Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16081 in DVD
• Brand: DAVIS,BETTE
• Released on: 2006-05-30
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Black & White, Widescreen, NTSC, Dubbed, Subtitled
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.com
A cultish horror favorite, 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? will make you think twice before hungrily unveiling a covered plate of food. Bette Davis stars as Jane Hudson, a onetime child actress and singer. As an elderly woman, she wishes to revive her vaudevillian career, but she has become a grotesque caricature of her former self. Over the years as her star faded, the star of her older sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) rose, outshining the career of the has-been Baby Jane. Jane was relegated to minor roles, which she only won when Blanche demanded that she be awarded them. The film opens years after a calamitous car accident leaves Blanche in a wheelchair, with no one to care for her except the increasingly insane and sadistic Jane and their servant, Norman. Trying to punish Blanche for her years of success, Jane tortures the housebound woman, slowly trying to starve her to death, all the while attempting to recapture the fame of her youth. This dark drama also stars Victor Buono as the hefty pianist who answers Jane's ad for an accompanist, hoping to milk some money off the demented old woman. Both Buono and Davis were nominated for Oscars for their roles in this suspenseful and somewhat sick thriller that exploited well the real-life antagonism between Davis and Crawford, while at the same time rejuvenated both their careers. --Jenny Brown

On the DVD
The commentary track for Baby Jane has veteran female impersonators Charles Busch and John Epperson (a.k.a. Lypsinka) breezily chatting about their love for a movie that has become a camp classic. The treats on the extra disc include no dead rat, but a useful collection of short documentaries. All About Bette is a literate 45-minute portrait, hosted by Jodie Foster and written by David Ansen. A Film Profile: Joan Crawford is a half-hour oddball British talk show from the 1960s, with Crawford in her grand-dame persona commenting on her past roles and a work ethic derived from the early studio system. Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition contrasts the two actresses and discusses the feuding that blossomed when they finally worked together on Baby Jane. Inevitably, it contains redundant material when seen alongside the other two pieces. Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane is a seven-minute promotional featurette made in 1962, its emphasis on director Robert Aldrich shooting a scene. The camp highlight here is a singing appearance by Bette Davis on a 1962 installment of The Andy Williams Show--no, she doesn't do "I've Written a Letter to Daddy," but a title song for the movie that has a Chubby Checker beat. The woman had no fear. --Robert Horton