LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Robert Aldrich: Baby Jane
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Aldrich managed to rejuvenate his career when he secured the rights to adapt What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). A neo-Gothic tragicomedy starring famous diva nemeses Joan Crawford and Bette Davis as sisters, Baby Jane was a campy and chilling indictment of the old Hollywood star system, made all the more creepy by Davis' outrageous performance (and appearance) as the decrepit eponymous star. Aldrich's first major hit since Vera Cruz, Baby Jane earned several Oscar nominations, including Davis for Best Actress. Aldrich paired Davis and Crawford again for the Southern Gothic thriller Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), but the strain overwhelmed Crawford and she was replaced by Olivia de Havilland. Though not as big as Baby Jane, Sweet Charlotte was another success.
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This essay discusses three Robert Aldrich films that deal with the worlds of film production. The first is The big knife (USA 1955), a bitter, hyper-real tragedy set within the Hollywood studio star system, and which in 1955 was the first film to be produced under the Associates and Aldrich banner. What ever happened to Baby Jane? (USA 1962), a rather odd and quite transgressive star vehicle featuring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The legend of Lylah Clare (USA 1968), made immediately following The dirty dozen (USA 1967), and, of these three films, Aldrich's most typical and self-conscious example of the film-on-film genre. This essay will discuss these films in the context of Aldrich's broader career and reputation, and situate them in relation to the film-on-film or Hollywood-on-Hollywood genre.
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A coup of ironic casting, Aldrich's film is one of the great movies about the movies. Enticing legendary enemies Crawford and Davis on-screen together, Aldrich cooks up some brilliant chemistry between them. Davis becomes 'Baby Jane', a vaudeville child star while Crawford stars as her movie star sister, Blanche. After a car accident leaves Blanche housebound in a wheelchair, Jane begins to crack up, tormenting her sister with beatings, imprisonment and rat suppers.
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Robert+Aldrich&"> You were one of the GREATEST of ALL time. Thanx for so many GREAT films, especially What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, and H H S C, keep Joan and Bette from fighting. RIP.
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