Issue Date: July 30, 2006
Twisted sisters
A look at sibling rivalry in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?"
The new DVD is part of a Bette Davis box set.
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THE PLOT: This 1962 model in macabre, set in a spooky Beverly Hills mansion, follows the lifelong rivalry between two aging sisters. Bette Davis crackles as the wicked Jane, an ex-vaudeville child star. Joan Crawford, as wheelchair-bound former movie star Blanche, is Jane's passive prisoner with a dark secret.
INSIDER's CREDENTIALS: Joshua Sparrow is a professor at Harvard Medical School and a specialist in adolescent psychiatry. He's the co-author of seven books in the "Brazelton Way" series, covering topics such as discipline and sibling rivalry.
OVERVIEW: "One of the things that dates the movie is its 1950s portrayal of psychoanalysis. There are a lot of films from that time in which the dramatic interest comes from characters with stereotypical problems that are depicted as if they were textbook Freudian cases."
Scene 1: 1917: Vaudeville Star -- Blanche jealously watches from the wings as Baby Jane wins both the audience and the attention of their father (Dave Willock).
"One modern theme in the movie is the commodification of childhood. Certainly, there are parallels with what parents face today with their kids and the pressure to perform in the arts or get into college."
Scene 31: A Baby Jane Doll -- Jane's new friend Edwin (Victor Buono) races up the stairs after hearing a crash. Jane screams, "No! She'll take you away from me!"
"Part of what made Blanche crazy, according to [the Oedipal theory] was the desired parent isn't supposed to fully reciprocate but instead ensure that he really loves Mommy. Jane had Daddy all to herself, which deprived Blanche and his wife. I don't believe all that, but it was the theory of the day."
-- Ellen Durston
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