She wasn’t a mass murderer, a vicious gangster, or a supernatural sorceress, but Baby Jane Hudson still ranks as one of cinema’s most sinister villains, just for being herself: a sister, a child star, and an abuser. Played by Bette Davis in Robert Aldrich’s 1962 film, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Baby Jane was named one of AFI’s Top 50 Villains, and well deservedly so, as she’s one of the most insidious villains in movie history—even without a sky-high body count.
Category: Film In Depth
The Silent Inspirations of Titanic (1997)
With 14 Oscar nominations and 11 wins—both of which remain (tied) records—James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic has surely secured an indelible place in Oscar history. But the actual disaster, which occurred on the night of April 14, 1912, inspired many other films prior to the ’97 costume drama spectacle. In fact, because the sinking took place at the …
Forgotten Oscars: Best Dance Direction
The reasoning behind the short lifespans of some of Oscar’s retired categories is obvious: Best Title Writing, for instance, required films to actually have written intertitles; Best Assistant Director, while a noble effort to reward the hardworking crew, probably wasn’t a sexy enough award for a black-tie gala; and the need for a Best Engineering …
Watching “Dated” Movies… The Tender Trap (1955)
It’s funny how, no matter what year a movie actually came out, it can only take a few lines to cement its place as a timeless classic–or damn it as a dated time capsule. Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with a movie being “dated,” but it can be yet another barrier for modern viewers trying to enjoy a film in as much of its original context as possible.
Classic Cameos: The Band Leader
When you really get down to it, there are two types of musicals: the ones that take great care to explain every musical number in terms of a real-world scenario–be it a theatrical rehearsal, concert, or onstage performance–and, well, those that allow their characters to break into perfectly choreographed numbers at every whim. There are, …
The Art of the DVD Commentary
I love watching great movies with great commentaries, because it’s something I can keep with me every time I watch or think about the movie afterward. But sometimes they’re not so great–and I recently found one of these unfortunate entries quite unexpectedly on a Criterion bluray. On the surface, it may not have seemed outright …