What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Robert Aldrich, Susan F. Walker
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DVD details
Actor: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Julie Allred, Victor Buono, Wesley AddyDirector: Robert Aldrich, Susan F. Walker
Brand: DAVIS,BETTE
Producer: Ellen Krass
Producer: Kenneth Hyman
Producer: Louise Gallop-Roholt
Writer: David Ansen
Writer: Henry Farrell
Writer: Lukas Heller
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 134 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-30
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Two-Disc Special Edition)
DVD Review: Easy to Watch Again
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great movie to add to your DVD collection because chances are you'll watch it more than a few times. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford at their best. Davis ('Baby Jane') was famous as a child vaudeville star; Crawford ('Blanche Hudson') as a movie star now in a wheelchair. Bette is an unbalanced drinker whom Joan Crawford wants to put in a sanitarium. Bette tries to avoid that at all costs. She thinks she is going to revive her 'Baby Jane' act and be famous again. Davis is superb in makeup and adult-sized little girls' dress. A total classic. Watch for the teenaged girl next door. It's Bette Davis's real daughter, B.D. (who wrote the Mommy Dearest-like book on Bette, 'My Mother's Keeper').DVD Review: "Black comedy"?
Summary: 4 Stars
I wouldn't call it 'edge of your seat' - it builds quite slowly - and i wouldn't call it 'black comedy' either. Certainly there are touches of the absurd - well, the whole story is somewhat absurd, but Leonard Maltin's quote on the back of the box "Thoroughly engaging black comedy" is way off the mark. For most people, I don't think a first viewing will yield much in the way of laughs - unless you found movies like "Misery" funny.
Another thing that bugged early on in the movie was the fact that while she was trapped in her upstairs room, with her neighbor working in the garden just below - she can throw a note down to her, yet she somehow can't manage to shout to her for help? There are 2 or 3 scenes like this in the first half of the movie that seem to insult the audiences' intelligence. Other than that, the movie is interesting for what it is - a showcase of 1962 theatre of the macabre, and the talents of Betty Davis and Joan Crawford. Filming and acting are fine all around, and the story slowly but surely builds interest and horror until it reaches its memorable and shocking conclusion. This is a good movie, maybe even a great one for some. It will hold more interest for the connesseur of old, unusual or even campy movies - not necessarily for the modern movie thrill seeker - for modern thrills in the macabre, check out Dexter. ;)
As for the packaging and treatment of this movie on DVD, you couldn't ask for better. Disc 2 puts the movie and it's stars into historical perspective with 3 documentaries, behind the scenes featurette, and an Andy Williams Show segment with Betty Davis. The Betty Davis documentary is substantial at over an hour giving us Davis's life story with many clips from the vast multitude of movies she made and a career that spanned 6 or 7 decades. Love that it ends with Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes". Jody Foster hosts. The second documentary spotlight on Joan Crawford consists of a BBC interview filmed in black and white in the 60s some time after Baby Jane was made. The interview captures Joan (and the times) as it recounts her filmography and the latest tabloid gossip. The special features were great and make this edition a real value for money purchase. It's great to see movies get treatment like this.
DVD Review: WOW!!! This movie is a Classic.
Summary: 5 Stars
I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was 10. It scared me then and I watched it again in 2008 and I was on the edge of my seat again. This movie is a must see if you like the way movies used to be, having an actual plot. This movie has an original one. DVD Review: Grotesque horror
Summary: 4 Stars
The Bottom Line:
If Whatever Happened to Baby Jane sometimes feels like a worse Sunset Blvd jumbled up into a horror film, it makes up for it with its sheer grotesque innovation and acting; the film may be derivative but that hardly diminishes its power to horrify.
3/4
DVD Review: Why do two drag queens have commentary on this DVD?
Summary: 5 Stars
I wondered why in the world would they feature a couple of drag queens on the commentary for this DVD. I realize anyone connected to this film has passed away, so they had to have SOMEONE do it.
But once you listen, it is pretty entertaining. The only drawback was their constant fawning of the two stars. But some of their diva ranting was funny. One went on and on about Miss Crawford's bone structure and beauty. But then again, what are they supposed to do? You will have to sit through this odd commentary, you won't be able to help it.
My only complaint is I found the audio recording of poor quality. I had to turn the volume way up to hear the commentary over the film.
Anyways, I probably don't need to say much about the movie. It stands as one of the best. This movie is a must in my collection as is Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, and The Women.
Description of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Two-Disc Special Edition)
A cultish horror favorite, 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? will make you think twice before hungrily unveiling a covered plate of food. Bette Davis stars as Jane Hudson, a onetime child actress and singer. As an elderly woman, she wishes to revive her vaudevillian career, but she has become a grotesque caricature of her former self. Over the years as her star faded, the star of her older sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) rose, outshining the career of the has-been Baby Jane. Jane was relegated to minor roles, which she only won when Blanche demanded that she be awarded them. The film opens years after a calamitous car accident leaves Blanche in a wheelchair, with no one to care for her except the increasingly insane and sadistic Jane and their servant, Norman. Trying to punish Blanche for her years of success, Jane tortures the housebound woman, slowly trying to starve her to death, all the while attempting to recapture the fame of her youth. This dark drama also stars Victor Buono as the hefty pianist who answers Jane's ad for an accompanist, hoping to milk some money off the demented old woman. Both Buono and Davis were nominated for Oscars for their roles in this suspenseful and somewhat sick thriller that exploited well the real-life antagonism between Davis and Crawford, while at the same time rejuvenated both their careers. --Jenny BrownGeneral DVDs
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