by Conan Simmons – July 31, 2020 – 10:25am
Follow-up to ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ is a perfect introduction into the southern gothic genre. Heavily influenced by the 1955 French film ‘Diabolique’ there is also a perfect amount of horror to enrich this classic mystery starring screen titans Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland.
Director Robert Aldrich teamed up again with writer Henry Farrell, the novelist of ‘Baby Jane’, in effort to replicate their previous success. Creative differences led to Farrell being replaced with screenwriter Lukas Heller who came in to clean up the script and add more thrills. Farrell wasn’t the only one replaced on this picture. Joan Crawford was originally set to star opposite Bette Davis until she was replaced after filming in Louisiana had moved to the studio lots of Hollywood. Olivia de Havilland stepped into the role and reshot her character’s exterior scenes at a replica of the dilapidated plantation where the majority of the picture takes place.
After a gory murder occurs during a lavish party in 1927 the young woman suspected of the killing grows up to be a recluse on the verge of insanity. 37 years later, Charlotte (Bette Davis) is attended to by her trusty maid Velma (Agnes Moorehead) and her main connection to the outside world comes from her friendship with her doctor, Drew (Joseph Cotton). When a construction crew shows up to tear down her estate and build a bridge she gets out the shotgun. That’s when her kindly cousin Miriam (Olivia de Havilland) arrives to help her move out of the rundown plantation.
The house is swamped in darkness. Ghostly shadows move about the grounds and Charlotte is tormented by visions of severed heads, zombies and a ballroom of faceless dancers. Aside from the horrors of the past Charlotte is pestered by a photographer for a true crime magazine. As Miriam must determine if Charlotte should be committed to an asylum she begins witnessing the visions herself.
Though this film was made in the early 1960’s it is still surprisingly, and unfortunately, relevant. The story of a woman who never leaves her house and refuses to let go of monuments to a slave-holding past could easily be updated to today. The main crux of the story revolves around the madness that one suffers from not letting go of the past, change is necessary.
The real stand-out of this picture is the cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc. The shadows threaten to swallow up the picture at every turn. The stellar cast all give wonderful performances and includes Cecil Kellaway, William Campbell, Victor Buono, Bruce Dern, Frank Ferguson, George Kennedy, Lillian Randolph and Mary Astor in her final film. ‘Sweet Charlotte’ went on to be nominated for seven Academy Awards: Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead (in a Golden Globe winning performance), Cinematography Black-and-White, Art Direction-Set Decoration, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Music Score and Original Song. The title song was sung by Al Martino and it does get stuck in your head.
‘Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte’ premiered in 1964 and its influence can still be seen today most notably in the television productions of Ryan Murphy’s ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’. The latter focusing primarily on the two stars quarreling during production of ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ ‘Feud’ does cover their time together on ‘Sweet Charlotte’ before Joan Crawford was replaced. Olivia de Havilland unsuccessfully sued FX network and Ryan Murphy over the way she was depicted in the show. Olivia de Havilland passed away earlier this week at the age of 104.