Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte was a follow-up to the surprise 1962 smash, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? While Baby Jane was aptly released that Halloween, Charlotte oddly opened during the 1964 Christmas season. Both fright films got mostly good reviews and made money, but Baby Jane was the one that stayed fixed in movie fans’ memories, with its comic horror look at Hollywood. Still, Charlotte succeeds as a straight-up southern gothic suspense film. While there are numerous similarities to Baby Jane, Charlotte also has some surprises.

Aside from the twisty tale, the top drawer cast really puts Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte over. Bette Davis, as Charlotte Hollis, gets a raucous role to sink her teeth into. Davis’ son, Michael Merrill, said that she initially didn’t want to play another hag horror role and thought the script was too gruesome. Even after Baby Jane, work and money for 50-something female stars were scarce, so Bette accepted Charlotte.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte starts with a prologue in 1927 at the Hollis family mansion. Patriarch Sam Hollis is raging at John Mayhew, a married man who’s having an affair with his young daughter, Charlotte. After some wrangling, John agrees to end it. At a ball in the Hollis mansion, Charlotte’s married lover meets her at the “summer” house. She doesn’t take the news well, despite John’s claims that he did love her. Moments later, someone comes back. John thinks its Charlotte and whoever the visitor is, they brought a cleaver that’s been used to open champagne cases. The ball comes to a halt when Charlotte reappears with blood on her white ball gown. Though she is never charged, everyone assumes that Charlotte butchered John Mayhew. Cut to present day 1964, with eccentric Charlotte fighting the authorities over moving out of the family manse, to make way for highway construction. When Charlotte’s Cousin Miriam comes to help, it’s an even bumpier ride.

While Bette Davis doesn’t hold back portraying Charlotte’s pepper pot personality, she has subtle moments too, such as scenes with a curious reporter, played by Cecil Kellaway. The same is true of Agnes Moorehead as brash but devoted maid Velma. Moorehead is truly outrageous in some scenes, especially when she spars with Charlotte’s villains. Agnes has sly silent moments as well as sincere ones, like when Velma aims to look out for Charlotte’s welfare. The veteran character actress makes the most of her over the top role and got a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, and winning a supporting Golden Globe.

As Cousin Miriam, Olivia de Havilland makes one smooth villain. As the poor relation taken in as a child by the Hollis family, Miriam returns at Charlotte’s behest. Olivia’s honeyed gentility and wide-eyed concern harkens back to her classic role as Melanie in Gone with the Wind. Except this time, her southern cousin IS too good to be true. One of Olivia’s few bad girl roles, she’s quite intriguing, and only goes over the top like her other female co-stars when Miriam shows her hand—sometimes literally!

Barbara Stanwyck said that she was never asked to play Miriam, as sometimes written, but was requested to play Jewel Mayhew, John’s wife. Which Stanwyck turned down, as the part consisted of two scenes. In this cameo role, Mary Astor as Jewel is mesmerizing. Mary plays a dying woman in her final acting job, and plays the role simply and hauntingly. Mary’s encounter with Olivia is zingy, and her long scene with Kellaway is melancholy. Astor makes every moment count.

There are several encore actors from Baby Jane: Victor Buono plays Charlotte’s imposing Big Daddy, Sam Hollis; Wesley Addy—Blanche Hudson’s “nice Dr. Shelby”—is the sheriff who must deal with cranky Charlotte; and Dave Willock, Baby Jane’s beloved daddy, is the cab driver who brings Miriam back to the scene of the crime.

Joseph Cotten offers his smooth southern charm, played with laconic humor, as Drew Bayliss, Charlotte’s doctor and Miriam’s former beau. Cotton co-starred with Bette Davis 15 years earlier, in her WB swan song, Beyond the Forest. George Kennedy just tangled with Crawford in Strait-Jacket, and does the same as head demolition guy in Hollisport. Bruce Dern plays John Mayhew, Charlotte’s married beau, in the prologue. Later, he’d work again with Davis, as one her criminal sons, in a very special Gunsmoke episode. Cecil Kellaway’s gentle scene stealing offers contrast to some of the ladies and their scenery chewing. And look for John Megna (Dill from To Kill a Mockingbird) as the new kid who’s dared to go inside outcast Charlotte Hollis’ mansion. Lillian Randolph, the beloved Annie of It’s a Wonderful Life, is one of the packing ladies; squeaky-voiced Percy Felton is the funeral director; The Waltons Ellen Corby and Helen Kleeb are local gossips; and Frank Ferguson plays the local newspaper editor, while he was playing Eli Carson on TV’s Peyton Place.

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte has the same upsides and downsides as Baby Jane. On the plus side, the cast is uniformly good, the story entertaining, and the production values strong. The debit side is mostly director Robert Aldrich’s weak points. While he’s a strong storyteller at his best, Aldrich’s tendency to overstatement causes Charlotte to run 2 and ¼ hours, and like Baby Jane, about 15 minutes too long. Both movies have entertaining but lengthy prologues and drag a bit in the last half. Both thrillers have some plot points that don’t bear scrutiny. Also, both movies have theme songs that get reprised one time too many!

Among the other similarities between Charlotte and Baby Jane: Prologues that get a kicker in the films’ finales; two outspoken housekeepers; Bette as a disturbed daughter with daddy issues; Davis’ antagonists are charming phonies; dead bodies that must be disposed of; and Charlotte and Jane’s last scenes are of them being gawked at by onlookers.

Charlotte and Baby Jane were made in the early ‘60s, when there was the last vestige of film glamour versus plot sense. In Jane, Joan Crawford’s invalid Blanche still has lovely nail polish and lipstick despite having been a recluse for three decades. In Charlotte, after Bette Davis bravely threw down the glamour gauntlet as bizarre Baby Jane, is this time out the star that sneaks in a little glam for her aging Jezebel. Though Charlotte Hollis has seen only the maid and her doc for the last 35 plus years, she still sports makeup mortician Gene Hibbs’ war paint. And wears high heels, when not running around barefoot sporting a nightie and a shotgun! If only Bette had sported a more authentic no-makeup look like co-star Mary Astor. But then, maybe that’s why Bette was playing the title role and Astor had a two-scene cameo. Interestingly, Olivia de Havilland shows her Paris way of life in her own Dior wardrobe and chic bouffant, plus makeup that stays inside the lines of her facial features!

Much has been made of Joan Crawford’s departure from Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte. I’ll only say that Joan could have played the silky villain with assurance and style. In fact, Crawford played a number of charismatic, insincere types for nearly 15 years before Charlotte. Who knows whether Joan left because she was genuinely sick or just sick of sparring with Bette Davis. Crawford claimed illness in another tense situation nearly two decades before, on Oscar night of 1946, with similar speculation. What’s unfortunate is that some Joan fans take out their ire on Olivia, who was a reluctant last minute replacement. Crawford probably would have played in a grander style, closer to Bette and Agnes’ performances. But Olivia’s casting against type, as a cool villain is its own fun.

Trivia: Was the sparkly dress that Olivia’s Miriam finds slashed in her closet the one that Joan’s Miriam wore for the homecoming dinner scene? Also, I found it amusing that Bette, who liked to slap co-stars as much as Joan did, chickened out in the car scene where Miriam drops her mask. Though new Miriam Olivia was a long-time friend and co-star, Bette asked that her slaps be faked, and it shows! Finally, while a younger double is used for Charlotte, why on earth did they use Bette’s 60-ish cigarette voice, where she attempted to sound younger?

And typical of the mid-century moviemaking, the flashback scene of a ‘20s party looks like a ‘60s prom with a flapper theme. Also unfortunate is that the only blood on Charlotte’s dress is on her lap area! At least the other girls didn’t throw tampons at her, like Carrie!

The story/script by Henry Farrell and Lukas is most clever, despite some holes in logic. The music by DeVol is atmospheric, and Joseph Biroc’s wonderful cinematography is striking and truly adds to the mood. Also, I’ve visited one of the two Louisiana’s mansions featured in Charlotte. Miriam’s home is actually Oak Alley Plantation and it is stunning.

Here’s my take on the legendary Baby Jane! https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2016/10/bette-and-joans-acting-duel-whatever.html

Here’s the one other time Olivia played evil, in The Dark Mirror! https://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2023/07/10-takeaways-olivia-de-havilland-dark.html