Just watched this for the first time. Definitely had the potential to be a great horror/thriller but the score flat out ruined it. All the tension and chilling aspects are killed by the constant peppy circus music blasting in every scene.
Funny how old movies did things so much different than today
The scene where Joan Crawford is throwing the paper out the window while Bette Davis is returning home has some really strange music in it. It was way too uplifting. The score didn't bother me enough to not enjoy it because there are copious amounts of suspenseful scenes that were well shot.
shareThe music you're referring to is the music from the title song - "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", which isn't sung in the movie, but was recorded as a separate track. Bette Davis herself sang it on TV. It's replayed towards the end of the film, on the beach too.
It may sound 'strange' to you, living in 2015, but it was characteristic of early 1960s pop music. It may SEEM out of place in that particular scene where Blanche is throwing the letter out the window, but they DID need some variety in the film......the music couldn't always be ominous, lest the impact of the most dramatic scenes be minimised. That scene is also supposed to be a little comical.
You have to understand the difference music that diegetic versus music that is non-diegetic. The '60s pop music is diegetic because it is coming within the story space from a radio that one of the characters turned. Both the characters and the movie audience hear the music coming from the radio in the scene.
The film score, however, is non-diegetic because it is coming from a source that is outside of the story space. The characters do not hear the music score. Only the movie audience hears it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematic_techniques#Sound
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diegesis#Film_sound_and_music
Seriously? I think the score is one of the greatest assets the film has. It's not constant peppy circus music at all, as you suggest. Quite the contrary!! It's amazing how the music from the theme song "I've Written a Letter to Daddy" ALONE is used both innocently and MENACINGLY, serving to dramatically accentuate and heighten the "tension and chilling aspects" in many scenes, despite your assertions to the contrary.
Old movies did things much differently to be sure - and oftentimes, much better!!
Wasn't Mrs. Bates's daughter playing her radio loudly in that scene, preventing Mrs. Bates from hearing Blanche calling to her?
"Forget it, Jake. It's the internet."
That's what the get when they hired the Brady Bunch guy to do music . . .
shareAgreed
The score was too loud and bombastic for most of the scenes.
It would have been creepier with little or no music