History Film / WhatEverHappenedToBabyJane

-->"Here I come, the SUPER CHIEF!" ''(Giggling)''

Nominated for five UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for Norma Koch's costume design. Followed two years later by a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', also directed by Aldrich and starring Davis, but with Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in the Crawford part. Aldrich dipped into the genre a third time in 1969 by producing (though not directing) ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToAuntAlice'', starring Geraldine Page and Creator/RuthGordon. ''Baby Jane'' itself was [[TheRemake remade]] in 1991 as a MadeForTVMovie, starring real-life sisters Lynn and Creator/VanessaRedgrave as Jane and Blanche. It doesn't seem to have been poorly received by critics, but it didn't make much of an impression either.

[[caption-width-right:310:"Butcha ''are'', Blanche! Ya ''are'' in that chair!"]]

->''[[TitleDrop What ever happened to Baby Jane?]]\\

What really happened to Baby Jane?''

* AdaptationDyeJob: Jane is blonde and Blanche is brunette in the original. In the remake, Jane becomes a redhead and Blanche now has grey hair.

** When Baby Jane first sings the song [[TastesLikeDiabetes "I've Written a Letter to Daddy"]] in the beginning of the story, it just comes off as a sappy kid's song. However, it becomes incredibly creepy when she sings it later as an old woman.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Blanche tries to convince Jane that the house was bought by Blanche's money, only for Jane to quickly retort that the house was bought with "Baby Jane" money. Blanche insists that Jane is misremembering, only for her sister to brush her off. [[spoiler: It's a hint that Blanche has made a habit of preying on Jane's faulty memory.]]

* SheKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Jane murders [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Elvira]], after she finds out that Jane is keeping Blanche as a captive]].

* AdaptedOut: The novel states that the two girls went to live with their aunt after their parents died of influenza, and that was how Blanche got into films. The movie just cuts from 1917 to 1935 when Blanche is already a film star, with no mention of an aunt.

* AdaptedOut: The book states that the two girls went to live with their aunt after their parents died of influenza, and that was how Blanche got into films. The movie just cuts from 1917 to 1935 when Blanche is already a film star, with no mention of an aunt.

Aging sisters Blanche (Crawford) and "Baby" Jane Hudson (Davis) live together in a decaying Hollywood mansion. Jane had been a {{vaudeville}} child star in the 1910s, but her fame disappeared a long time ago. Blanche, meanwhile, was a successful film actress in the '30s, but was crippled in a mysterious car accident involving Jane and in now confined to a wheelchair.

* MaleGaze: On the Studio Lot in 1935, the producer eyes off a Cocktail Dancer's rump as she struts past.

Aging sisters Blanche (Crawford) and "Baby" Jane Hudson (Davis) live together in a decaying mansion in Hollywood. Jane had been a {{vaudeville}} child star in the 1910s, but her fame disappeared a long time ago. Blanche, meanwhile, was a successful film actress in the '30s, but was crippled in a mysterious car accident involving Jane.

* AMinorKidroduction: The movie's prologue takes place in 1917 when the eponymous Baby Jane and Blanche are very young, at the pinnacle of Baby Jane's career.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crawforddavisbabyjane.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:305:"Butcha ''are'', Blanche! Ya ''are'' in that chair!"]]

Followed two years later by a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', also directed by Aldrich and starring Davis, but with Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in the Crawford part. Aldrich dipped into the genre a third time in 1969 by producing (though not directing) ''Film/WhatEverHappenedToAuntAlice'', starring Geraldine Page and Creator/RuthGordon. ''Baby Jane'' itself was [[TheRemake remade]] in 1991 as a MadeForTVMovie, starring real-life sisters Lynn and Creator/VanessaRedgrave as Jane and Blanche. It doesn't seem to have been poorly received by critics, but it didn't make much of an impression either.

%% * NosyNeighbor: Mrs. Bates is a mild example.

* HeKnowsTooMuch: Female version; [[spoiler:Jane murders [[BlackDudeDiesFirst Elvira]], after she finds out that Jane is keeping Blanche as a captive]].

->''Whatever happened to Baby Jane?\\

* PsychopathicWomanchild: Despite being in her mid-fifties, Jane has the mental age of her 10-year-old self. She dresses and acts like a little girl and is immature and impulsive even before her SanitySlippage sends her completely off the deep end.

Followed two years later by a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', also directed by Aldrich and starring Davis, but with Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in the Crawford part. Aldrich dipped into the genre a third time in 1969 by producing (though not directing) ''What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?'', starring Geraldine Page and Creator/RuthGordon. ''Baby Jane'' itself was [[TheRemake remade]] in 1991 as a MadeForTVMovie, starring real-life sisters Lynn and Creator/VanessaRedgrave as Jane and Blanche. It doesn't seem to have been poorly received by critics, but it didn't make much of an impression either.

* UncertainDoom: If Blance ''is'' still alive by the end of the film, she's certainly got a rough road ahead of her, being an older disabled woman who has spent a long period of time being malnourished and physically abused. [[spoiler: And that's not including the possibility of Jane becoming lucid enough to tell the world how Blanche really snapped her spine...]]

Followed two years later by a SpiritualSuccessor, ''Film/HushHushSweetCharlotte'', also directed by Aldrich and starring Davis, but with Creator/OliviaDeHavilland in the Crawford part. Aldrich dipped into the genre a third time in 1969 by producing (though not directing) ''What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?'', starring Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon. ''Baby Jane'' itself was [[TheRemake remade]] in 1991 as a MadeForTVMovie, starring real-life sisters Lynn and Creator/VanessaRedgrave as Jane and Blanche. It doesn't seem to have been poorly received by critics, but it didn't make much of an impression either.

* ColdHam: In stark contrast to [[Series/Batman1966 some of his other roles]], Victor Buono plays almost all of his scenes as Edwin with quiet, immeasurable loathing for the people around him. It's not until he gets drunk and loosens up that he becomes a true LargeHam.

* UncertainDoom: If Blance *is* still alive by the end of the film, she's certainly got a rough road ahead of her, being an older disabled woman who has spent a long period of time being malnourished and physically abused. [[spoiler: And that's not including the possibility of Jane becoming lucid enough to tell the world how Blanche really snapped her spine...]]

* ReverseRelationshipReveal: Blanche has been abused and horrifically treated by her sister Jane, who crippled her for life while attempting to kill her. It was actually Blanche who crippled herself trying to kill a drunken Jane, who remembers nothing of that night, and on whom Blanche has manipulatively pinned her crippling.