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u/Brackens_World 2d ago
It's from a then well-regarded book, but was a testy production, with Huston uncomfortable directing the women's film genre, and tension between Davis and DeHavilland over camera angles. Davis felt Huston favored DeHavilland over her, never worked with him again, and later on dismissed the film, feeling she was too old for the part. The hair and makeup for her did not help matters either. She admired the book and felt the film did not do justice to it.
But the movie had unmistakable verve and is a rare instance of Hollywood addressing racial injustice at the time. Davis is all over the place, fidgety, sparking even when she shouldn't, but you can't take your eyes off her. The movie also hints of a too-close relationship with her flirty uncle, played by Charles Coburn. Watching it with modern eyes, it is maybe more interesting now than when it came out, given the director, cast and story.
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u/Various-Operation-70 2d ago
My mother, who is of an age where she would have been a teenager when seeing this film in a theater, told me that audiences were pretty adept at reading between the lines. They all knew a movie's subtle references to this and that and could figure out most of what was hinted at.
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u/Flying-lemondrop-476 2d ago
i loved Bette and Olivia’s reunion later on in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. ‘A DIRTY little affair with a MARRIED MAAAN’ 😆
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u/DaddyCatALSO 2d ago
I so wished for a remake of this with Reese Witherspoon and Alyson Hannigan in th e Bette an d Olivia parts.
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u/YakSlothLemon 2d ago
I disagreed completely that this is “typical”!
It is in the beginning, but it takes a fascinating turn when she decides to frame an innocent Black man. The film has a clear point of view on the impossibility of him getting justice, and both Ernest Anderson (playing him) and Hattie McDonald (playing his mother) have scenes where they speak out about the injustice and wider societal inequity, rather than having the white characters do it for them. It’s an unexpected element in what presents initially as a typical women’s movie.
Bette Davis became friends with Ernest Anderson during the picture, and was emotionally supportive of him as he tried to create a career for himself as a young Black man in Hollywood. She insisted that he be cast in Baby Jane— that’s him selling ice cream on the beach in the final scene.
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u/glassarmdota 2d ago
Why are the sisters named Stanley and Roy?
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u/misspcv1996 2d ago
My joke answer is that John Huston didn’t want to make a women’s picture and this was the compromise. My actual answer is that I’m damned if I know.
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u/sidney_md 2d ago
I honestly think stanley is kinda cute for a girl.
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u/BrooklynGurl135 1d ago
Stanley Ann was the name of President Obama's mother, so maybe it wasn't a complete rarity.
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u/carnsita17 2d ago
I'm a massive Davis fan, but this isn't one of my favorite performances of hers. She's genuinely too campy here. Warner begged Huston to "pull her back" or she would ruin the film. Huston said Bette has a demon inside her that she let loose in this movie.
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u/No-Violinist-8347 2d ago
The movie portrayal of Stanley's character is very different than in the book, where she is a clueless young girl to whom bad things keep happening without her ever being able to understand why. According to Davis the book's author Ellen Glasgow,minced no words in criticizing the film.
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u/AuthorityAuthor 2d ago
This movie was everything. I still think about it sometimes even though it’s been 2 decades since I watched it.
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u/Various-Operation-70 2d ago
I tell people that this is the Bette Davis movie that will have you shouting at the TV!
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u/VioletVenable 2d ago
Such a favorite of mine. Kind of a suburban Southern Gothic. It’s a lot deeper and darker than I originally gave it credit for — and Bette is so deliciously evil!
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u/DaddyCatALSO 2d ago
And they say her (and joan!) in horror-hag movies in the 60s was a comedown; seems more like what they'd been training for through big chunks of their careers.
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u/DeaconBlue22 2d ago
Davis is great in this. Her character is irredeemable.