Review of Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) by Jacob F — 12 Aug 2017

Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte is uneven mystery/thriller that features Bette David trying to recreate her iconic "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?" performance, Robert Aldrich trying to recreate the same haunting atmosphere he captured with Baby Jane as well.

The problem with this film lies in one simple fact: you can't capture the lightning in a bottle a second time. Bette Davis seems to go fully over the top her, with a terrible southern accent, in Baby Jane she delivered a haunting, sad look at a woman past her prime, on the brink of madness, but none of that same heart is found in this performance. It's extremely odd considering how identical these characters are. Only Olivia De Havilend shines her as Charlottes cousins Miriam, she turns in a more layered performance, and shines in the second half of the film.

As I said before, Robert Aldrich really does try to capture the same feeling of Baby Jane, but almost completely fails. Yes this a nice looking film, but has no real atmosphere. The house in Baby Jane worked, because it was quiet, desolate, and the isolated environment helped show Jane's descent into madness. Here all of that's gone, using loud booms, and supposedly supernatural elements to scare the viewer instead, making the horror feel less grounded in reality, and plausible.

The film is also much too long, and could've had atleast 20-30 minutes edited out. Aside from an attention grabbing first ten minutes, the rest of the first hour is drab, lifeless, and devoid of any personality, or character. The second hour introduces a much more twisty, unconventional part of the story, but by then it's too late.

Hush, Hush sweet Charlotte is a cheesy, overlong mess. Filled with bad dialogue, laughable performances that are mostly terrible, and show their age, and direction by Robert Aldrich that feels lazy, and tacked on. Skip this, and watch Baby Jane again instead.