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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Robert Aldrich
Cast:
Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Wesley Addy, Julie Allred, Anne Barton, Marjorie Bennett, Bert Freed, Anna Lee, Maidie Norman
Writing Credits:
Henry Farrell (novel), Lukas Heller

Tagline:
Sister, sister, oh so fair, why is there blood all over your hair?

Synopsis:
It's brash! It's grotesque! It's a blistering display of psychological terrorism! One of the blackest comedies ever made, this 1962 thriller rejuvenated the careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and played heavily on their own Hollywood legends, incorporating film clips from their earlier stardom to add depth and realism to a severely twisted tale of sibling rivalry. Davis plays the former child star turned wrinkled hag Jane Hudson, whose sister Blanche (Crawford) eclipsed her star in Hollywood, and has been paying for it ever since. Now confined to a wheelchair, Blanche is held prisoner in the musty mansion she shares with Jane, who terrorizes Blanche with maniacal control (and dead rats for dinner), and embarks on an absurd campaign to revive her career, curly-haired wig and all. A deranged showcase for its stars, the film also introduced Oscar nominee Victor Buono as the sycophantic pianist hired to accompany Jane's bizarre vaudeville revival. Hilarious, frightening, and not to be missed!

Box Office:
Budget
$980.000 thousand.
Domestic Gross
$9.000 million.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English Monaural
French Monaural
Italian Monaural
Castillian Spanish Monaural
Latin Spanish Monaural
Portuguese Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Castillian Spanish
French
Italian
Latin Spanish
Portuguese
Closed-captioned
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French

Runtime: 119 min.
Price: $39.99
Release Date: 10/9/2012

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Drag Performers Charles Busch and John “Lypsynka” Epperson
• “Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition” Documentary
• “All About Bette” Documentary
• “A Film Profile: Joan Crawford” Documentary
• “Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane” Vintage Featurette
• “The Andy Williams Show” Excerpt with Bette Davis
• Trailer
• Hardcover Book


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic 50" TH-50PZ77U 1080p Plasma Monitor; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS

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What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? [Blu-Ray Book] (1962)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (October 1, 2012)

A dream pairing for fans of Hollywood’s Golden Age, 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? matched two aging stars: Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. The film starts with two prologues. The first takes us back to 1917 and introduces us to the Hudson family. Young Baby Jane (Julie Allred) is a precocious musical star while sister Blanche (Gina Gillespie) lives in her shadow. By 1935, however, the tables have turned. Blanche (Joan Crawford) is now a big movie star while Jane (Bette Davis) only gets acting jobs because her sister forces the studios to hire her.

All this comes to a halt one evening when some unknown party – most suspect a jealous Jane - smashes into Blanche with her own car, an incident that leaves her stuck in a wheelchair. From there the movie leaps forward to the then present day of 1962 and finds Jane and Blanche holed up together in a small house. Blanche’s fortune pays the bills and Jane acts as her caretaker, though not a happy one. She clearly still resents her sister’s greater fame and success and she treats her poorly.

That sibling rivalry sets up the movie’s main plot, as an alcoholic Jane becomes less and less stable. This scares Blanche, as she fears her sister will try to kill her once and for all. We watch their interactions and related issues as the flick heads toward its climax.

I suppose Jane currently resides in the “camp classic” category, but I’m not sure it belongs there. To me, a campy film should be one that’s a “so bad it’s good” effort. That’d qualify something such as Mommie Dearest, a hammy piece of schlock.

On the other hand, Jane seems too effective for such consideration, though it definitely has its broad moments. Indeed, it often seems to exist as an excuse for grand dames Crawford and Davis to butt heads. To some degree, the rest of the movie doesn’t matter, as film fans will surely delight in the sight of those two stars battling for center stage.

The nature of Davis’s character means she wins, though Crawford doesn’t really try to fight. She plays Blanche in a realistic manner and lacks the overblown intensity of Davis. This means we don’t find the sparks we might desire, but Crawford’s performance grounds the piece.

Davis sure doesn’t work from a position of reality as Jane. She gobbles down chunks of scenery throughout the movie, though she seems surprisingly believable given the character’s tenuous grasp on the present. Davis snaps off her lines with bite but also brings the necessary pathos to the part. Jane easily could become a simple monster, but Davis ensures that we see the pathetic and human side of the role.

All of that makes Jane something of a hoot but also allows the flick to work as horror. The scary scenes aren’t unintentionally funny ala Dearest. There’s a real Psycho flavor to the film, something its creators clearly intended; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a neighbor is named “Mrs. Bates”. Jane never approaches the highs of Hitchcock’s classic, but it manages a fair amount of effectively chilling moments.

Jane takes on a different form of creepiness, though. Jane herself is such a whacked-out character that her psychoses pack a whole different punch than those of Norman Bates. To watch Davis perform as a young Baby Jane is both disturbing and amusing at the same time.

That goes for the film as a whole. While the flick veers into broadness at times, it still works as a compelling little piece of horror. It’s a weird and fascinating movie.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture A-/ Audio C+/ Bonus B+

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. I experienced very few issues through this stellar transfer.

Sharpness consistently looked solid. Virtually no concerns with softness occurred, as the movie always remained tight and well-defined. I noticed no issues with jaggies or moiré effects, and the image appeared to lack edge enhancement. Digital noise reduction failed to cause distractions, as the movie’s grain structure appeared to remain intact; grain was noticeable but not heavy. Print flaws also failed to appear, as the flick remained clean.

For this black and white presentation, contrast appeared strong. Jane demonstrated solid darkness and whites were bright and clean. Except for one “day for night” shot late in the film, shadows looked well-defined but never too dense or dim. This was a really fine visual presentation.

Unfortunately, the movie’s monaural soundtrack seemed less satisfying. Speech was a weak link, as dialogue tended to be awfully sibilant. The lines remained intelligible, but they lacked a natural feel.

Music was better but inconsistent. Much of the score seemed fairly robust, but some distortion occasionally interfered. Effects were similar, as those elements varied between reasonably accurate and moderately rough. This wasn’t a bad track for its age, but it sounded more shrill than I’d like.

How does the Blu-ray compare to the 2006 Special Edition DVD? Visuals demonstrated a nice improvement, especially in terms of print flaws; source defects created the majority of the DVD’s concerns. In addition, the Blu-ray looked better defined and richer.

Unfortunately, I thought audio took a step backwards. The DVD sounded smoother and less distorted; I didn’t note as much of the harshness when I reviewed the 2006 disc. The improved visuals are a treat, but the issues with the audio disappoint.

The Blu-ray duplicates the extras from the 2006 DVD. These open with an audio commentary with drag performers Charles Busch and John “Lypsynka” Epperson. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific chat. I feared the worst from this piece, as I worried that they’d just throw out catty barbs and nothing else. Happily, they take a more subdued approach as they examine the film.

The pair discuss their personal reactions to the movie and also give us some history. They chat about the actors and crew, the movie’s sets and costumes, and elements of its production. We get some decent nuggets about the participants’ histories, though the program lacks the depth that would come from a film historian.

Ultimately, that’s the biggest problem with the commentary. It gives us a moderate amount of background information, but neither Busch nor Epperson seem to know a ton about the production itself. This leaves us with a consistently decent track but not one that proves especially illuminating or rich. It’s sure a lot better than I expected, though.

Next we check out Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition. This 29-minute and 58-second piece features movie snippets, archival materials, and interviews. We discover notes from Busch, Epperson, film historians Ursini and Tom Toth, film critics John Anderson and Paul Clinton, author Boze Hadleigh, biographers Karen Swenson and Charlotte Chandler, author/film historian Rudy Behlmer, USC Hitchcock Professor of American Film Dr. Drew Casper, Crawford’s publicist’s wife June Springer, film writer Glenn Erickson, and actor Carol Kane.

“Ambition” creates a dual examination of the careers of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. It bops from one to the other as it starts early in their work and proceeds through the years. It’s an interesting way to look at the pair, though I’m not sure it works terribly well.

Is there any compelling reason to view the actors in this meshed manner? Not really, especially since they never worked together until Jane. Yes, they remain connected in the public mind, but the way it combines their careers creates an awkward flow, and only 15 minutes or so per actor means we get some nice notes but not a surfeit of detail. I do like the way it discusses their long-time rivalry, though, and it gives us a reasonable pass through Jane itself when it gets there.

For a close look at Davis, we move to the 48-minute and 12-second All About Bette. Created in 1993 and narrated by Jodie Foster, it includes remarks from Davis that appear to span a period of 1971 to 1987. We also get a 1981 chat with son Michael and some 1971 statements from her sister Barbara, director William Wyler, and actors Paul Henreid and Olivia de Havilland.

“About” provides a pretty standard biography of the actor. It starts with her childhood and progresses through her start at Warner Bros. and her move up the movie star ladder. We learn about her various roles and also get glimpses of her turbulent personal life.

The documentary works for a number of reasons. First, using archival clips to let Davis tell her own story provides lots of blunt comments and insights into her thinking. Foster’s narration carries the bulk of the information, but Davis spices up the program on a consistent basis. The show doesn’t shy away from controversies, but it never devolves in tawdry tabloid TV. Add to that some fun rarities like movie outtakes and a commercial for “Awake” plus a slew of good film snippets and this turns into a winning show.

Davis’s co-star comes to the forefront with the 28-minute and 37-second A Film Profile: Joan Crawford. Apparently made around 1967 it features an interview with Crawford conducted by Philip Jenkinson. “Profile” gives us a few notes about Crawford’s early life but mostly deals with her career progression and personal life. However, it mostly chats with Crawford about her movies and other elements. Unlike the more detailed “About”, “Profile” zips through its subject. It focuses on the then-current Crawford interview.

That’s a blessing and a curse. While it’s nice to hear so much from the actor, she doesn’t remotely approach the candor of Davis, and we don’t really learn much about her. She throws out a few mildly interesting remarks about her performances and co-stars, but there’s little depth. I wish the DVD included a look at Crawford similar to “About”, as she also deserves a detailed biographical program. “Profile” isn’t it.

SCTV fans take note: “Profile” includes a clip from 1946’s Humoresque that was the very direct inspiration for a snippet in New York Rhapsody.

A “vintage featurette” called Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane lasts six minutes, 39 seconds. It provides nothing but the most rudimentary of notes about the production and prefers to show film clips. We see a few decent shots from the set, but this one remains boring and promotional most of the time.

After this we get a December 1962 excerpt from The Andy Williams Show with Bette Davis. This two-minute and seven-second clip shows Davis as she croons a terrible pop tune inspired by the movie. She also almost does the Twist. A complete train wreck, fans would want to buy this set just for this amazing piece of footage.

Finally, the disc provides the film’s Trailer as well as a strange music video. This gives us the “Dan-O-Rama Movie Mix” for the song Davis performs on Andy Williams and is decidedly campy. Maybe others will take entertainment from it, but it does nothing for me.

The package also includes a hardcover book. It features production notes, cast/crew bios, trivia, photos and advertisements. Nothing remarkable pops up here, but it’s a nice addition.

History may regard What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as a camp classic, but I think it deserves a better fate than that. The movie works as a fairly creepy piece of character horror that just happens to boast fun performances from a pair of legendary actresses. The Blu-ray delivers excellent visuals and a nice collection of supplements, but the audio tends to be spotty. Though the inconsistent soundtrack disappoints, the picture quality upgrades make this the Baby Jane to own; it looks so great that I can live with the auditory issues.

To rate this film visit the Special Edition review of WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main