Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

You know, just because a movie that has a few Oscar winners in it and if it is filmed in black and white, does not make it a great picture. This horribly slow, plodding movie did absolutely nothing for my viewing enjoyment. Not to knock the acting job done my the cast involved, but this movie just was tooo slooooowww for my taste. Maybe it may have frightened my grandmother at one time, but it is truly laughable now. Jeez...and to think it was nominated for a few Academy Awards?!?!?! A rating of 1 out of 10 was given.

Following the success of camp classic 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' (1962), producer/director Robert Aldrich once again cast Bette Davis in the lead for his follow up 'Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte', this time with Olivia De Havilland as her co-star. One might expect this to be an inferior imitation of Baby Jane, repeating that film's formula of outlandish melodrama and twisted characters, but although it does share some similarities with its predecessor (most notably, Davis's eccentric performance), I consider it to be the superior film, a gripping murder mystery that serves up a large helping of Southern gothic, grand guignol, and the macabre. The film opens in 1927, at the antebellum mansion of the Hollis family, where patriarch Big Sam (Victor Buono) confronts John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), the married lover of his daughter Charlotte, and orders him to end the relationship. The next evening, during a party at the Hollis house, John meets Charlotte in the summerhouse and tells her that he no longer loves her; distraught, Charlotte runs away. Moments later, John is brutally murdered, his hand and head hacked off with a meat cleaver (this scene being surprisingly gory). Wandering into the party covered in blood and in a state of shock, Charlotte is ushered away by her father. 37 years later, Charlotte (Davis) still lives in the mansion, her father having used his connections to prevent his daughter from being charged or tried. The only other occupant is Velma the housekeeper (a wonderfully unconventional turn by Agnes Moorehead), but this all changes when Charlotte writes to her cousin Miriam (de Havilland), hoping that she can somehow prevent The Louisiana Highway Commission from evicting her from her home. Miriam comes to the house soon after, but helping Charlotte couldn't be further from her mind: with the help of old friend Drew (Joseph Cotten), she intends to push the already mentally fragile woman over the edge and have her certified insane so that she will gain control of the family fortune. While perhaps not as iconic as Baby Jane, 'Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte' trounces that film's tale of bitter sibling rivalry with its engrossing mystery that, while not always unpredictable, provides bags of atmosphere, lots of suspense, and plenty of opportunity for Davis to do her demented thang. It also neatly switches things around at the halfway point, allowing De Havilland her chance to act deranged, the seemingly sweet Miriam proving to be just as nutty as her cousin. Also a delight to behold: Cecil Kellaway as insurance investigator Harry, who ties up the loose ends nicely. Like Baby Jane, Sweet Charlotte is perhaps a little overlong for this kind of thing (under two hours would have been nice), but Aldrich maintains a steady pace, and the game cast (which includes silent movie star Mary Astor, as John's widow, and disaster movie regular George Kennedy as the foreman of the crew come to flatten Charloote's home) ensures that there is rarely a dull moment. 7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Southern-fried frights from screenwriters Henry Farrell (author of the novel "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?") and Lukas Heller (who adapted the "Baby Jane" screenplay) has Bette Davis trying to hold onto her sanity and her plantation after scheming cousin Olivia de Havilland comes to town. The thickly-applied Gothic atmospherics aren't convincing, and Agnes Moorehead is over-the-top as loyal housekeeper Velma, though the picture is still entertaining due to Robert Aldrich's brusque direction and de Havilland's juicy performance. Farrell and Heller keep Bette's Charlotte on the verge of hysteria throughout, borrowing a bit from "Les Diaboliques" to give their story a twist. The overlay of camp--beginning with an outrageous prologue--helps make the picture shamefacedly enjoyable, though it isn't up to the heights of "Baby Jane". ** from ****