Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 9/5/13 at 10:51pm

I watched this movie all the way through for the first time tonight. It's just the most ridiculous, marvelous thing. Baby Jane is better, but this has Bette doing Blanche DuBois. Apparently when Crawford bowed out Vivien Leigh was asked to play Miriam and turned it down. I don't think I'd be able to handle aged Viv and aged Bette replaying Gone With the Wind and Jezebel and Streetcar in ONE MOVIE. :)

[After Eight]

Posted: 9/5/13 at 11:22pm

"It's just the most ridiculous, marvelous thing. "

Absolutely.

And don't forget Olivia de Havilland. (Please, let's never forget Olivia de Havilland!) She is wonderfully malevolent in this.

[romantico]

Posted: 9/5/13 at 11:36pm

You haven't seen Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte until you've seen it performed on stage by Varla Jean Merman. PRICELESS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZiCQ30-0Ag

[ArtMan]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:22am

Try seeing this at eight years old, like I did. It scared the living hell out of me. My older brother tortured me for months which scenes from this movie.

Updated On: 9/6/13 at 07:22 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:26am

Love the movie! Love Agnes Moorehead's campy Oscar-nominated turn, too!

[nmartin]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:57am

Mary Astor is so great as Jewel Mayhew.
"This long disease, my life."
Also both houses, Oak Alley (Mary Astor's place) and Houmas House (Bette Davis' place) are well worth a visit if you're ever in Vacherie/Darrow, Louisiana.
You can stand on the balcony of Houmas House and say, "From where you are I can spit in your eye with no strain at tall!"

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:17am

I read recently that you can actually see Joan Crawford in the movie, when the car first pulls up to the mansion. It's not Olivia inside, it's Joan, in dark glasses and a dark costume. Olivia is wearing a lighter costume in that scene.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 11:30am

AMC Backstory on Charlotte

[Playbilly]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 5:27pm

Pet peeve: it's "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte"

SOMEONE put a lot of effort to put in that punctuation. Please, respect it.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 5:33pm

Funny, I always thought it was "HUSH-hush ... sweet CharLOTte!!!"



I getcha Playbilly. I'm sure there were several marketing meetings and a nervous breakdown or two before they arrived at that final decision.

Know it. Honor it. Get it right. Give it class.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 7:47pm

I think tonight's movie is Mr. Skeffington. I love bitchy Bette the best.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:03pm

I love this film, I always have. The first time I saw it was after school on the Million Dollar Movie after Dark Shadows. The opening with the ax attack scared the bejeesus out of me!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:15pm

I'm watching it right now! IT's on one of those low-budget networks on cable!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:37pm

Apparently Bruce Dern showed this movie to young daughter Laura who promptly freaked the f**k out.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/6/13 at 8:43pm

Hush Up, Sweet Charlotte!

[ArtMan]

Posted: 9/7/13 at 5:44am

Yes, Snafu, the opening with the ax!! I was eight, my brother 11. We arrived late, the movie started, into a dark theatre. Within seconds after sitting, the ax scene occurred. Scarred the hell out of me. I started crying in the theatre. My brother would then torture me for months singing the theme song Hush...Hush,Sweet Charlotte.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 9/7/13 at 8:28am

The entire psychobiddy sub-genre is such a treat. Bette Davis is the queen of one of the most niche horror genres and it's awesome.

Have you seen The Anniversary? It's 95 minutes of Bette Davis being the worst mother in the world, tormenting her grown children and lording childhood mistakes over their heads. She wears a series of color-coordinated eyepatches because her one child accidentally shot her eye out with a pellet gun. The family is reunited to celebrate Davis' wedding anniversary to her long-dead husband. The whole thing is a riot.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 9/7/13 at 7:38pm

Wasn't there a musical version of this which went nowhere?