A great psychological thriller, black comedy, and over-the-top camp classic is this great trashy melodrama - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). It features the bizarre (and sole) pairing of two legendary -- and rival -- screen legends in a gothic, macabre, Grand Guignol horror film, directed by Robert Aldrich.
The story begins in 1917. Baby Jane Hudson is a vaudevillian child star. She performs to adoring crowds. Jane is also a spoiled brat, and her father Ray ,gives in to her every whim. Her jealous sister Blanche watches from the wings. Jump to 1935, and the sisters' roles are now reversed.
Both are movie stars, but Blanche is the successful and glamorous one, while Jane’s films have flopped. Unable to establish her talent as an adult actress, Jane has taken up drinking. One night after a party, there was a car accident. It is unclear which sister is driving. In the present, both Blanche and Jane share a house.
Blanche is crippled from the automobile accident and is usually in her bedroom watching her old movies on television. Jane is a shadow of her former self, still drinking and wearing caked-on makeup. She is abusive towards her sister, who now depends on her. When Jane finds out that Blanche intends to sell the house and possibly put her in a sanatorium, she responds by increasing her abuse on Blanche.
Actors: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Anna Lee, Maidie Norman,
Marjorie Bennett, Dave Willock, Julie Allred, Gina Gillespie, Bert Freed, Wesley Addy, William Aldrich,
Ernest Anderson, Anne Barton, Russ Conway, Maxine Cooper, Robert Cornthwaite, Michael Fox, B. D. Merrill,
Don Ross, James Seay, John Shay, Jon Shepodd, Peter Virgo, Bobs Watson
Screenplay:
Lukas Heller,
Cinematography: Ernest Haller,
Music: Frank Devol
Director and Producer: Rober Aldrich