By http://www.impawards.com/1964/poster...lotte_xxlg.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70760179
Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte - (1964)
Well, this was certainly different. After the success director Robert Aldrich and screenwriter Lukas Heller had adapting Henry Farrell's
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, they had a stab at another, this one based on "What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?" Of course the tone is similar - everyone is back and that includes Bette Davis as nutty old dame Charlotte. The only real dropout is Joan Crawford, who did start, but was replaced by Olivia de Havilland and shooting had to start from scratch. This one is a little more haunting than
Baby Jane - it begins with a prologue set in 1927, with Charlotte's wealthy Southern daddy and patriarch Big Sam (Victor Buono) chewing out her already-married boyfriend (who was soon to elope with her), John Mayhew (a
really young Bruce Dern.) Mayhew is forced to break it off with Charlotte, and for his trouble he's attacked with a meat cleaver, which chops off his hand and his head.
Friday the 13th was a while away, but oh boy - I was surprised how gory that was. Flip over to the present day, and Charlotte (Bette Davis) is an eccentric recluse - seemingly in denial of what happened back then. Unfortunately, her house has been bought by the government for the construction of a highway bridge, but she's refusing to go.
Alright - so obviously the story is interesting if I'm basically telling it blow by blow. Olivia de Havilland is Charlotte's Cousin, Miriam Deering - she arrives to help persuade her to leave, and she's the one who, as a child, told Charlotte's father about her affair with a married man. Then there's Charlotte's doctor and Miriam's past love interest Doctor Drew Bayliss (the always enjoyable Joseph Cotten). Agnes Moorehead, Mary Astor, Cecil Kellaway and George Kennedy round out the cast. The gruesome death of Mayhew hangs over the events in this film like a ghostly fog (his hand and head were never found) - and that's the aspect of
Sweet Charlotte I liked best. I also enjoyed Betty's crazy, rambunctious performance, which unfortunately has to compete with Agnes Moorehead's equally shouty, off-the-wall turn (she's Velma, the housekeeper.) The Oscar nominated song, "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" is so good I assumed it was a well known Southern song - it doesn't leave you once the film is over. It haunts you. The story twists and turns and stays interesting, and the movie is well shot - so it's a worthy addition to anyone's Bette Davis collection.
7.5/10