sisters could have been friends. After Jane gets ice cream for herself and Blanche from a nearby kiosk, she is recognized by two police officers, who inquire her to lead them to Blanche. Jane dodges the officers' inquiry and dances before a crowd of bemused onlookers, while the officers find Blanche and rush to confirm her status.

Cast [edit]

  • Bette Davis as Jane Hudson
    • Julie Allred as 9-year-sometime Jane
    • Debbie Burton every bit young Jane'south singing voice
  • Joan Crawford as Blanche Hudson
    • Gina Gillespie equally 13-year-old Blanche
  • Victor Buono as Edwin Flagg
  • Marjorie Bennett as Dehlia Flagg
  • Maidie Norman as Elvira Stitt
  • Anna Lee every bit Mrs. Bates
  • B. D. Merrill every bit Liza Bates
  • Dave Willock as Ray Hudson
  • Anne Barton as Cora Hudson (credited as Ann Barton)
  • Wesley Addy as Marty McDonald
  • Robert Cornthwaite as Dr. Shelby
  • Maxine Cooper as Banking company Teller
  • Bert Freed every bit Ben Aureate
  • Ernest Anderson as Ernie the ice-cream vendor[12]
  • William Aldrich every bit Lunch Counter Assistant at Embankment
  • Russ Conway every bit Police Officer
  • Michael Fox as Television receiver Commercial Human being
  • Don Ross equally Police Officer
  • James Seay as Law Officeholder
  • John Shay equally Police Officeholder
  • Jon Shepodd as Police Officeholder
  • Peter Virgo as Police Officeholder

Production [edit]

Bette Davis (left) as Baby Jane Hudson and Joan Crawford as her sister, Blanche Hudson

The house exterior of the Hudson mansion is located at 172 South McCadden Identify in the neighborhood of Hancock Park, Los Angeles. Other residential exteriors show cottages on DeLongpre Avenue near Harvard Avenue in Hollywood without their current gated courtyards. The scene on the embankment was filmed well-nigh Aldrich's beach house in Malibu, the aforementioned site where Aldrich filmed the final scene of Kiss Me Deadly (1955). The beach house'southward outside is briefly visible during the picture show's final scenes.

Footage from the Bette Davis films Parachute Jumper and Ex-Lady (both 1933) and the Joan Crawford moving-picture show Sadie McKee (1934) was used to represent the film acting of Jane and Blanche, respectively.

The character of Liza, Mrs. Bates' daughter, was played past Davis'due south real-life daughter B. D. Merrill.

In a 1972 phone conversation, Crawford told author Shaun Considine that later on seeing the film she urged Davis to go and have a look. When she failed to hear back from her co-star, Crawford called Davis and asked her what she idea of the film. Davis replied, "You were so right, Joan. The picture is good. And I was terrific." Crawford said, "That was it. She never said anything nearly my operation. Not a word."[13]

During the filming of Hush...Hush, Sweetness Charlotte (1964), Crawford acknowledged to visiting reporter and author Lawrence J. Quirk the difficulty she was having with Davis because of the Oscar incident,[ description needed ] but added, "She acted like Baby Jane was a one-woman prove after they nominated her. What was I supposed to practise? Let her grunter all the glory, human activity similar I hadn't fifty-fifty been in the film? She got the nomination. I didn't begrudge her that, but it would have been nice if she'd been a little gracious in interviews and given me a piddling credit. I would've done and so for her."[14]

Critical reception [edit]

Contemporary reviews were mixed. In a by and large negative review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther observed, "[Davis and Crawford] do get off some amusing and eventually blood-chilling displays of screaming sororal hatred and general monstrousness ... The feeble attempts that Mr. Aldrich has fabricated to propose the irony of two in one case idolized and wealthy females living in such depravity, and the pathos of their deep-seated envy having brought them to this, wash out very quickly under the flood of sheer grotesquerie. At that place is nothing moving or particularly meaning about these two."[fifteen] Philip Thousand. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times likewise panned the film, writing that Crawford and Davis had been turned into "grotesque caricatures of themselves" and that the film "mocks non but its characters but too the sensibilities of its audience."[16] The Chicago Tribune wrote, "This isn't a movie, it's a caricature. Bette Davis' make-up could very well take been done by Charles Addams, Joan Crawford's perils make those of Pauline look similar good, clean fun and the plot piles one fantastic twist upon another until it all becomes nonsensical."[17] Brendan Gill of The New Yorker was somewhat negative as well, calling the film "far from being a Hitchcock—it goes on and on, in a light much dimmer than necessary, and the climax, when it belatedly arrives, is a bungled, languid mingling of pursuers and pursued which put me in mind of Last Year at Marienbad. Still, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford practice become a chance to deport on like mad things, which at least one of them is supposed to be."[18]

Amongst the positive reviews, Variety stated that after a slow and overlong introduction the picture show became "an emotional toboggan ride," adding, "Although the results heavily favor Davis (and she earns the credit), it should be recognized that the plot, of necessity, allows her to run unfettered through all the stages of oncoming insanity ... Crawford gives a quiet, remarkably fine estimation of the bedridden Blanche, held in emotionally by the nature and temperament of the function."[xix] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post also liked the film, writing that "Miss Davis has the showiest role and bites into it with all her admired strength, looking a fright from head to foot. I doubtfulness if she would regret some of the laughs she gets. She plays for them and psychologically, they are needed. If Miss Crawford has the passive part, that is not without rewards. Suffering is i of her particular gifts."[xx] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that numerous directorial techniques, including all the plunging shots down the staircase, fabricated the film expect "rather like an anthology of the oldest and nearly hackneyed devices in thrillerdom. And nevertheless, in its curious Gothic manner, the film works marvelously, though mainly as a field-twenty-four hour period for its actors."[21]

In Sight & Sound, Peter John Dyer stated that the film had "a frequent air of incompetence," writing of Aldrich's direction that "Like some textbook student of Hitchcock who never got beyond Blackmail, he dispenses suspense with ham-fisted conventionality." Dyer did praise the performances of the leads, yet, finding that they seemed to have institute "a new maturity, a discipline encouraged perhaps by the confined sets and Crawford'due south wheelchair, or by the interaction of their professional rivalry upon a belated mutual respect."[22]

More than contempo assessments have been more than uniformly positive. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the pic holds an approval rating of 92% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of seven.91/ten. The site's disquisitional consensus reads, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? combines powerhouse acting, rich atmosphere, and absorbing melodrama in service of a taut thriller with thought-provoking subtext."[23] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[24]

In a retrospective review, Television receiver Guide awarded the film four stars, calling information technology "Star wars, trenchantly served" and adding, "If information technology sometimes looks similar a poisonous senior citizen bear witness with over-the-top spoiled ham, merely try to look away ... Equally in the all-time Hitchcock movies, suspense, rather than actual mayhem, drives the flick."[25]

Awards and nominations [edit]

Box office [edit]

The motion-picture show was a box office hit, grossing $9 1000000 in theatrical rentals in Due north America.[32] In adjusted grosses, What Always Happened To Baby Jane? made an estimated $124 1000000 in 2019 dollars, making it the 20th highest-grossing movie of the twelvemonth and giving both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford their biggest striking in over a decade.[33]

In the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, the film was given an X document past the BBFC in 1962, with a few minor cuts. These cuts were waived for a video submission, which was given an 18 certificate in 1988, meaning no one nether eighteen years of historic period could buy a re-create of the film.[1] However, in 2004, the film was re-submitted for a theatrical re-release, and it was given a 12A document, now significant persons nether 12 years of age could view it if accompanied by an adult. It remains at this category to this day.[34]

Legacy [edit]

The film'south success spawned a succession of horror/thriller films featuring psychotic older women, later on dubbed the psycho-biddy subgenre, among them Aldrich's Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, and director Curtis Harrington's Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? and What'southward the Affair with Helen?. It was parodied by the Italian comedy film What Ever Happened to Babe Toto? [35]

Shaun Considine'southward volume Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud (1989) chronicles the actresses' rivalry, including their experience shooting this pic.[36]

Comedy duo French and Saunders (Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French) created a BBC episode called "Any Happened to Baby Dawn?" on 22 March 1990.[37] French and Saunders also made a radio play nearly feuding sisters called "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane Austen" in 2021.[38]

In 1991, the motion picture was remade every bit a television set moving picture starring real-life sisters Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave.[39]

In 2006, Christina Aguilera adopted a new alter ego called Baby Jane subsequently Bette Davis' graphic symbol in the film.[forty]

In Season 2, Episode 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, the drag queens' acting chops are tested in parody film sequels of RuPaul's favourite films. A parody of ''What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?'' called ''Wha' Ha' Happened to Baby JJ?'' was fabricated past Alaska and Alyssa Edwards.[41]

The backstage battle between Crawford and Davis during the product of the picture is the basis for the 2017 miniseries Feud, which stars Jessica Lange as Crawford and Susan Sarandon as Davis and created by Ryan Murphy.[42] [43]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Any Happened to Baby Jane? (X)". British Board of Picture Classification. Nov 30, 1962. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  2. ^ Alain Silverish and James Ursini, Any Happened to Robert Aldrich?, Limelight, 1995 p 256
  3. ^ French box office results for Robert Aldrich films at Box Office Story
  4. ^ Ebert, Roger. "What E'er Happened to Baby Jane? Motion-picture show Review (1962) - Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com.
  5. ^ Tobias, Scott. "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "What Ever Happened to Infant Jane? (1962) - Robert Aldrich - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  7. ^ a b "'BLU-RAY REVIEW – "What Always Happened to Babe Jane?"". Slant Mag. November 6, 2012. Retrieved Oct ii, 2014.
  8. ^ "What Always Happened To Baby Jane?". The A.V. Club. June six, 2008. Retrieved October ii, 2014.
  9. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (July 12, 2012). "Whatever Happened to 'Baby Jane'? Information technology's Getting a Remake". New York Times . Retrieved Oct 2, 2014.
  10. ^ "AFI'Due south 100 YEARS...100 HEROES & VILLAINS". AFI. July 4, 2003. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  11. ^ Tartaglione, Nancy (December 14, 2021). "National Pic Registry Adds Return Of The Jedi, Fellowship Of The Band, Strangers On A Train, Sounder, WALL-E & More". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  12. ^ What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - IMDb , retrieved 2020-07-26
  13. ^ BETTE AND JOAN by Shaun Considine, Dell, 1989, ISBN 0-440-20776-2, pp. 433
  14. ^ Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography by Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell, Academy Pr of Kentucky, 2002, ISBN 0813122546, ISBN 978-0813122540, pp. 221
  15. ^ "Movies". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Scheuer, Philip One thousand. (Nov eight, 1962) "What'southward Happened to Bette and Joan?" Los Angeles Times. Part Four, p. 9.
  17. ^ Tinee, Mae (Nov vi, 1962). "'Infant Jane' Movie Is Lurid Tale of Sadism'. Chicago Tribune. Part two, folio iv.
  18. ^ Gill, Brendan (November 17, 1962). "The Current Movie theatre". The New Yorker. pp. 209–210.
  19. ^ "Film Reviews: What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?". Variety: half-dozen. October 31, 1962.
  20. ^ Coe, Richard Fifty. (Nov 1, 1962). "Davis, Crawford Trigger Eerie Tale". The Washington Post: C27.
  21. ^ "What E'er Happened To Baby Jane?". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (353): 81–82. June 1963.
  22. ^ Dwyer, Peter John (Summertime 1963). "Meeting Baby Jane". Sight & Sound. 32 (3): 119.
  23. ^ "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  24. ^ "What Ever Happened to Infant Jane? Reviews". Metacritic . Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  25. ^ "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?". TVGuide.com.
  26. ^ "The 35th Academy Awards (1963) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org . Retrieved 2011-08-23 .
  27. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1964". BAFTA. 1964. Retrieved 16 September 2016.
  28. ^ "Festival de Cannes: What Ever Happened to Infant Jane?". festival-cannes.com . Retrieved 2009-02-27 .
  29. ^ "15th DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards . Retrieved July five, 2021.
  30. ^ "What Ever Happened to Infant Jane? – Golden Globes". HFPA . Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  31. ^ "Film Hall of Fame Productions". Online Film & Television Association . Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  32. ^ "All-Time Meridian Grossers", Variety, January viii, 1964, p. 69
  33. ^ "Joan Crawford Movies | Ultimate Movie Rankings". 31 May 2015.
  34. ^ "Any Happened to Baby Jane? (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. August 27, 2004. Retrieved September 9, 2011.
  35. ^ Alberto Anile (1998). I film di Totò (1946–1967): la maschera tradita. Le mani, 1998. ISBN8880120808.
  36. ^ Rorke, Robert (26 Feb 2017). "Why Bette Davis and Joan Crawford'southward Feud Lasted a Lifetime". The New York Postal service . Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  37. ^ "Whatever Happened To Baby Dawn?, Serial 3, French and Saunders - BBC Two". BBC.
  38. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Any Happened to Baby Jane Austen?".
  39. ^ "What Always Happened to Babe Jane? (1991) - David Greene - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  40. ^ Vineyard, Jennifer (August 23, 2006) "Christina Clip Got A Boost From Outkast, Role-Playing Dancers". Retrieved June 23, 2013.
  41. ^ "RuPaul'south Elevate Race All Stars – Season 2, Ep. 4 – Elevate Moving picture Shequels – Total Episode | Logo Goggle box". Logo TV . Retrieved 2017-04-09 .
  42. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (v May 2016). "Feud: Ryan White potato Lands Third FX Anthology With Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange". Diversity . Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  43. ^ Birnbaum, Debra (January 12, 2017). "FX Sets Premiere Dates for Feud, The Americans, Archer". Diversity . Retrieved January 12, 2017.

External links [edit]

vivancodosever93.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Ever_Happened_to_Baby_Jane%3F_%28film%29

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