An early clue of who did it...[spoilers]
I read somewhere that there is a clue at the beginning of the film; actually when the film shows the accident. Does anyone know it?
shareI think the clue is, that the woman who walks up to the gate to open it is skinny, just like Bette Davis was in the 1930s.
shareThe clue is that Blanche would be driving her own car, since it's mentioned that Jane was drunk at the party.
share(tl;dr at the end of this post)
But joewhiteyipee wrote, that the clue is given when the film shows the accident. Maybe there are more than one clues. I've just watched the beginning until the credits are shown.
When we get a glimpse into Baby Jane's years as child star, we see Blanche hating her and emphasizing that she "won't forget."
In the 30s one projectionist says that Baby Jane's a "no-talent broad" and the other one asks why "can't she stay sober?" Then the producers discuss how they might get out of that clause that forces them to make one movie with Baby Jane per one movie with Blanche. One of them mentions that Baby Jane's "guzzled her way through six cases of Scotch and slugged two studio cops." Another important information we get is that Blanche has "got more money than she knows what to do with" and that "she just bought that tremendous place Valentino used to have." Also: Blanche "will never forget those early years ... what her sister did for her." Then they talk about "going to their party at the Grove tonight." At the end of this scene we see Blanche's car.
Next scene starts with Blanche's car being driven up to a house, which we will know after the credits is theirs and the same house they live in 30 years later; they never made it to Valentino's old place, since Blanche's career was over after the accident.
In a nutshell:
- Blanche hates Baby Jane; she has never forgiven and forgotten
- Baby Jane is an alcoholic who even beats up authority figures
- Blanche owns the car which crashes into the gate.
So I think you're right, Blanche would drive her own car and it's probable that Baby Jane would have been drinking heavily and not been able to drive at all. The fact that one hates and the other drinks makes them both possible culprits.
Thanks...
Also, another thing I never quite flushed out. I'm guessing Jane's the one who left the car to open the gate, making her in the most vulnerable position. Yet Blanche is the one left with serious injuries. I mean, I understand that Blanche may've picked up enough speed to inflict serious injuries upon herself and---especially---her sister. But how fast could she have been travelling and what could she have hit to cause her legs to be paralyzed?
Cars didn't really accelerate as quickly as they do now; however they also weren't built with much (if any) safety features.
Your welcome.
I've watched that scene frame by frame. It looks like the car is just one, at the very most two (rather one and a half) car lengths away from the gate. Also, when Jane hears the accelerating car and turns around, the car seems too fast for her to run or jump away. I mean, she turns around and freezes. The next time we see the front of the car racing towards the gate, Jane is gone. She probably didn't escape through the gate, for she never opened it. She's just gone. We also see the car driving slightly to the left from our point of view. Blanche must have suddenly realized that she was about to murder or at least disable her sister and regretted that decision. Her driving towards one side of the gate, probably indicates in which direction Jane has escaped. Then the right front of the car hits the stone wall of the gate. I don't know if the rebound from a stone wall in that scenario would be hard enough to snap anyones spine. The whole scenario feels dramatic, but doesn't seem to be realistic. Then again, I'm not an expert on car crashes.
I mean, I understand that Blanche may've picked up enough speed to inflict serious injuries upon herself and---especially---her sister. But how fast could she have been travelling and what could she have hit to cause her legs to be paralyzed?
Since it isn't explained, I always assumed that Blanche injured her back on impact.
They say she was found IN FRONT of the car, making it appear that she was the victim. If she crawled out of the car and dragged herself to the front, she probably finished-off her spine in the process.
Recall the old rule that you never move an injured person for just that reason.
Just one plausible explanation.
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