What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

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What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

1962

2h 12m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

91%

Tomatometer

53 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is an aging child star left to care for her wheelchair-bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former child actress. Stuck living together in a mansion in old Hollywood, Blanche plots to get even with Jane for the car crash that left her crippled years earlier. But Jane is desperate to keep Blanche imprisoned as she plans a new rise to fame, and tries to hide Blanche's existence from doctors, visitors and neighbors while she devises a way to get rid of her sister.

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Critics Consensus

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? combines powerhouse acting, rich atmosphere, and absorbing melodrama in service of a taut thriller with thought-provoking subtext.

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James Powers

The Hollywood Reporter

03/05/2017

A lurid melodrama of hate, revenge and murder, a high-class horror film, in the Hitchcock vein, with virtuoso performances from Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and moments both searing and poignant.

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Jason Bailey

Flavorwire

03/03/2017

What so often gets lost about 'Baby Jane' is that it's a real thriller, dark, suspenseful, and intense.

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Andrew Schenker

Little White Lies

12/13/2012

3/5

There are plenty of thrills and no shortage of suspense in this darkly comic horror film.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

03/27/2025

3.5/4

This offers an endless stream of indelible moments directed with ghoulish glee by Robert Aldrich.

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Penelope Gilliatt

Observer (UK)

03/06/2024

It plays on the public's subconscious resentment of film stars... Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is an oddly vengeful movie.

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Trace Thurman

Horror Queers Podcast

05/17/2023

4/5

What could have been a campy B-movie becomes a rather touching tragedy thanks to two powerhouse lead performances from Joan Crawford and (especially) Bette Davis.

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Noel L

@RT15930389 1d

I wonder if this is where the idea for Misery came from

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revolver.0 8

@Revolver08 Mar 11

dated and offbeat, but good depiction of guilt and codependency

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Mariana T

@M.Tezeta Jan 27

"Could we have been friends all this time?"... Without a doubt, this is the most macabre sister story I've ever seen. Bette Davis, along with Joan Crawford, mesmerizes the viewer from beginning to end. You can't consider Jane a disturbed woman without first considering how influenced she is by her sister Blanche's thirst for revenge. And Blanche isn't simply a victim; she also generates guilt. In the end, I concluded that both women were victims of their desire to stand out... I wish they hadn't so desperately sought acceptance in an industry where expectations change so rapidly. At times, I wanted more plot twists, but I realized that this story aims to create a sense of ambivalence between who is guilty and who you feel sorry for... in any case, this bitterness was enough to enjoy the film until the very end. Jane dancing in the final scene immortalizes everything.

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Teddy B

@RT90521672 Jan 27

This film is a case similar to 'The Exorcist', in my opinion. A wonderful novel perfectly fit for a movie, placed in the hands of a talented director, performed by actors in their A-grade, shot beautifully and breezily paced, with their own merits towards either the history of their actors or on movies themselves. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford make this movie, especially Bette Davis. Her ability to disappear into this role, her willingness to transform herself completely into this complicated villain in Baby Jane Hudson as she did nearly thirty years earlier with Mildred in 'Of Human Bondage', is commendable above all else and a true testament to her talent.

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Perry N H

@Paras224 Jan 15

Heaven; shlud have been Davis' 4th oscar

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Christopher K.

@gtrod47 Dec 24

Ahead of its time. Great performances. Strange.

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Robert Aldrich

Director

Bette Davis

Miss Baby Jane Hudson

Joan Crawford

Miss Blanche Hudson

Victor Buono

Mr. Edwin Flagg

Marjorie Bennett

Mrs. Dehlia Flagg

Anna Lee

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Synopsis

Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) is an aging child star left to care for her wheelchair-bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former child actress. Stuck living together in a mansion in old Hollywood, Blanche plots to get even with Jane for the car crash that left her crippled years earlier. But Jane is desperate to keep Blanche imprisoned as she plans a new rise to fame, and tries to hide Blanche's existence from doctors, visitors and neighbors while she devises a way to get rid of her sister.

Director: Robert Aldrich
Producer: Robert Aldrich
Screenwriter: Lukas Heller, Henry Farrell
Distributor: Warner Bros., Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: The Associates & Aldrich Company Inc., Aldrich, Seven Arts Pictures, Warner Brothers
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 31, 1962, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 21, 2016
Runtime: 2h 12m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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