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Actors: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? |
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After forty years, still one of the best suspense thrillers available.
“Baby Jane” Hudson was a vaudeville child star with all the attention, while older sister Blanche watched from the side. But in adulthood, the lovely Blanche's (Joan Crawford) film career flourished as Jane's (Bette Davis) star faded.
One night, a mysterious auto accident paralyzes Blanche, so Jane, now a drunken hag, must provide total care for her crippled sister.
When a local TV station features a “Blanche Hudson Week,” Jane is reminded of her lifelong envy and hatred toward her sister. Thus begins “Baby Jane's” descent into madness as she goads and plays sadistic tricks on Blanche including a gross-out lunch and locks her in her room with no outside contact.
The psychological torture continues. Gentle but helpless, Blanche resigns herself to her fate by reminding Jane that she couldn't treat her that way if she weren't confined to a wheelchair. “But y'are, Blanche, y'are in that wheelchair,” taunts Jane.
As the childlike Jane, now totally out of touch with reality, takes Blanche to a beach, the details of that long-ago auto accident are revealed just before Jane pirouettes and sings to the gathering crowd she craves so much.
--Angry Jim Magin, Resident Scholar
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Find a sense of humor for this Campy Cult Classic. .IT'S NOT FOR YOUNGSTERS. If you choose; sit back, (as far from the screen as possible) thankful for good old black and white; because Davis as Baby Jane...way too white, psycho, and tanked..Whew! (Think I'm kidding? I had to scootch my chair back a couple of times from shear fright)
Blanche Hudson, also once famous actress, supposedly crippled by Jane. Nobody likes Jane. No one has ever really liked Jane. Jane's a bit quirky. Sell the house dad willed to them? Get rid of Jane? (I'm thinking......NOT) Could anything get worse? It will. Blanche simply refuses to "dine" on the family pet and other gutter critters being served up on her platter and because of this, she lies bound, beaten, starving and soon to be dead. (A long story) All because "You didn't eat your din din" hey - check out Victor Buono, excellent and creepy in his first role, as Edwin Flagg. Don't expect happy, this is weird; to say the least. Off screen; rivalry and hate, but I'm sure glad they did this movie together. Excellent "mouth hanging open" tale.
--Dorothy Renshaw, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Family, struggling with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Sister
Family, caring for sick?
Yes
Who is sick?
- Sister
because he/she is
- physically ill
Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Profession/status:
- actor
Age:
- 40's-50's
- 60's-90's
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
- red
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
Events of movie makes character more...
- irritated
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- druggie/wino disease
- missing body parts/abilities
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) fat
How much in movie?
- 20%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Female
Age:
- 40's-50's
- 60's-90's
Profession/status:
- actor
Eccentric:
Yes
- wild
- eccentric
- mentally ill
- emotionally unstable
- obsessed
- deluded
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Hair color
- red
- white
Hair type
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn curly
Body type
- (woman) ample chest and buttocks
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- bulging muscles
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- California
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
- theater
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to torture
- very explicit references to deaths and torture
Movie makes you feel...
- unhappy
- frustrated
Check here if B&W
Yes
Any profanity?
- None
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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