filmfindingslw-blog

[filmfindingslw-blog]

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - Review

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) is a very interesting film for many reasons: Firstly it has two ageing Hollywood stars who had been overlooked for many years due to their age. The second is that these Hollywood legends are Bette Davis and Joan Crawford who had a very public feud for many years which adds to the dramatic tension of the film. The third being an interesting comment on Hollywood and the changing ways in which movies were being presented.

The film tells the story of two sisters, being ageing stars of both stage and screen. Bette Davies plays Baby Jane Hudson, a child star from the stage that enjoyed great success but who's career was eclipsed by her sister, Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford), who became famous in Hollywood after the steady decline of Baby Jane's popularity. A motorcar accident results in the permanent crippling of Blanche, the finger of guilt from which is pointed squarely at Baby Jane. The main drama picks up many years later with both sisters still living together with Baby Jane becoming increasingly more evil towards the invalid Blanche. 

Both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had been overlooked by Hollywood for many years before W.E.H.T.B.J due to the age of both stars. The story goes that the film itself had problems getting financed due to the age of Davis and Crawford and both stars had to take pay cuts to finance the picture. The main draw of the film is the public feud between the actresses off the screen which comes through in the celluloid especially when Baby Jane strikes Blanche across the face with such force it was genuinely shocking. Crawford still shows signs of the beauty which made her so famous, while Davis - who applied her own makeup for the film - looks positively grotesque and apparently made her break down in tears when she saw her reflection. Davis even said that 'Miss. Crawford was a glamourpuss. I was an actress.' Davis in particular even went as far as to ask for a specific cameraman so that herself and Crawford would get equal screen time and close ups. The two stars carry this picture and lift to dizzying heights, Davis plays her character with such determination that its hard to see past the makeup to the actor beneath, and her change in personality is positively horrific.

The film comments on the changing views of Hollywood with both the choice for leading actresses and the way films are presented onscreen. The crippled Blanche has found new popularity with her films being presented on Television which when was first introduced many thought spelled the end for cinema. The sheer jealousy from Baby Jane seems to increase with the attention that Blanche is getting, she receives fan mail and neighbours ask to see her which just enrages Baby Jane further. I also think that the similarities between Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. (1950) can not be overlooked and help add to the rich texture of the film. Both Davis's Baby Jane and Swanson's Norma Desmond believe that there fan base is still out there, that they somehow have a divine right to be in the public eye. They both hire men to help them restart their forgotten career and have rooms dedicated to the past. Both houses have similarities too in both the look and set out. The reuse of old clips from the actresses earlier films (for Crawford these were Parachute Jumpers and Ex-Lady both 1933 and for Davis it was Sadie McKee 1934) also has similarities with Sunset Blvd. a film which also reuses a Gloria Swanson picture in its production. I think this was done deliberately in an attempt to reflect the fantastic work of Wilder and to remind the viewer of previous works of forgotten Hollywood legends.

Overall the film comments on many different things and successful constructs a fantastic standalone movie about the troubles of a studio system that wants to produce young, beautiful talent and forgets ageing stars that were irreplaceable at one time, and as is shown from the neighbours being enthralled by Blanche Hudson films being shown and the amount of fan mail she receives as a result. Davis is unforgettable as Baby Jane with a performance that hurtled her back into the public eye. The most brilliant thing about this film is its popularity - it made back its production costs in just three days - and shows that some unwritten rules of the Hollywood Star System were made to be broken.