Who’s gonna think that these two actresses would ever fight or compete for fame in a movie filled with claustrophobic setup with a twist? I thought WHTBJ is a great movie about people who are confused and yet still thinks that they’re famous when they were youngsters. As getting aged, it isn’t really quite possible for a person, man or woman, for it to be so immature. Think Jane Hudson, we first met her as a child, and then as an old lady trying to gain back what she had on her childhood days. She and her sister Blanche, who was also famous during their 20s and 30s, as the movie tells so. They were both played exceptionally by Bette Davis & Joan Crawford, that whenever these 2 appear on screen, you would never want to let go of it, it’s truly a macabre of a genre level of suspense. They fight, they argue, they talk, and they even fight about food, for chrissakes! Then there goes the other supporting characters as well, like Elvira the maid, Edwin the pianist and mamas boy, and I think that’s all the main characters here.
The movie feels like a soap opera, kinda like those what you watch on TV every afternoon. Wherein the villain slaps the face of this pitiful woman, and of course, she had her revenge. Believe it or not, the movie ends with such difference that for me, it made the film clears up all this tension and madness that surrounds these Hudson siblings. As usual, Davis and Crawford are 2 of the great actresses of the 40s and 50s, you can never go wrong with their acting and persona here. The look, feel, tone of the movie resonates the 1960s era, where Hollywood isn’t the same as the old days. Another film that relates to WHTBJ is Sunset Boulevard, also about an aging movie actresses who lives on her mansion. But what WHTBJ makes a great movie is how it really creates a very rare and intriguing and suspense that no any other movie would really have. It’s all set on a small house, and there you go, you have 2 actresses arguing each other over and over again for something. And probably the scariest and yet best scene in the history of the modern cinema: where Jane serves a * on Blanche’s meal. When you know what that is, you know you are in a movie like this one!