Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
by Robert Aldrich

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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Agnes Moorehead, Bette Davis, Cecil Kellaway, Joseph Cotten, Olivia de Havilland
Director: Robert Aldrich
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0; Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 132 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-09
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: 20th Century Fox

Movie Reviews of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Movie Review: "Bette and Olivia Nearly Destroy Each Other In This!"
Summary: 5 Stars

It was announced in December, 1963 that the two stars of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, would be reunited for "Hush, Hush...Sweet Charlotte". After the huge financial and critical success of "Baby Jane", studios were fawning all over themselves for a vehicle the would bring these two movie goddesses back together. Before "Baby Jane" no one wanted Davis and Crawford in their movies, as the film studios felt they did not appeal to the box office. Once Joan and Bette's careers were reignited again, Hollywood was knocking down their doors. "Hush, Hush..." was suppose to star the two, but because of ill health and Davis' harsh treatment of her on the set, Joan fell ill and was hospitalized. What a terrible loss the studio had, as well as us fans, as we never saw Joan as Miriam in the final film. It would have been so neat to see Joan, as Miriam, beating the crap out of Bette as Charlotte, as the complete opposite happened in "Baby Jane", where Bette's character was the antagonist and abuser.
Olivia DeHavilland does, however, give a remarkable performance in this film as Miriam. Olivia detetested doing bitch roles, but both Bette and director Robert Aldrich persuaded her to do the film. What makes her character so evil is the subtext in which she uses in her portrayal: we, as the audience, at the beginning of the picture, believe that Miriam is such a kind-hearted, soft spoken woman who's best interest is her cousin Charlotte's welfare: we soon discover none of this is true as Olivia portrays one of the most evil, psychotic women ever on film.
The rest of the cast is first rate, from Agnes Moorehead, who plays Charlotte's maid Velma, to Joseph Cotten, who plays an unscrupulous doctor, out to destroy Charlotte.
"Hush, Hush...Sweet Charlotte" is the best film in the "Baby Jane" genre. There were many 1960's films that tried to duplicate the success of "Baby Jane", like "Lady in a Cage", Straight-Jacket", and "Dead Ringer", but "Hush, Hush" comes a close second to being the sequel that it was suppose to be to the mother film.
According to Bette Davis, she wasn't overly fond of the film, but fans of these hag-films, like me, love these vehicles: nothing like watching former movie queens, looking like hell, and tearing up the scenery!
This film also received a whopping 7 Academy Award nominations, but winning none: at the time the film set a record for a horror film receiving the most Oscar nods. This record would be broken in 1991 by "The Silence of the Lambs".
There is also another DVD release of "Hush, Hush" that is available, but if you already have the 2005 DVD release of the film I would suggest in passing on it. There is a neat documentary on the film, but it doesn't really offer anything that we ardent Bette and Joan fans don't already know. Contrary to public belief there are no Joan Crawford deleted scenes on the 2008 DVD release. Rumor has it 20th Century Fox destroyed the scenes that Joan did prior to leaving the film. In the second DVD there are still pictures of Joan in character as Miriam, but that is about it.

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Summary of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

This is the tale of a wealthy southern spinster Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) who lives with her eccentric maid (Agnes Moorehead) in a decaying southern mansion, shunned by the townsfolk after the mysterious axe-murder of her late lover. When her jealous cousin (Olivia de Havilland) and her cousin's wily husband (Cotton) arrive for a visit, the two conspire to drive Charlotte insane and have her commited so the two can sell off her estate and pocket the proceeds.

Poor Charlotte Hollis. She's been shunned by the community for decades, ever since the fateful night in 1927 when her lover was hacked apart with an axe. Her antebellum southern mansion is slated for the bulldozer, as it stands in the way of highway construction. Charlotte's only hope lies in her cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland), coming down from up north to help settle things. Miriam, however, has other designs. Together with her boyfriend Drew (Joseph Cotten), she embarks on a scheme to systematically drive Charlotte out of her mind (not a great leap) and get her mitts on the family fortune. From there, things only get more complicated. Charlotte puts the "gothic" in southern gothic, as a great showcase for completely bizarre, overwrought, and out-of-control performances from all involved. Agnes Moorehead plays Charlotte's loyal, disheveled housekeeper to the hilt, with an odd inflection that calls to mind Amos and Andy more than southern gentility. As the drunken, conniving Dr. Drew, Cotten's accent is indeterminate at times, and seems to come and go. As great as the supporting players are, though, the crown goes to Bette Davis as the shrieking Charlotte, a portrait of isolation and decay stuck in a world of tragic delusions inside her crumbling mansion. De Havilland is a close second as the scheming Miriam; the scene where she slaps the holy snot out of a hysterical Charlotte is itself worth the price of admission. Mary Astor (in her last role) and Cecil Kellaway (as a kindly Lloyd's of London adjuster) put in the only performances with any restraint, acting as counterweights for the rest of the cast. Besides, you'll never get another chance to see Joseph Cotten playing the harpsichord and singing, or caked in mud and lily pads! With Robert Aldrich's claustrophobic direction, Charlotte is as Southern as a field of kudzu, and as subdued as a train wreck. --Jerry Renshaw

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