In 1950, the film, “Sunset Boulevard”, told the story of an aging Hollywood starlet and the madness induced by her fall from fame. That film was fascinating in its portrayal of the destruction caused by too much shallow glamour, while retaining its tone as a beautifully photographed and glamorous film.
Robert Aldrich’s. 1962 psychological horror film, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” tells a similar tale but this time without any of the glamour. Similar to the earlier movie, Baby Jane stars as a former Hollywood star during the twilight of her career. In fact this film has two aging superstar actresses playing formerly famous characters. There is the former movie star and presently wheel chair bound, Blanche Hudson (played with extreme restraint by Joan Crawford) and the former child star, Baby Jane Hudson in which Betty Davis gives a grotesque and powerful performance.
They are sisters and Blanche is imprisoned in her upper floor bedroom by Jane. It is Jane who can’t get over her fame as a child or her jealousy of the adult success of her now invalid sister. Jane is totally and dangerously mad as she goes about torturing her trapped sister. Insanity is not pretty and Aldrich takes great pains in showing the stark ugliness of almost all the characters. It should be noted that Jane’s evil ways is not really limited to this period of her madness as the film opens with scenes from the past when she was a child star. Even then she was selfish spoiled and extremely cruel. As an aging mad woman these traits just get expanded.
Davis as Jane is painted with stark circus like make up in an attempt to become the child she once was. It is a monstrous vision and ugly in the extreme. At one point in the movie Jane while pretending she is a singing child notices her real appearance in a mirror and she screams in fright or sadness. It is most probably both. Her appearance matches her behavior as both are ugly and frightening. Davis gives one of her best performances here as her twirling dervish creates one of cinema’s great monsters.
As the victim, Crawford’s Blanche also lives in the past. The difference is she prefers masochistic melancholy and depression to resentful cruelty. Together they are the perfect couple. One need’s to cause pain and the other has a need to suffer. Even the character playing the piano-playing opportunist who is hired by Jane is fat, sweaty, unpleasant and ugly.
This is pretty heady stuff and Aldrich paints his story with noirish angles and dark shadowy black and white photography that fits the sordid tale to a tee.
There is nothing pretty or glamorous about, “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”. On the contrary, this is an excellent horror movie about real life monsters that does not pretend to be something that it is not.
1001 Movies before you die 