Spoilers for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is as infamous for its real-life rivalry between the leads Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as it is for the high camp, psychological sibling disputes within the plot. With modern eyes, it’s a pitch-black comedy, skewering the simultaneous deification and abuse of child stars, bolstered by a near-hysterical performance from Davis.
She plays ‘Baby Jane’ Hudson, a former child vaudeville star who was doted on by her father, but also subject to untenable pressures. Her sister Blanche (Crawford) was withdrawn and ignored, but as they grow older Blanche becomes a successful actress, while Jane – even with support from her sister – fails to move with the times and falls out of favour.
In another shift in fortunes, Blanche is paralyzed in a car accident that is blamed on the alcoholic Jane, cutting her career short and leaving both in a toxic, co-dependent relationship. By the 1960s, Jane is using her sister’s money to fund her drinking but grows increasingly envious when Blanche’s films start to be shown on television.
This leads to a series of increasingly shocking mistreatments of Blanche, including killing her pet bird, starving her and isolating her. At every step, the film highlights how villainous Jane is.
Yet, the story is not quite as black and white. Beneath the theatrics, we’re told a much darker story about Jane. Childhood abuse at the hands of her father is hinted at and it’s clear that she is deeply disturbed, not just from her continued alcohol abuse but from locked-away trauma.
Director Robert Aldrich and screenwriter Lukas Heller stick close to Henry Farrell’s source novel. Rather than show Jane to be a two-dimensional villain, they give the character room to breathe, providing a series of increasingly tragic scenes as she attempts to recapture the fame and vigour of her youth. You can see parallels to this in Kathy Bate’s performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990).
At one point, Jane places an ad for a pianist, answered by Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono) who is desperate to escape his overbearing mother. When he arrives at the house, Edwin adopts an upper-middle-class voice, hiding his working-class background in a bid to impress Jane, who is also playing a role for the musician.
Both attempts to hide their true selves are pitiful, purposefully played up for laughs. Edwin is bewildered by this ageing woman made up like a child vaudeville star, while Jane desperately tries to convince him and herself that she still has the darling voice and stage presence that brought her fame nearly half a century earlier.
As they continue the charade, Jane shrilly sings I’ve Written a Letter to Daddy; a song that audiences loved when she performed, but one which now has a tragicomic air. Not only is Jane not the singer she once was, but the lyrics – a child singing about a dead father – echo her desire to be young again. Despite the abuse we assume she suffered at the hands of her father, he represents a time in her life when she was appreciated when people saw talent in her.
It’s a scene so tragic. Two wayward, ageing artists desperately trying to impress each other. It rapidly moves from laughable due to the heightened performances, to increasingly upsetting. It also continues a throughline in the film. Jane regularly sings the song.
Earlier, in the depth of her depression, she sings it to herself before being interrupted by Blanche. Then later, after dragging an emaciated, dying Blanche to the beach, she sings it to a bemused crowd of onlookers, as the police close in to arrest her. Jane is a villain. She’s shown to be a villain in the prologue; a spoilt child who has gotten everything she wanted and expects that to continue onward.
But she’s also a damaged person. One that has been left lost without the fame and adoration she is used to. There’s a real tragedy to her various performances of the song throughout the film. Even when singing alone, there’s a subtle hint to Davis’s performance that shows even Jane knows that she isn’t as talented as she once was. When Edwin is there, it’s worse, as her own doubts mix with his clear bemusement at the situation.
Only in the final moments, when she has fully regressed to a childlike state, does Jane sing freely; uncaring about how she now sounds. The increased hysteria leaving the audience deeply uncomfortable.
Director: Robert Aldrich
Writer: Lukas Heller. Based on the 1960 novel by Henry Farrell
Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono