Travis Simpkins

What Ever Happned to Baby Jane? (1962): Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

The careers of both Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were rapidly fading by 1960. Their acting styles and the typical characters they played from the 1930's -1940's were no longer in demand. It was a different time and they seemed unable to adapt. A glorious chance came when Robert Aldrich cast them as the Hudson sisters in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). The parts of the bitter, feuding sisters were departures for both actresses, and re-introduced them to a new genre, and generation of film goers. The film was a success, and provided the format for many similar films over the next decade and beyond.

In the 1910's, Baby Jane Hudson was the darling of Vaudeville. In the 1930's, Blanche Hudson was the biggest movie star in Hollywood. Now... in the 1960's, both Jane (Bette Davis) and Blanche (Joan Crawford) find themselves old and lonely, living together in Blanche's once fashionable home with each one blaming the other for their failed success. Blanche, in a wheelchair as a result of an "accident", depends on Jane for her care...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

However, Jane has been acting a tad crazy lately...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis

Pining for her fame, lost so many years ago, she harbors jealous feelings as well...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis

News that Blanche plans to sell their house due to financial problems does not go over well...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

With Jane slipping into increased fits of hatred and delusional rage...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

and her being the one entrusted with Blanche's care...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

Blanche realizes that her life is in grave danger...

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford

House by the River (1950): Fritz Lang

Directed by Fritz Lang, House by the River (1950) was panned by critics upon it's initial release, but has seen a resurgence of admiration in recent years. The story concerns an author who strangles his pretty young maid after she turns down his advance, and then attempts to hide the body by dumping it in the river. Full of Victorian period detail, the the cinematography is stark, dramatic and brilliant. The cast is great, including Lois Hayward, Lee Bowman and Jane Wyatt.

House by the River. 1950. Fritz Lang

Metropolis (1927): Fritz Lang

Technically innovative and stylistically unique, German director Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) is an undeniable masterpiece, and one of the most important films of the Silent Era. Pioneering in it's approach to Science Fiction and in it's portrayal of a "dystopia", Metropolis still holds eerily relevance when compared in relation to the class divisions fought by the present day "99%" and "Occupy" movements. An expensive film for it's day, Lang employed hoards of extras, costly sets and intricate miniature models to get the proper futuristic look. The film certainly pushed the envelope. European standards were less prudish than American policies, otherwise Brigitte Helm's nearly-nude dancing scene (in which she is only wearing pasties), would never have passed. Full of interesting camera tricks, double-exposures and negative manipulation, Metropolis is an astounding achievement and a marvel to watch, even 85 years later.

A futuristic city is divided between the upper class people who live above ground and enjoy the comforts and benefits of the metropolis...

Metropolis. 1927. Fritz Lang

and the workers, who live in squalor and slave below ground, maintaining the machines that keep the city running above...

Metropolis. 1927. Fritz Lang

The city master's son falls in love with Maria (Brigitte Helm), a beautiful civil liberties fighter living below. Maria is respected amongst the disgruntled laborers. Fearful of an uprising, the master gets the idea to have a crazy inventor use his skills to make a robot double of Maria to go down below, and corrupt the worker's morale...

Metropolis. 1927. Fritz Lang

But the inventor has ulterior motives and wants to see the master destroyed. The robot double is sent, and she does a sexy, provocative dance (nearly nude) to distract and control the workers...