What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Tags: comedy, dark, gothic, murder, cult, insanity, revenge

Plot synopsis:
In 1917, nine-year-old "Baby" Jane Hudson (Julie Allred) is a vaudevillian child star. She performs to adoring crowds and inspires the creation of a rather expensive Baby Jane doll. Jane is shown to have become a spoiled brat whose doting stage-father Ray Hudson (Dave Willock) gives in to her whims and demands while her disapproving mother and jealous, overlooked 11-year-old sister Blanche Hudson (Gina Gillespie) watch from the sidelines.By 1935, the now grown sisters' roles have 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 to drinking. One night after coming home from a party, their car pulls up the driveway to their mansion and one of the sisters steps out to open the gate. When she reaches the gate, the sister who is driving steps on the accelerator, smashing the car into the gate.In 1962, a wheelchair bound Blanche (Joan Crawford) and a severely aged Jane (Bette Davis) are living together in a creepy mansion in Los Angeles. Blanche lives primarily in her bedroom watching her old movies on television and reliving her former career. Jane is an antagonist who fights with her sister constantly, drinks excessively, and wears caked-on makeup in an effort to appear young again. Blanche is heavily dependent on her bitter, abusive sister, except for her friendly relationship with their cleaning woman, Elvira Stitt (Maidie Norman). Elvira is concerned for Blanches well-being at the hands of "crazy" Jane, but Blanche defends her. Elvira tells Blanche that she has discovered her sister has been opening her mail and dumping it in the trash, but Blanche is slow to condemn her and shows concern for her sister's welfare.In her own world, Jane is reliving her childhood success in a dark, disturbing manner. She is lost in her memories when she sees her reflection in the mirror and is horrified. At that moment Blanche calls for her sister with an annoying, repeated use of a bedside buzzer from her room: She wants to know why she cannot call out on the telephone was it left off the hook downstairs? Jane is annoyed when Blanche informs her she may be selling the house. Jane fights with her sister, fearing what will become of her, and rips the telephone cord from the wall, further isolating Blanche in her room. When Jane brings Blanche's lunch afterwards, Blanche finds under the silver serving dish lies her beloved parakeet, dead on a bed of tomato slices.Jane makes herself up to go out and place an advertisement for a piano player so she can restart her performing career. While she is out, Blanche tries to get the attention of her neighbor, Mrs. Bates (Anna Lee), who is tending her flowers below Blanche's window. When Blanche cannot get her attention, she writes a note pleading for help and throws it from her window. Unfortunately, Jane returns at that moment and the distraction of the car coming up the driveway prevents Mrs. Bates from seeing the crumpled paper. Jane finds the note, however, and when she brings Blanche's dinner up, she argues with her sister again, telling her the house is hers and it will never be sold. Jane mocks her sister's kindly concern and drops the folded note in her lap. Jane leaves the room, and when Blanche goes to her serving tray for dinner, she cannot bring herself to touch it.The next morning when Elvira arrives, Jane tells her she can have the day off. Jane's abuse of Blanche continues and they fight again when she brings Blanche her lunch. Blanche has not touched her dinner from the night before and wants to know why her breakfast had not been brought. Jane responds because she had not eaten her dinner and Jane tauntingly eats from the previous night's plate. As she takes the dinner tray away, she tells her sister they have rats in the basement, and when Blanche goes to eat her lunch, she finds a dead rat on the plate. Blanche screams and Jane laughs evilly at her sister's despair.Meanwhile, a talented, down-and-out, overweight young man named Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono) sees Jane's newspaper advertisement and phones the Hudson house to make an appointment for that afternoon. Edwin lives with his mother and hopes to use this opportunity to land some cash for himself and his mother.When Edwin shows up at the house, Jane grotesquely performs her signature song from her childhood, "I've Written a Letter to Daddy," with Edwin playing the piano. Edwin tries to conceal his disgust. Jane brags about who she was as a child and shows him a scrapbook of herself. At this time, Blanche uses her buzzer repeatedly to call her sister, wanting to know who the visitor is. Enraged, Jane goes upstairs, confronts Blanche, and rips the buzzer out of the wall and slaps her sister.Back in the living room, Jane and Edwin agree to his salary and they plot their moves. Jane then drives him home. While shes out, Blanche goes into Jane's room looking for food (by now, she hasn't eaten in a couple of days) and discovers that Jane has practiced forging her signature and is writing checks under Blanche's name. She works her way down the stairs to the telephone. Blanche calls Jane's doctor and tells him that she needs help and asks if he could come to the house right away.Jane comes home to find Blanche on the phone, talking to the doctor. Blanche abruptly ends the conversation and tries to make excuses in front of her enraged sister. Jane beats her as she lies on the floor, kicking her in the head and stomach until she is unconscious. Jane then calls the doctor back and, disguising her voice as Blanche, tells him not to come because "Jane found another doctor". Then Jane drags her sister to her room, ties her by her arms, gags her, and leaves her there.The next day, Elvira arrives to see Blanche. Jane tells her that her services are no longer needed and dismisses her. Suspicious, Elvira sneaks into the house when Jane leaves for the bank to get money to pay Edwin. She finds Blanche's room locked and is attempting to remove the door from the hinges when Jane comes home and catches her. Upon Elvira's demands, Jane gives her the key, and as the maid enters the darkened room to find Blanche bound and gagged, Jane uses a hammer to kill Elvira. Jane sinks deeper into her delusions, saying, "If only they had loved me enough." Edwin rings the doorbell, but Jane does not answer, "Not now Edwin, not now," and when he leaves, she sobs in despair. She drags Elvira's dead body from the house and disposes of it by dropping it some distance away in a garbage bin.One week later, the police phone the Hudson house and tell Jane that a cousin of her maid reported her missing. Jane tells them that she hasn't seen Elvira in a week. A panicked Jane then prepares to leave with her sister, fearing the police will discover what she's done. Suddenly, a drunken Edwin shows up at the house, demanding to receive his first payment. While he is there, a weakened Blanche is able to knock over a bedside table in her room. Edwin hears the noise, goes upstairs to investigate, and finds Blanche tied to her bed. He is shocked at her "dying" condition as she begs for his help. Edwin runs from the house and gets away from Jane. Desperate, Jane puts her sister in the car and drives to the beach.The next morning, the search is on for the missing Hudson sisters. Elvira's body was found by the police, and there are bulletins on the radio. Blanche, starved and dehydrated, is lying on the sand with Jane sitting beside her, oblivious to her plight. Aware that she is dying, Blanche tells Jane the truth of what happened years before. It was she, Blanche, who tried to run over her drunken sister. Jane, however, moved out of the way in time and Blanche had slammed into the gate and snapped her spine, but managed to drag herself out of the car and up to the wrecked gate. Because Jane was too drunk to realize what happened, she has long believed that she was responsible for her sisters condition. Jane sadly asks, "You mean all this time we could have been friends?"However, this revelation comes too little too late for Jane, whose mental health has completely deteriorated by this point. Jane runs to a beach-side concession booth to get ice cream cones for the two of them. Two policemen arrive and intercept Jane as she is returning with the ice cream cones. As a crowd of beach-goers begin surrounding her, Jane realizes that she again has the attention she's long craved, and she dances before the onlookers, joyfully happy at last, in her decayed imagination. The police spot a motionless Blanche lying on the sand and break through the crowd to help her as the deranged Jane continues to dance.THE END

Review: Ryan Murphy's series "Feud" in which Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon play Joan Crawford and Bette Davis at the time of Baby Jane and beyond.
The stories behind the making of the film are as interesting as the movie, with Miss Crawford demanding the set be kept at a breezy 55 (but preservative) degrees causing all kinds of problems with Miss Davis's bronchitis.
The chilling score is suits the movie and the camera-work reminds me a lot of Hitchcock.The story focuses on two sisters, Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford) who was crippled in an accident awhile ago and "Baby" Jane Hudson (Bette Davis).
They live in an old mansion, with Blanche confined to her room upstairs while Jane gets madder and more cruel by the day.Bette Davis gives the star performance here, some may call it over-acting but it is far from.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were the biggest rivals during the golden age of Hollywood.This is their only collaboration.In the beginning of the movie we're at 1917, where the six-year old Baby Jane Hudson (Davis) is a successful Vaudeville performer.Then we move to 1935 where her sister Blanche (Crawford) becomes paralyzed in an automobile accident for which Jane is held responsible.In the present-day of the film we see Blanche being kept as a prisoner upstairs of their mansion by the sadistic Jane.Robert Aldrich' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) is a terrific psychological thriller with some black comedy.The leading ladies are truly magnificent.Bette Davis was born a hundred years ago in 1908 and died in 1989.She could play all kind of roles and make the characters memorable.Baby Jane Hudson is that kind of a role.Joan Crawford lived from 1905 to 1977 and started making pictures during the silent era.Her Blanche Hudson is vulnerable and that's why we like her that much.A fine performance is given by Victor Buono who plays the shiftless musician Victor Flagg.Maidie Norman plays Elvira Stitt.Michael Fox, who the soap opera fans remember from The Bold and the Beautiful plays Motorcycle cop.This movie is a classic..
And the incredibly brave performances by Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Victor Bono and the rest -- not to mention the script and Robert Aldrich's direction -- make this simply the most definitive "Hollywood" psycho-thriller since "Sunset Boulevard."There's "A Star Is Born," in any of its incarnations.
Which is also "true" in its (their) way.And there is "Sunset Boulevard" and "Baby Jane," which are even more true, and more brilliantly made.These are not "horror films." They are riveting psychological studies, cast with astonishing actors, and magnificently directed and photographed.They are the equivalent of Hitchcock's "Psycho," IMHO, which was preceeded by "Sunset Boulevard" and followed by "Baby Jane."Each different, each brilliant, each marked by some of the most indelible performances ever captured on film.It's typical of adolescents to make a "joke" about things that make them uncomfortable.But when experience and age acquaint one with people like Baby Jane and Norma Desmond and, yes, Norman Bates, what's the point of joking?These three films will tell those characters' stories forever, and better than 99% of films ever made.That's why they're classics..
Joan Crawford plays Blanche and very well too, a former big star whose career ended after a strange car accident that put her on a wheel chair for life.In the end things are not completely as they seem but the final twist is not what makes this film an extremely good one; it's the strange relationship between the sisters, that requires of that final twist to understand Blanche's tolerant conduct towards her sister.The movie is perhaps a little too long and it would probably have been even better with a 10 minutes cut.
In 1917, Baby Jane is a famous, but spoiled child star that performs a show with her father under the jealous look of her sister Blanche.
In 1935, Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford) becomes a famous and glamorous actress in Hollywood and the untalented Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) only acts because Blanche forces the producers to give parts to her.
Meanwhile she continues to torment Blanche and her cruelty increases."What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" is one of the greatest American movies ever, with top-notch performances of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
While Joan Crawford's Blanche is stuck in a wheelchair Bette Davis's Jane takes care of her.
Victor Buono is also excellent as a rather peculiar pianist.While I've never been a big Crawford fan, she is quite good as Blanche, whose genial indulgence of her sister slowly turns to terror.The movie is a classic of its kind and necessary viewing for fans of Davis and/or 60s thrillers..
Detractors see it as a misogynist load of horse manure about a couple of self-loathing sisters hauled up together in a decaying Hollywood mansion, a too-close-to-home study of the real life rivalry between stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford or even as a veiled study of homosexual self-depreciation with the sisters as ageing drag queens.
Later on in life the other sister, Blanche (played by Joan Crawford) became a popular Hollywood movie star, overshadowing her now 'has-been' sister.
Finally after all these years watched this classic 1962 picture "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?", and I must say that it was a thrilling and chilling horror type spin take on rivalry and jealousy, showing the madness of a crazy mind!
And the film works so well due to the fact of the performances of two legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis who's chemistry rolls so well it's like you can feel the drama and hard feelings not just between the characters, but it's in real life the two seem to be at each other!
The tale involves the story of Baby Jane(Bette Davis) a child vaudeville success act who's stubborn and selfish and later on as her star fades her older sister Blanche(Joan Crawford)becomes a better and well known actress.
Overall excellent film of madness, isolation, jealousy, rivalry and just overall crazy with suspense and a feel good horror film for 1962 a film that's a classic for it's rogue take and go against the grain way and the performance of legends Crawford and Davis help stamp the mark on this classic..
Revitalising the then-fading careers of two actresses who were Hollywood's biggest stars in their heydays, and giving birth to a new subgenre of horror in the process, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is an often disturbing, at times chilling & thoroughly captivating example of hag horror that's powered by outstanding lead performances from Bette Davis & Joan Crawford.The story of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane follows Jane & Blanche Hudson, two ageing sisters who live together in an old Hollywood mansion.
Still resentful of her wheelchair-bound sister's success, Jane makes Blanche's life a living hell.Directed by Robert Aldrich, the film quickly glances through the prime years of both sisters before the accident that sets its main plot into motion.
Editing keeps the plot interesting and steadily paces it, while the background score stays in sync with the unfolding events.Coming to the acting department, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is steered by Bette Davis & Joan Crawford, and the remaining cast is simply no match to the performance these two veteran actresses put on the screen.
Davis embraces her old hag persona with open arms and fully dives into her role to deliver a truly manic, disturbing & deranged performance whereas Crawford chips in with a restrained input that was physically demanding & plays her part with quiet temperament.On an overall scale, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is a smartly crafted, expertly photographed and splendidly performed psychological thriller and what catapults it to higher level is the stinging chemistry between Bette Davis & Joan Crawford.
Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) was a child star with a sister, Blanche (Joan Crawford) who felt left out.
They are both psychological horror/thriller films, directed by Robert Aldrich, adapted from novels by Henry Farrell, with screenplays by Lukas Heller, both filmed in black & white in the early 1960s--a time when that began to be more of an artistic than a budgetary decision or necessity--and both very similar in tone, with Bette Davis as a "crazy old bat" in a big old house, interacting with a female rival, with major supporting characters as maids and men who are around as more submissive love interests, and so on.
But, that all changed within the first 15 minutes as I quickly became quite engrossed in the contrasting character portrayals given by its 2 lead, veteran actresses, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (both in their mid-50s at the time).I know that a lot of people rave approvingly about Davis's grotesque make-up and all of her "scenery-chewing" antics as being the highlight of this picture - But, personally, my vote for most outstanding performance goes to Crawford as Blanche Hudson, a prisoner trapped in her own tailor-made hell.I'd say that Crawford's riveting "Please....
Help me!" scene clearly put all of Davis's over-the-top shenanigans to absolute shame.Yes. This tragic tale about madness, pent-up resentment and living a life of long-faded dreams definitely has its fair share of glaring flaws - But, all the same, it certainly does hold up quite well, 53 years down the road.I definitely give film-maker, Robert Aldrich, a lot of credit for his competent direction of this picture.
OK, so I knew I was in for some good acting when I decided to watch whatever happened to baby Jane, I mean Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
I'm not a huge Joan Crawford fan, really because of the woman she was in real life and the kind of mother she was, but I must say that her performance here is good, and boy so is Bette Davis's.
There may be many films which can boast of that emotional authenticity and tensions barely acted but there is hardly any film compared to WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE by Robert Aldrich where two women are able to almost hypnotize the viewers for more than 2 hours' time.Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as much as they hated each other in real life, deliver something unique here.
Probably less understood near the end of the movie, Ms Crawford absolutely equals Bette Davis, which makes the two leading women deliver brilliant performances.The supporting cast are worth considering, here, primarily I mean Victor Buono as Edwin Flagg and Marjorie Bennett as his mother Dehlia.
Therefore, the encounter of Baby Jane as a daddy's girl and Edwin Flagg (no matter how ambitious and educated as he may seem) as mummy's boy is an emotional, dramatic, comedic highlight of the movie.It is also important to mention music score, haunting music score and the cinematography that correspond to the bunch of emotions appearing in viewers.The fascination of this film, the thrill and a bit of fear it may create have stood a test of time.
tells the story of Baby Jane (Bette Davis), an aged child star and her disabled sister, Blanche (Joan Crawford) for whom Baby Jane 'looks after'.
Every part of the picture works in concert with the others - the actors are truly fascinating, the set is perfect, the theme of neglect - all are portrayed with finesse.So many great things come from this film - the trudging up the stairs of Jane three times a day, every day of the year carrying heavy silver service meals - the fact that Blanche's movies are shown on TV and are hailed while Jane's movies languish in the dust bins - well, it goes on and on.
at all cost and make herself a much too obvious 'look at me' target throughout this film.also, joan's wonderfully conveyed despair and horror in her swirling wheelchair after the infamous 'rat' had been served to her, brings to mind shades of a louise howell, a tragically mentally troubled crawford role from the 1947 noir classic 'possessed' which earned her a second oscar nomination.at any rate, as in 'grand hotel,' where joan steals the show from garbo, so too in 'baby jane' she steals it from davis.
Bette Davis plays Jane Hudson; a former child star (once known as Baby Jane Hudson) who was eclipsed by her sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) as she got older.
Also the lead is stunning: Joan Crawford is pretty good as paralyzed and despaired Blanche Hudson, but Bette Davis´ performance is over the top, her part rules the whole film!
Watching it again, the film maintains its chilling and shocking values, but there is also under the surface a sadness, compassion and campiness(in a good way) that I didn't notice as much previously.What Ever Happened to Baby Jane is essentially a must see movie.
Joan Crawford is superb, but Bette Davis has the meatier role as a very over-the-edge character and gives a portrayal that is both terrifying and heartbreaking.Overall, a must see film especially for the leads.
Davis hires pianist Victor Buono (as Edwin) to manage her "career" while making Crawford a terrified prisoner in her upstairs bedroom "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" made Davis and Crawford box-office stars again, and opened up a successful new film genre for "Golden Age" actresses.
you have, played out on screen for your enjoyment, the sorry states of two grandes dames of cinema - Bette Davis and Joan Crawford - and the much-maligned producer-director Robert Aldrich.The two leading ladies famously had a longstanding rivalry, and it's often commented on how this fuelled their performances.
The film has but one plot-twist and an awful lot of talk (Victor Buono's role as a nutty mama's boy is tiring); however, it's a one-shot deal to see Davis and Crawford together, and a few of their shared scenes do live up to all the Hollywood stories which have now become legendary.
Instead, Baby Jane left the audience wondering and confused, since there was nothing in the whole of the movie, most noticeably lacking in Joan Crawford's performance, to make it make sense in the end..
Bette Davis gives an amazing performance as Jane Hudson, and Joan Crawford gives an amazing performance as well playing Blanche.
The ending is also very surprising and it just might make you cry (if your a joan crawford and bette davis fan) This film is a must see for any Old Hollywood fans or just to see two great performances.
Everybody knows of the real life feud between lead stars Bette Davis & Joan Crawford, this works perfectly for the movie.
Joan Crawford's performance as the rising new star Blanche is a perfect contrast to Davis' Jane.
So, the way this movie started out to be made has many versions, but one of them was that Crawford always wanted to work with Davis so when she found this book "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", she immediately visited Davis when Davis was playing on Broadway in Night of the Iguana.
She is ostensibly her sister's carer, but in fact she is jealous of Blanche's greater success and never misses an opportunity to torment her sister whom she keeps a virtual prisoner in their gloomy mansion.The two stars of the film were Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.
I hadn't seen this film in ages,so it was with some trepidation that I watched it with my better half recently.Would it be dated?Would it seem boring?No,it is a cracking film and holds up very well today.We all know that there was this intense rivalry between Bette and Joan,but this just makes the film more compelling.You are constantly trying to find signs,little details really,about their apparent loathing for each other.So who comes out tops?An honourable draw I'd say.Bette Davis has by far the more showy part and boy does she relish it.She may chew on a pretty thick slice of ham at times,but her performance glues you to the screen.By contrast,Joan Crawford underplays her role as the wheelchair bound Blanche and this makes for a well balanced film with many terrific scenes.I won't give anything away here,but though the film may seem a little twisted,there are still parts of the film that may shock.It Isn't all about the two stars as Victor Buono scores as a slightly camp piano player and he reminded me a lot of Oliver Hardy in his build and mannerisms.This film should really be in the top 250 and it amazes me that it Isn't.Two Hollywood greats in fierce competition makes this a gem of a movie..
Mean, spiteful, former child star Baby Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is the primary care-giver for her invalid sister Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford).
Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) a faded film star and her wheelchair bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) live together in a huge mansion.
It's my opinion that "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" is Bette Davi's best film.
But to us, as viewers, her performance is a hint of things to come.In later years, out of jealousy and frustration, adult Jane (Bette Davis) will physically and mentally abuse her more talented, but crippled, sister, which is the basis for the movie.
Well, because of how poorly Davis' "Baby Jane" character treats Crawford's Sister Blanche character!
Acting by two leads was great - loved both performances equally.Overall, "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" isn't really a horror movie as its genre description suggest.
In the present day, Blanche (Joan Crawford) is wheelchair bound while Jane (Bette Davis) controls her life.
Influential and memorable thriller with Bette Davis playing a former child star who torments her crippled sister Joan Crawford.
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford two of the bigger stars of the movies co starred in this film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich.
Her chilling rendition of 'I Love You Daddy' is scary to say the least.Joan Crawford is one of my favourite actresses of the time and her Blanche is a contrast to Davis's Jane.
Davis and Crawford Make it a Must See. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
The has-been Baby Jane (Bette Davis) runs over his sister (Joan Crawford) after she becomes the biggest star in Hollywood.