What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Directed by Robert Aldrich. With Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono, Wesley Addy. A former child star torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller[5]–horror film[6][7] produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, about an aging former actress who holds her paraplegic ex-movie star sister captive in an old Hollywood

The staircase should be billed along with the stars in Robert Aldrich's "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" (1962). On a claustrophobic set, it dominates many shots, separating the upstairs captivity of the paraplegic Blanche from the downstairs lair of her deranged sister Jane. Although the two sisters live in a "mansion" that allegedly once belonged to Valentino, it is jammed between nosy neighbors and seems to consist only of a living room, a kitchen, a hallway and a bedroom for each sister. In this hothouse a lifelong rivalry turns vicious, in one of Hollywood's best gothic grotesqueries.

As a child, Baby Jane Hudson was the toast of vaudeville. As an adult, however, Baby Jane was overshadowed by her more talented sister, Blanche, who became a top movie star. Then, one night in the early '30s, came the accident, which crippled Blanche for life and which was blamed on a drunken, jealous Jane. Flash-forward to 1962: Jane (Bette Davis), decked out in garish chalk-white makeup, still lives with the invalid Blanche (Joan Crawford) in their decaying L.A. mansion. When Jane isn't tormenting the helpless Blanche by serving her dead rats for breakfast, she is plotting and planning her showbiz comeback. Convinced that her days are numbered if she remains in the house with her addlepated sister, Blanche desperately tries to get away, but all avenues of escape are cut off by the deranged Jane. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? sparked a trend toward casting venerable Hollywood female stars in such grotesque Grand Guignol melodramas as Lady in a Cage (1964) and Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte (1965). In addition to revitalizing the careers of Davis and Crawford, whose real-life mutual animosity came through loud and clear, the film made a star of sorts of 24-year-old character actor Victor Buono, cast as a porcine mama's-boy musical composer. Lukas Heller's screenplay was based on the novel by Henry Farrell.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After a suspicious car accident in which actress Blanche Hudson is crippled for life, the popular star becomes a recluse, cared for by her sister, former child star Jane Hudson. In the ensuing years, the two sisters live an isolated existence in a sprawling house on the outskirts

Official trailer for the 50th anniversary rerelease of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, back in UK cinemas 14 December. As a child, Jane Hudson (Bette Davis)...

A great psychological thriller, black comedy, and over-the-top camp classic is this great trashy melodrama - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). It features the bizarre (and sole) pairing of two legendary -- and rival -- screen legends in a gothic, macabre, Grand Guignol ho

Teaming Bette Davis and Joan Crawford now seems like a veritable prerequisite to putting Henry Farrell's slight tale of terror on the screen. Although the results heavily favor Davis (and she earns the credit), it should be recognized that the plot, of necessity, allows her to run unfettered through all the stages of oncoming insanity.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 psychological horror film about Jane Hudson, a former singer who must care to her invalid sister, Blanche, but Jane's behaviour mortifies her.

Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.