Ok readers, the situation is not dire, yet due to pre pension (PP) budgetary reasons, I need to do library loans (LL) once in awhile to preserve my 401k. And I am not suffering after this week’s classic gem.
Inspired by the trailer for Feud, the new FX show about the real life feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, I borrowed “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” from 1962 directed by Robert Aldrich. The range of emotions I felt for this film were psychedelic, from fear to hilarity. Bette Davis’s stellar performance is so nuanced that I am watching the film with commentary for a second even more enjoyable time.
I am not a fan of horror films which tells how great this movie truly is. This morning, my co-worker Barry and I howled repeating some lines from this cult classic, one of which is, “But you are Blanche, you are in this chair!”
Victor Buono, who played a money hungry piano player ready to cater to Bette Davis’s whims, is also both cunning and sarcastically comical.
The FX show Feud is also very entertaining with Sarandon looking like a Davis doppelganger. Jessica Lange certainly evokes the melancholy of Crawford, but her facial features are too wide for a true physical match. Nevertheless, since FX has only shown episode one of Feud, I look forward to even more Baby Jane related fun.
Get thee to your local library and borrow this film. But don’t show it to anyone under 18. I mentioned it to a few friends who said they were scarred from watching it at an emotionally impressionable age.
