Product Details

• Actors: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono
• Directors: Robert Aldrich
• Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: October 9, 2012
• Run Time: 134 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (269 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B008ALNQDY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,954 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For the 50th-anniversary Blu-ray edition of Robert Aldrich's 1962 hit, the extras from the two-disc special-edition DVD are imported intact: documentary featurettes that sketch Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, commentary by drag specialists Charles Busch and John Epperson, Davis's wacky-campy appearance on The Andy Williams Show. Added to the package is a collection of alternate language tracks (including a beefed-up English-language soundtrack, but also Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese) and more subtitles--and, of course, the whole thing fits onto a single disc rather than two. A new booklet provides some handsomely designed background. The most important issue is the Blu-ray presentation of the picture and sound, and this is superb: the image is sharper and slightly darker (rightly so) than the standard DVD, and the visible grain makes it look like you're watching a movie, not a scrubbed-clean digital object. The funhouse craziness of Davis and Crawford deserves no less. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford star in a tense psychological drama between two sisters, one a former child star and the other a crippled ex-silent star, who are bound together in hate and fear.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic gets special treatment! March 30, 2006

By R. Pepper

Format:DVD

I decided to include this description in case Amazon doesn't put it up right away. Here is what is included on the new 'Baby Jane' Special Edition DVD due out May 30th, 2006!

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - The legendary dispute between rival divas Bette Davis and Joan Crawford fuelled the fire both on- and off-screen in Director Robert Aldrich's Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Its Grand Guignol story of an aging ex-vaudeville child star (Davis) waging a psychotic reign of terror over her crippled ex-movie star sister (Crawford) became a smash hit and nabbed Davis her 10th Academy Award nomination for her acid portrayal of the title role. Nominated for an impressive five Academy Awards (winning for Best Costume Design), Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is a mirthful masterpiece of the macabre.

DVD Special Features:

New 16x9 digital transfer from the original camera negative and restored audio elements (Enhanced for widescreen televisions)

Commentary by author and film historian , Charles Busch and film historian John Epperson (a/k/a "Lypsinka")

3 fabulous documentary profiles of the movie and its 2 immortal stars:

Bette and Joan: Blind Ambition (A new making-of documentary)

All About Bette, Biographical profile, hosted by Jodie Foster

Film Profile: Joan Crawford

Vintage featurette "Behind the Scenes with Baby Jane"

The Andy Williams Show

Theatrical Trailer

Languages: English & Français

Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)

91 of 101 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! April 8, 2005

By Jeffrey Leach HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

Oh yeah! I've been waiting quite awhile to partake in this slab of metaphysical weirdness! Needless to say, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" is everything you've heard and more. People went back and forth, frothing at the mouth in anticipation of a Freddy Krueger versus Jason Voorhees duel in "Freddy vs. Jason," but if you want the real deal all you need do is check out Joan Crawford versus Bette Davis. By all accounts sworn enemies in real life, "Baby Jane" finally brought the two powerhouses together for a knock down, drag out fight of epic proportions in a movie that is so utterly insane it really does defy description. Every thing I will write about the film below won't do it justice. I imagine this movie is a lot like the Taj Mahal or the Grand Canyon--you can look at pictures and say "Wow! That looks incredible," but a two dimensional photographic image won't give you the full effect. You've got to go there to appreciate such natural wonders, and you'll have to rent or buy this DVD to appreciate the wonder of Bette Davis on autocamp as a former child star grown up into, well, read on and see.

Jane Hudson (Bette Davis) had it all when she was a child. A hit song insured that big audiences turned out to see her perform on the stage. Unfortunately, little Jane suffered from an ego the approximate size of Wyoming, an ego that resulted in temper tantrums with her parents and her sister Blanche (Joan Crawford). Eventually her raging sense of self torpedoed her career even as her sister's began to soar when the film industry blossomed. Jane Hudson sank into obscurity, liquor, cigarettes, and a monstrous case of mental illness that greatly accelerated when a tragic accident put Blanche in a wheelchair for life. Now the two sisters live together in a decrepit house reminiscing about the old days. Well, at least Blanche reminisces. Jane Hudson spends her time stalking around the house in pancake makeup and a gossamer gown now tattered and spattered, spewing sarcasm and veiled threats at her sister, the neighbors, and the maid who arrives once a week to see how things are going. Hudson still thinks it's possible to resurrect her long dead celebrity if only she can figure out a way to rid herself of the onerous burden that is Blanche. Obviously, she finds a way. She begins tormenting her sister by placing disgusting things in her food and making her sound crazy to outsiders. When that fails to work fast enough, she resorts to out and out physical violence.

With Blanche under lock and key in a bedroom upstairs, Jane begins the rigorous training all performers undertake to return to greatness. She hires a down and out musician by the name of Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono) to drop by the house for voice and dance lessons. Now the real insanity starts as Hudson rapidly devolves back into her childhood persona. She prances about the house singing her old musical numbers, giving it her all without realizing how incredibly grotesque the idea of an elderly woman imitating a child is. Flagg thinks Jane is crackers, and he's right more than he could possibly know, but a paycheck is a paycheck. Until he finds out what is going on in a bedroom upstairs, that is. Faced with the distasteful presence of the local constabulary and the probability of a lot of probing questions about what's been going on between the two sisters, Hudson packs Blanche in the car for a trip to the beach. I won't spoil the conclusion of this cult classic for you, but let's just say a startling revelation at the seashore proves to be the straw that finally pushes poor Jane Hudson over the edge. The denouement is upsetting, the sort of ending that has you putting your hand to your mouth in a "oh my" gesture.

"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" is a masterpiece of casting, directing, and performing. The idea of putting these two lionesses of the silver screen in the same picture was a stroke of genius on the part of director Robert Aldrich, although many questioned his sanity for making such a decision. Wouldn't the two actresses tear each other apart on set? Apparently not, but there were a few confrontations--including a thrown back and some real kicks delivered in a certain scene--and sniping that hinted at the turmoil just under the surface. Aldrich moved forward, crafting a film that is both claustrophobic in its set pieces and one that uses the black and white photography to great advantage. The film really succeeds, however, because of Bette Davis. She blows Joan Crawford out of the water in this movie, although to be fair Davis from the start had the meatier role. Her garish appearance and screeching voice deliver the chills to the nth degree, and her progressive decline into total insanity is shocking and absolutely convincing. Davis was nominated for an Academy Award for her disturbing portrayal of Jane Hudson, and rightfully so. She should have won. I've seen hundreds if not thousands of horror films, and Davis's Jane Hudson ranks as one of the most disturbing characters I have witnessed in any of them.

Sadly, the DVD doesn't give us much in the way of extras aside from cast and crew biographies and a few pages of text describing the production. Then again, it's unlikely we would hear about the movie from the primary figures involved in its production since they are all long dead. Perhaps a commentary track with a film historian or a similar person could have been put on the disc; I know of other films that do this. Anyway, if you haven't seen this film you've got to run, not walk, to get a copy. It's that good, it's that disturbing, and it's that memorable.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars But you are, Blanche. You ARE in that chair! July 24, 2000

By Astrid Slomova

Format:DVD

This is one great movie! "What Ever Happened to BabyJane?" is, as stated in Amazon's description, the story of twoaging sisters, each in her own way connected with show business.

Now the good stuff. The sisters are played by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (the only time the two ever acted together) to absolute perfection. Crawford is wonderful in the role of crippled sister Blanche, but Miss Davis absolutely walks away with the show as the former "Baby" Jane Hudson. The role is meatly and she revels in it! It is obvious that Miss Davis held the philosophy that, if you are going to go over-the-top, don't apologize. And she doesn't. She goes WAY over-the-top with a gleeful abandon that is infectious.

The way she taunts her wheelchair-bound sister (the title quotes one of Jane's best lines), serves her meals of dead rodents and ex-pets, kicks her in the gut, mocks her ever-so-proper speech, etc. It's all so delicious. And check out the ballet that she does to one of the songs from her childhood vaudeville act. Bette Davis was obviously having the time of her life, and so do the viewers of this classic.

For the DVD edition, there are disappointingly few extras, but Davis is credited with developing the absolutely hideous hair and makeup combinations she sports while slouching about the house in her scuffs and house coat (Director Robert Aldrich said that, while he loved the look, he never would have had the nerve to suggest such a thing to Bette Davis).

Joan Crawford was in fine form, as well. But for Jane to be able to be credible doing the things she did, Blanche had to be the "straight man". Crawford or Aldrich knew this and Blanche behaves accordingly. Consequently, it is Bette Davis' Jane who has the best lines and the showier part in general.

If you have never seen this movie, get it. If you have, go back and visit the Hudson sisters again. Then you might want to write a letter to YOUR daddy.