Questions come to mind: Does anyone want to see Bette Davis out of her mind? Or view a crippled Joan Crawford struggling to escape the clutches of the crazed woman from question #1? How ’bout wrapping those up in a fun, hip, engaging thriller? Check, check, and wait… no check. Baby Jane comes off to a slow start… and kinda sorta drones on in the same fashion. It is laden with flaws upon flaws that do their darndest to eat away at the quality of this picture. Here’s one particular example: Blanche Hudson, in captivity, writes a letter of distress in that classic “note in a bottle” manner. She intends to throw it out her second-story bedroom window to the arms of her neighbor. What had me screaming at the TV was for Blanche to simply shout out of her window to this person (Hudson was easily in earshot distance) for help instead. This sort of “idle escapery” happens over and over, so I’m left with only two possible explanations: a) Blanche Hudson is a bit stupid or b) she doesn’t really want to escape. This might be classified as ”tongue and cheek” fun. But is any of this content really engaging? Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is one of those movies where the rivalry between these divas off-stage overshadows what’s going on in the reels. Also the pacing is a tortoise. And the only physical confrontation between the Hudson sisters is filmed in a strange POV that suffers from lazed, choppy editing. Bottom line: Baby Jane hasn’t aged well at all. I don’t want to slip any further into the realms of over-negativity so I’ll keep rest of these gripes to myself. If you adore Bette Davis and/or Joan Crawford then you might want to consider this for one for the pleasure of renting. But I can think of several other genre films that trump this one all around, so I’ll be watching them instead the next time I’m in a serial-killer mood (that did not sound right).
Eithan sez: 5 outta 10
Posted by eithansmith 
