HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE 1964

 

Robert Aldrich followed up his big semi horror gothic grand guignol hit “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” with this rich southern gumbo stew of gothic grand guignol horror that featured many of the same folks from Jane including Lukas Heller who wrote both screenplays that were based on novels by Henry Farrell. Hey if it worked once let's do it again.

The lead again is played by Bette Davis this time as a southern debutante who when the film opens is hosting a big party at her fathers plantation in Louisiana and getting ready to run away with her married lover played by a very young Bruce Dern. Set in 1927 but with 1964 hairdos the young Charlotte is of course only seen in shadows but with Bette's distinct voice as her big daddy played by Victor Buono also seen in Baby Jane is brow beating Dern and giving him hell to pay if he even so much as thinks of running off with his sweet daughter Charlotte.


The next thing we see is Dern being butched with a meat cleaver which was pretty shocking back in 1964, and Charlotte still standing in the shadows her white gown covered with a huge blood stain. That's it for the past, and we are soon in present day 1964 where poor Bette is suffering because she thinks she is responsible for her lover's brutal death. She is taunted and teased by the press and the public and is still hiding in the shadows.

Care for her comes mainly from her loyal disheveled housekeeper played with tobacco road campy flair by Agnes Moorehead who chews up everything in sight and got an Oscar nomination for it. Davis who was no stranger to southern hospitality won an Oscar herself for playing another Southern belle in “Jezebel” in 1938 and a nod to this role is seen here in a painting of her as Julie Marsden that hangs on a wall in the mansion.

The atmosphere is gloomy and dusty as poor Bette struggles with her sanity and the impending loss of her falling down mansion due to impending bridge and road improvements forced on her by the state highway commission. What to do sweet Charlotte? Why get in touch with your cousin Miriam played by a still attractive Olivia de Havilland who took over the part from an ailing Joan Crawford, who brings subtly to the role that Crawford would have been incapable of. Miriam who lives in New York City comes running to the old homestead to take care of Charlotte/Bette and watch over things as Charlotte falls apart at her worn out seams.


Also on hand is the family friend and long time doctor played by the creepy Joseph Cotten. The plot thins and strange doings happen and Bette really starts to lose it. There is a nice cameo by Mary Astor as Dern's widow with secrets of her own who knows what really happened that night to her husband. Its all silly fun, dated even by 1964 standards, and if you've never seen it you might have an ok fun time of it if you don't think too much about the how's and why's of the plot. Shot in black and white the film did well at the box office and got a surprising 7 Oscar nominations mainly in the secondary categories like costume , black and white cinematography, art direction and song.