Grande Dame Guignol

[TJames03]

“WHTBJ?” and “HHSC” were the best!!!!!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

“WHTBJ?” and “HHSC” were the best!!!!!

Totally. Although THE NANNY and, years later, NIGHT WATCH were awfully good, small entries in the genre. And DEAD RINGER was lots of fun, too, what with the stuffed great dane which mauled and killed Peter Lawford.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[TJames03]

So, I should not watch “SJ”? Just keep it in my mind?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

So, I should not watch “SJ”? Just keep it in my mind?

You should see it once.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Even Aretha tackles the theme to HHSC at about 03:30 ...

 

[ClassyCo]

I think I'd call it "Hornet's Nest" like the evil twin's beehive hair.

It would've been a better hasploitation vehicle for Crawford than STRAIT-JACKET or BERSERK that she was doing around the same time. ​

Maybe if this sub-genre were to strongly reemerge, the likes of Cher and Madonna could tackle it? Maybe for once Madonna would finally be okay for being bad. ​

 

[Willie Oleson]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Tired Old Queen's review of HHSC..... repellant but funny:

Abjectly silly, wine-infused review from Movie Bitches where they at least admit HHSC is better than BABY JANE:

 

[Willie Oleson]

Tired Old Queen's review of HHSC..... repellant but funny:

It's always nice to see someone being so passionate about the things he/she likes. His joy is contagious although he might be overselling it a little bit (I don't know, I haven't seen the movie).

My only "issue" with Bette Davis is that her somewhat grotesque appearance blurs the contrast between actress and the wild performance, it all feels a bit like stating the obvious.
I think it's more fun when these old movie bitches try to appear very dignified, and then fail to do so - Barbara Stanwyck style.
But it also works the other way round, it's more fun when an actress known for her angelic beauty "destroys" that imago when she plays the brutal and hysterical hag.
And that's why I think Olivia De Havilland is the bigger selling point of HHSC. At least from a hag horror point of view.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

It's always nice to see someone being so passionate about the things he/she likes. His joy is contagious although he might be overselling it a little bit (I don't know, I haven't seen the movie).

My only "issue" with Bette Davis is that her somewhat grotesque appearance blurs the contrast between actress and the wild performance, it all feels a bit like stating the obvious.
I think it's more fun when these old movie bitches try to appear very dignified, and then fail to do so - Barbara Stanwyck style.
But it also works the other way round, it's more fun when an actress known for her angelic beauty "destroys" that imago when she plays the brutal and hysterical hag.
And that's why I think Olivia De Havilland is the bigger selling point of HHSC. At least from a hag horror point of view.

Perhaps you could watch it and see what you think --- have you not seen BABY JANE either?

 

[Willie Oleson]

have you not seen BABY JANE either?

Yes I've seen Baby Jane and I thought it was genuinely disturbing. With a jaw-dropping twist to top it off.
I do want to watch HHSC but it's not on youtube yet

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Yes I've seen Baby Jane and I thought it was genuinely disturbing. With a jaw-dropping twist to top it off.
I do want to watch HHSC but it's not on youtube yet

Well, it's on YT, but for a price...

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte - YouTube

 

[ClassyCo]

HUSH, HUSH... SWEET CHARLOTTE is not terribly expensive on Amazon, either. You could buy it digitally, or buy a used DVD copy. ​

 

[Willie Oleson]

Thanks to an action-packed international intrigue I managed to watch HHSC

Some fresh thoughts:

I find the story quite all-inclusive; the horror, the whodunnit, the bittersweet melodrama, the soap camp with the staircase moment and the bitch slaps and even a little bit of situation comedy. It feels - dare I say it - kinda early "Ryan Murphy".
Bette Davis was great and she had to do a lot, but I haven't changed my mind regarding the casting being a little too on the nose. Charlotte would have been weird even if she hadn't acted weird. Nevertheless, the bitchery between the various divas was very entertaining.

You think I brought you back here just to be with me?

I like the egocentric Southern Belle side of the Charlotte character.

There's a nice sense of community, even Eli Carson is in it!

I recognised some of Snarky's Ghost ideas for Dynasty (e.g. Caress tells Blake about Roger Grimes, Krystle and Alexis hiding the body of...was it Blake?)

 

[Crimson]

I find the story quite all-inclusive;

Yes, that's what I love about it.

BABY JANE is a limited story of two old crones engaging in petty cruelties in a decrepit old house. It's very effective for what it aims to do, but the film's ambitions are meager. CHARLOTTE is almost aggressively ambitious: Southern gothic; melodrama; Grand Guignol; camp; comedy; gruesome shlock. It's remarkable that it manages to succeed on all of those levels.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

As Judith Crist, one of the better critics of the '60s, said: "the guignol is about as grand as it gets."

 

[tommie]

Agatha won, yet again.

(How can anyone not have watched Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte before now by the way?)

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

I recognised some of Snarky's Ghost ideas for Dynasty (e.g. Caress tells Blake about Roger Grimes, Krystle and Alexis hiding the body of...was it Blake?)

Dennis Grimes' body after Alexis drunkenly shoots him in the ball room as he's breaking in; Alexis hysterically tries to wrap him up in a rug just as Krystle, away in Switzerland for a year, wanders in with her plastic suitcase and is stunned by the carnage.

All this happens following a late dinner at the mansion between Alexis, Sable and Caress where Alexis admits she knew jealous Caress, who'd also had an affair with Roger, was the one who told Blake when and where to catch them together in bed. Sable, shocked, reacts in such a fashion that the viewer realizes that Roger was her rapist.

So, yes, it's "Hush... Hush, Sweet Caress."