What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 film)
| What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Produced by | Robert Aldrich |
| Screenplay by | Lukas Heller |
| Based on |
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Frank DeVol |
| Cinematography | Ernest Haller |
| Edited by | Michael Luciano |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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133 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million |
| Box office | $9.5 million |
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, about an aging actress who holds her paraplegic sister captive in an old Hollywood mansion. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Henry Farrell. Upon the film's release, it was met with widespread critical and box office acclaim and was later nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for Best Costume Design, Black and White.
The intensely bitter Hollywood rivalry between the film's two stars, Davis and Crawford, was heavily important to the film's initial success. This in part led to the revitalization of the then-waning careers of the two stars. In the years after release, critics continued to acclaim the film for its psychologically driven black comedy, camp, and creation of the psycho-biddy subgenre. The film's then unheard of and controversial plot meant that it originally received an X rating in the UK, Because of the appeal of the film's stars, Dave Itzkoff in The New York Times has identified it as being a "cult classic". In 2003, the character of Baby Jane Hudson was ranked #44 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Best Villains of American Cinema.
In 1917, Baby Jane Hudson is a vaudevillian child star while her sister Blanche Hudson is not famous and overlooked by their father. By 1935, both sisters are movie actors, but Blanche has achieved stardom, while Jane’s films have flopped, leading Jane to drink heavily. One night, returning from a party, one of the sisters gets out of the car to open the gate leading up to the house, while the other attempts to run her over. The resulting accident leaves Blanche paralyzed.
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