WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962) (***1/2)

What a brave movie for Bette Davis to do. She is so ugly in his film -- and I don’t just mean her character either. Her Oscar-nominated performance is so true and so real that you forget that you're watching a screen legend and feel you're watching a bitter psychopath.

The story follows two sisters Jane (Davis, ALL ABOUT EVE) and Blanche Hudson (Joan Crawford, MILDRED PIERCE). Jane, known as Baby Jane, was a child star, who was the main breadwinner for her family for years. However, as they got older, Blanche became the movie star and Jane became a B-movie actress, who only got roles because it was in Blanche's contract that for every picture she did her sister got a picture.

Then right before the opening credits role, we see flashes of a car accident where a woman stands by a gate and a car races at her. Then we flash-forward to "Yesterday," which we can see is really the early 1960s. Blanche is confined to a wheelchair and a drunken Jane begrudgingly takes care of her. We find out that Blanche wants to move out on her sister and when Jane finds out that's when the mental torture begins.

The film is a first rate thriller on the lines of MISERY. However, Davis' performance makes Kathy Bates' performance in the Stephen King adaptation look one-dimensional. Her reactions to her meek sister drip with years of bitterness over lost potential and forced obligations. Victor Buono (TV's BATMAN) also received an Oscar nomination for his role as Edwin Flagg, a screenwriter roped into helping Jane with her big comeback. Shades of SUNSET BLVD. darken the corners of this film everywhere.

My only complaint is that the end beach scene seems to drag and brings the pace to a halt. The big surprise also seemed a bit unbelievable. However, while it might not be perfect, the beach ending is a creepy location to close this dark tale, bringing an otherworldly quality to the close. The stuff in the middle will keep you on the edge and show you how wonderful both Davis and Crawford where as actresses. The legendary battle between them during the production only enhanced the fire on screen.

For a little trivia, Davis designed her dramatic make-up. Director Robert Aldrich loved it so much he had her do it for the film and said he wouldn't have had the guts to ask her to look that ugly on his own.