As a child, Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) was a pampered vaudeville star known to the world as Baby Jane while her younger sister, Blanche (Joan Crawford), led a quiet life in her considerable shadow. Decades have passed and now Blanche is a beautiful, talented movie idol and Jane a lowly extra. When a car accident cripples Blanche, binding her to a wheelchair, Jane sees her opportunity for revenge and assumes the role of caretaker. Her newly gained power completes the transformation of the sugar-sweet child star into a nightmarish caricature of Baby Jane. As she does everything she can to make her sister's life a living hell--including feeding Blanche a dead rat and brutally beating her when she tries to phone for help--Jane plots a comeback, aided by shifty musical director Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono).
Director Robert Aldrich (KISS ME DEADLY) composes the strangest and most unsettling film of his career, creating a blueprint for future psycho-thriller filmmakers to follow. Renowned offscreen rivals Davis and Crawford revived their flagging careers with two stunning performances, and Buono received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting role. Creepy, campy, grotesque, and terrifying, the wildly over-the-top WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? is a disturbing and unforgettable film.
Aging sisters--one a bitter former child star, the other an actress whose career was ended by a crippling car wreck--duke it out in this campy shocker.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - Charles Busch; John Epperson - Lypsinka
Trailer - Theatrical Trailer
Disc 2: BONUS FEATURES
Bonus Footage - Andy Williams Show - Excerpt Featuring Bette Davis Singing
Documentary - 1. BETTE AND JOAN: BLIND AMBITION
2. ALL ABOUT BETTE: Hosted By Jodie Foster
3. A FILM PROFILE: JOAN CRAWFORD
Featurette - BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BABY JANE
Director of Photography
Ernest Haller:
Art Director
William Glasgow: Art Director
Review 1:
"...The Bette Davis-Joan Crawford teaming still packs a punch in this onetime surprise hit..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 10/03/1997
Review 2:
"...The leads are suitably poisonous, and the line between life and art blurred as clips from their films are used as the Hudson's own. Creepy..."
Source: Total Film
p.108 10/01/2000
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