Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

“Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” is lightning caught in a whisky bottle, a miracle film of casting, script, time, and eerie black and white cinematography that can never be duplicated despite all the remake plans. Bette Davis and Jane Crawford play aging sisters living together in Hollywood Hell, their fame as movie stars forgotten. Jane (Davis) was the vaudeville child star clipped by Blanche (Crawford) who became the Hollywood starlet. Now Jane is a psychotic alcoholic permanently and by choice 6 years old. She walks around in children’s clothing, hair in curls, and giggles like a demon kindergartner. Her only kicks: Torturing Blanche, now paralyzed and virtual prisoner. The twists in director Richard Aldridge’s flick are sick and quick: Jane cooks up pets and rats to drive mad and starve Blanche, but when panic hits, “child” Jane runs to Blanche for help. The film and the actresses pull no punches: Davis and Crawford famously loathed each other and the seething torches every frame right up to an uncertain and shocking finale that will send you right back to the start. Davis is spectacularly grotesque, while Crawford is marvelously panicked. A+