March 26th, 2008
Posted by
Ian W |
Movie Reviews, Thriller |
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Going to Mr Wong for help is like wearing a red shirt on an away mission in Star Trek, it’s a sure sign you’re not long for this earth. This time the victim, a Chinese princess, expires in Wong’s own home and attempts to aid the master detective by writing what one assumes is the name of her killer. All she manages though is Captain J, now you might think that would be enough but as luck would have it there’s both a Captain Jackson and a Captain Jaime with ties to the deceased.
Karloff makes his third appearance as the venerable detective and gives a solid performance in what was a very cheap and formulaic series. He’s ‘aided’ once again by Grant Withers as the loud, belligerent but not completely inept Police Captain Street. This time the pair are joined by Marjorie Reynolds as nosey reporter ‘Bobbie’ Logan, who adds some glamour and (in theory) some laughs as well as saving Wong from an exploding taxi.
At a little over an hour it doesn’t drag too much but of the detective series’ I’ve featured so far in Watching the Detectives (Sherlock Holmes, Mr Moto, The Thin Man) this is by far the least enjoyable.
March 26th, 2008
Posted by
Ian W |
Comedy, Drama, Movie Reviews, Thriller |
no comments
There isn’t really a lot to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, two ageing sisters, a crippled former Hollywood icon, Blanche Hudson, and a child star gone to seed, ‘Baby’ Jane, live together in a rundown house. ‘Baby’ Jane is slowly going off her rocker and when she learns of Blanche’s plans to sell the house and put her into care her mental breakdown goes into overdrive with disastrous results.
What makes the film work isn’t the plot but the performances, with the inspired casting of fading stars Joan Crawford as Blanche and Bette Davis as the grotesquely comical ‘Baby’ Jane giving the film a far greater resonance than it would otherwise have. The two stars detested each other in real life and, while that must have made director Robert Aldrich’s task far from easy, it adds greatly to the performances, particularly Davis’s.
Davis’s ‘Baby’ Jane is a childlike version of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, resentful of time and an industry that thrives on youth and the presence of her invalid, and vastly more talented, sister gives her someone to take out that resentment on. Davis it seems decided on the method approach for the scene where she brutally kicks Blanche unconscious, actually landing a kick to Crawford’s head that required stitches (Crawford allegedly retaliated by putting weights in her pockets for the scene where Davis drags her across the floor).
