REVIEW: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

This film is well-known as the one that triggered a comeback for both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.  It has been called "camp", and even a horror flick.  But I just watched it for the second time and have decided to type up my two-cents here.

I first saw Baby Jane many years ago on TV.  Enough time had passed for me to watch it again with fresh eyes.  

I had heard things about Davis and Crawford not getting along back in the day.  I wasn't around then, but we all know big stars, especially female ones, had (have?) a tendency to be "difficult" in so many ways.  The word "catty" comes to mind... I did a little looking around the 'net to see what I could see about their "feud".  I came to the conclusion neither of them were angels, and left it at that.

As for the film, the most obvious thing I noticed was how awful both women looked.  Now, I never thought Bette Davis was very pretty, but Joan Crawford was in her heyday.  Davis, as "Baby" Jane Hudson, looks just like what she is playing, a caricature of a young girl who is really middle aged.  Thick makeup and curls in her hair, even a child-like dress at one point, drive home what is bubbling around in her mind.  Crawford, as sister Blanche Hudson, looks just plain naturally older.  Wheelchair-bound, yet prim.  As the film progresses, she becomes more and more haggard looking, worn out, and yet strong enough to survive her sister's torture.  The makeup for both women is spot-on, though at first some people may think Davis' is clown-like.  If you think that, you don't understand her character.  (more on that later)

Another thing I noticed was that many of the supporting actors had also appeared in the TV series Perry Mason.  Davis herself had filled in for one 1963 episode when star Raymond Burr was ill.  Victor Buono, Wesley Addy, and Bert Freed were all on Perry Mason more than once.  Even Maidie Norman appeared in one episode!

Being a car gal, I was happy to see a Duesenberg, my favorite classic make.  A quick peek over at the IMCDb website taught me the car was a 1931 Duesenberg Model J 'Disappearing Top' Convertible Coupe by Murphy.  The car still exists, and was auctioned off by RM for $3,520,000 in 2015.  The other car featured in the film is a 1947 Lincoln Continental convertible.  

Bette Davis did an excellent job playing Baby Jane.  She would go on to play another nut-case in 1965's Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, and a nanny who may (or may not) be evil in The Nanny, also from 1965.  One can't help but think Davis realized her younger, svelte self of the days of box-office earning characters were long gone.  Anyone who saw her on the silver screen of the 1930s would have ever expected to see her play a character like Baby Jane.  But played it she did, and very well.  

Her loosing an Academy Award to Anne Bancroft for her role in The Miracle Worker, and then Crawford accepting the Oscar on Bancroft's behalf, is Hollywood lore.  Comments on sites like You Tube declare Davis as their personal winner of the award that year, though personally I feel Bancroft deserved her win.

Crawford played her character equally as well.  I haven't seen many of her film appearances, Mildred Pierce being the most memorable.  Interestingly, my search for period articles about Charley Chase turned up photos of Crawford, aka: Lucille LeSueur, that really surprised me.  I had no idea she was considered such a fashion plate, was a dancer, and in SILENT films!  She was even in a Lon Chany film that I had seen, The Unknown (1927).  

Her portrayal of tormented Blanche is harrowing.  The exact opposite of her past glamour roles, she makes you fear when she is afraid, hungry when she is being starved, hopeful when she has hope.  And when we learn the truth about the "accident" that crippled her, do we really feel any different about her sister Jane?  She also did a good job portraying the difficulty and pain involved with moving around without the use of legs.

Victor Buono is his usual slimy-yet-slightly-innocent self as Edwin Flagg.  He looks even larger than usual next to Davis and Marjorie Bennett, who plays his mother.  Buono would later appear in Davis' Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (1964).  

Maidie Norman played maid Elvira, and she made her a caring, but smart and strong woman.  I felt bad to see her bumped off!

I wasn't very impressed with Anna Lee as Mrs. Bates, or Bette Davis' daughter B. D. Merrill as Liza Bates.

I honestly don't see this as a horror movie.  That is silly.  There is one murder done with a hammer that we hardly even see.  No blood, not even an on-screen impact.  The cruel treatment of Blanche isn't "horror".  Again, there's no blood-letting.  There ARE some brutal kicks, but is that "horror"?  Certainly not to the 21st Century viewer.

And "camp"?  It all depends on how you see the Baby Jane character.  If you see her as a middle aged sicko who thinks she is still a child star, with 3 inches of horrible makeup and a desire to resurrect her old vaudeville act, then sure, I can see that opinion being possible.

But what about Sunset Boulevard?  In that story middle aged silent film legend Gloria Swanson also played a woman who thought she was still a star.  Her character, Norma Desmond, could also be classified as bonkers, she also tries to look young, and also tries to resurrect her previous successes.  But (so far) I have never heard that film referred to as "camp".

When you look at the Baby Jane character in a more realistic way, more like Norma Desmond, she is no longer campy, she is almost worthy of your pity.  Norma Desmond was more in control of her lie, and not nearly as cruel to those she needed to help her.  In comparison, Baby Jane seems too far gone, though we seem to be expected to think she and Victor Buono's Edwin have become more than "friends". 

And that's my two-cents.  Oh, and yes, my favorite line is "... but you ARE, Blanche... you ARE in that chair!".   Classic...