What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Two-Disc Special Edition)
starring: Jodie Foster, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Wesley Addy
directed by: Robert Aldrich, Susan F. Walker
directed by: Robert Aldrich, Susan F. Walker
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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 Brown
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 Brown
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Didn't get to watch much of it as the VHS tape arrived defective. The tape was shipped back to the vendor. I am waiting for my refund.
Rating: 
- Sibling rivalry at its most vicious...
Being the huge Bette Davis fan that I am, I am totally in love with this movie.This is far from her finest performance, or her finest film, but you can tell that Davis is right at home inside the crazy eyes of Baby Jane Hudson; and the mere fact that Davis outshone her rival (in more ways than one) Joan Crawford, and even managed to conjure up a Best Actress Oscar nomination above Crawford is another delicious little tidbit that keeps this film resting at the top of my `Davis Favorites'.
... Read More
Rating: - Baby Jane falls into the genre of naturalistic/gothic/realistic horor
This film is profoundly disturbing because of the realism of the situation it portrays-it focuses on the abuse of a disabled adult by a family member, something that rarely gets addressed in our society. In my view, Jane is not insane, but is selfish and self-absorbed, completely focused on her lack of success in adulthood, which makes her completely responsible for her actions, despite the movie's intention to give the impression that Jane is suffering from a mental illness.
Rating: - Scary
This movie is a classic.Betty Davis plays such a sicko and does a great job doing it.Even today, my grown children were impressed at how well the movie was done and how it had the ability to put 'fear' in you.
Rating: 
- Parakeets for lunch, rats for dinner
This was a stunning movie in its day!Of course, it's a bit dated now, but I think it has well stood the test of time.Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were off-screen rivals who were not too fond of each other anyway.But, they had never worked together before!And here for the first time, these two 'silver screen giants' meet, work well together and both deliver stirring, powerful performances of two sisters whose rivalry matched the actresses' real-life squabble.Closely following Hitchcock's ... Read More
- What Ever Happened to Baby JaneDidn't get to watch much of it as the VHS tape arrived defective. The tape was shipped back to the vendor. I am waiting for my refund.
- Sibling rivalry at its most vicious...Being the huge Bette Davis fan that I am, I am totally in love with this movie.This is far from her finest performance, or her finest film, but you can tell that Davis is right at home inside the crazy eyes of Baby Jane Hudson; and the mere fact that Davis outshone her rival (in more ways than one) Joan Crawford, and even managed to conjure up a Best Actress Oscar nomination above Crawford is another delicious little tidbit that keeps this film resting at the top of my `Davis Favorites'.
... Read More
- Baby Jane falls into the genre of naturalistic/gothic/realistic hororThis film is profoundly disturbing because of the realism of the situation it portrays-it focuses on the abuse of a disabled adult by a family member, something that rarely gets addressed in our society. In my view, Jane is not insane, but is selfish and self-absorbed, completely focused on her lack of success in adulthood, which makes her completely responsible for her actions, despite the movie's intention to give the impression that Jane is suffering from a mental illness.
- ScaryThis movie is a classic.Betty Davis plays such a sicko and does a great job doing it.Even today, my grown children were impressed at how well the movie was done and how it had the ability to put 'fear' in you.
- Parakeets for lunch, rats for dinnerThis was a stunning movie in its day!Of course, it's a bit dated now, but I think it has well stood the test of time.Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were off-screen rivals who were not too fond of each other anyway.But, they had never worked together before!And here for the first time, these two 'silver screen giants' meet, work well together and both deliver stirring, powerful performances of two sisters whose rivalry matched the actresses' real-life squabble.Closely following Hitchcock's ... Read More
