Thoughts on Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Sunday, January 16, 2011 11:16 AM By Simon

-Don't know about you, but I've known this film as the owner of the semi-iconic image of Bette Davis snarling out a window with Joan Crawford cowering behind her. You know the one.

-Psycho-biddy, my ass. She was psycho long before she got old. Can't we all just get along.

-I knew something was up when they made Joan Crawford as the saintly martyr among the pair. Come one, what do you take me for, Robert Altman?

-Melodramatic, pulpy, exhaustive, disturbing, and deliciously bitchy.

-Right. Baby Jane (Bette Davis) used to be a bratty child star of semi-disturbing hit songs, but as she got older, it was her much-abused sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) who found stardom as a studio actress, with Jane only getting work because it's required in Blanche's contract. Driven by jealousy, Jane supposedly rams Blanche with their car at the gates of their shared home, ruining both careers. Years later, they're living together, Blanche dependent on Jane for care, Jane dependent on Blanche for money. And then Jane loses her shit.

-Do kindly watch this movie with your grandmother, my dears.

3 comments:

Lindsay Frost said...

I really like this movie! :) I have always hated Joan so....

January 16, 2011 at 12:19 PM
Lindsay Frost said...

And why the hell did Blanche not do anything about her sister in the first place?!

January 16, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Simon said...

Lindsay: Maybe she fet guilty about her part in her sister's insanity?

January 18, 2011 at 8:19 PM