Saturday Night At The Movies: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Jon has 24 hour duty at the base tonight so I've decided to re-watch one of my favorite films- What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 

The 1962 film stars two of Hollywood's greatest leading ladies- Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. However, it's the kind of film you're going to either love or hate. For me, the pairing of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford on the same screen is just so electric that I can't help but obsess! 

Our film opens in 1917 with a run of the mill Vaudeville act featuring Baby Jane Hudson singing and dancing for a delighted crowd while her sister, Blanche waits off stage in the shadows. Fast forward 18 years to 1935 and we find Blanche Hudson at the top of her game in Hollywood while 'Baby' Jane is a loathed D-movie player. A highlight of this segment however, shows clips of period Joan Crawford and Bette Davis films (Sadie McKee, Ex-Lady and Parachute Jumper). 

We move forward in time again to present day (1962) and find Blanche and 'Baby' Jane living together in a decaying mansion. Blanche is crippled and confined to a wheelchair while Jane is a drunkard living in some absurd recreation of her youth. 

'Baby' Jane deludedly attempts to rekindle her stage career as Baby Jane Hudson and tensions build as the resentment between the sisters grows. How did Blanche really end up in a wheelchair? Was it 'Baby' Jane's fault, as she's been led to believe the past two and a half decades? How far will 'Baby' Jane go to become famous again?

An addicting film noir that takes you on a macabre ride as Hollywood's Golden Age was beginning to fade. 

Extraordinary acting (and no doubt the off screen tensions between the two megastars), classic cinematography and great direction make this film an absolute treat. 

You can currently watch What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? for Free with Amazon Prime here. I believe Amazon Prime is still offering 2 week Free Trials so if you don't want to fork over the money for it right now, you can try it for free (and watch Baby Jane for free!). 

Enjoy the movie and Stay Glamorous!

Saturday Night at the Movies

My sincere apologies for posting this on a Sunday afternoon! I got so caught up in the movie last night that I just didn't get a chance to blog post! 

Easily within my Top 10 movies of all time is The Best Years of Our Lives from 1946. Unfortunately, I don't know of anywhere to legally obtain this movie for cheap or free (it costs money on Amazon Prime) but fortunately I own it on DVD. If you haven't seen it and have the opportunity to purchase / rent it, I highly recommend it!

The Best Years of Our Lives is a haunting, ahead-of-it's-time drama which follows 3 servicemen returning home to Anytown-U.S.A after World War II; Al, the bank manager- come - Army Sergeant who has difficulty reacquainting himself to his civilian job and with his family; Fred the glamorous Air Force Captain with a stunning, but gold-digging and unfaithful wife who finds himself in a minimum wage, unforgiving job at a Drug Store and Homer the Sailor who lost both of his arms in the midst of war.

The film unforgivingly deals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (then known as Gross Stress Reaction), adultery, alcoholism, the bond between returned servicemen and the lack of compassion and understanding of the civilian world they left behind.

The cast includes Virginia Mayo as the philandering but stunning wife of Air Force Captain Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Myrna Loy as the put-together wife of Sergeant Al Stephenson (Fredric March, who in my opinion is the stand out performer in the film) and Harold Russell, the Sailor with prosthetic arms (in real life, Harold Russell lost his arms during World War II while some TNT he was handling exploded). Also featured in a cameo is composer and entertainer, Hoagy Carmichael as Piano Bar Proprietor, Butch. (Hoagy Carmichael composed one of my favorite songs- Skylark). 

Although I've loved the film and rated it amongst my favorites since first seeing it as a young teen, I think that living for the past 4+ years in a military town has heightened my appreciation and understanding of it. Living and working by Camp Lejeune, NC I've seen more than my fair share of prosthetic limbs, heard more than my share of patrol stories and seen firsthand the devastating affects of PTSD. 

The film is timeless in that it could almost be remade now. The war doesn't necessarily have to be World War II- it could be any war. They could be any servicemen, in any time. The fashions and lingo have changed but the emotions and situations haven't.

A first class film worth every penny to own it.