What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) on Netflix
Passed19622h 14mDramaHorrorThriller
Former child star Baby Jane Hudson shares a Hollywood mansion with Blanche Hudson, a former actress left paralyzed by a car accident. Jane hires a pianist to revive her old act.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb8.0/1068,396 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1917, Baby Jane Hudson is a vaudeville child star while her older sister Blanche stays in her shadow. By adulthood their fortunes reverse: Blanche becomes a celebrated film actress, and Jane's career fades as she turns to drink. A 1935 car accident at the gate of their mansion leaves Blanche paralyzed. By 1962 the sisters share the house, bought with Blanche's earnings. Blanche, in a wheelchair, depends on Jane, who drinks heavily and abuses her. When Blanche's old movies air on television and restore her fame, Jane grows jealous and hires a pianist, Edwin Flagg, to revive her childhood act. Blanche tells Jane she may sell the house, and Jane cuts off the telephone in Blanche's room.
Cast
- Anne Bartonas Cora Hudson
- William Aldrichas Lunch Counter Assistant at Beach
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Rumors of clashes between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on set were widely reported for years: Davis allegedly struck Crawford's head in the scene where Jane catches Blanche on the phone, and Crawford was said to have weighted down her robe so that Davis strained her back dragging Blanche across the floor.
- Bette Davis was reportedly apprehensive about the project because she disliked horror films, but she took the role of Baby Jane Hudson because she loved the script and needed the money.
- Britain's BBFC gave the film an X certificate in 1962 with a few minor cuts; the cuts were waived for a video release rated 18 in 1988, and a 2004 theatrical re-release was rated 12A, letting children under 12 in with an adult.
- Its success spawned a run of horror and thriller films about psychotic older women, dubbed the "psycho-biddy" or "hagsploitation" subgenre, including Aldrich's Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969).
- Joan Crawford, a Pepsi-Cola Company board member, supplied Pepsi to the cast and crew throughout the shoot, while director Robert Aldrich occasionally brought bottles of Coca-Cola onto the set as a prank.
- Victor Buono won the role of pianist Edwin Flagg after making a connection at the Golden Door spa in San Marcos, California, and the part launched his career as a character actor.
- To show the sisters' old screen performances, the filmmakers used footage from Bette Davis's Parachute Jumper and Ex-Lady (both 1933) for Jane and Joan Crawford's Sadie McKee (1934) for Blanche.
