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Similarities to Aldrich movies

posted 17 years ago by Crawfordfan
4 replies | jump to latest

Has anyone else noted the parallels between Ted Post's 70's warped classic and some of Robert Aldrich's films of the 60s dealing with the misfortunes of celebrity?

Firstly, many of you will find the score familiar: Gerald Fried also wrote the scores for Aldrich's 'The Killing of Sister George' (all tom-toms, gothic cellos and baroche violins); as well as 'Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice' (1969), which Aldrich produced. His motif included classic strings (a la Bernard Herman) with electronic keyboard/yamaha, and native American drums, giving a bizarre but effective clash of gothic, ethnic and psychedelic.

Secondly, the title alone recalls 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' (not to mention, Bette Davis' 1965 psycho thriller,'The Nanny', with its clearly being set within a disfunctional family). When Alex Cox introduced this film on BBC2 in 1993, he automatically drew upon similarities within the scripts of both films, with their emphasis upon the bizarre, even comparing Ruth Roman's acting style to that of Baby Jane costar Joan Crawford. (I think she owes more to Rosalind Russell and Shelley Winters, personally).

When Psycho was released, it brought the nuclear family into the horror film, and is thus seen as a transitional film (at the same time, Powell's Peeping Tom dealt with similar issuess). FOllowing suit were millions of carbon copies, and imitations. Baby Jane was much influenced by both Sunset Boulevard and Psycho.

The families depicted in The Baby are all preditary, ambivolent, and warped (I suspect that the filmmaker is making some misogynistic, gynaephobic comments about how female dominated societies are supposedly castrating). Like the Hudson sisters, both families: (the Gentrys and the Wadsworths) become antagonistic of one another, eventually fight to the death, until shock endings reveal a twist in the tale: Blanche caused her own disablement, thus forcing JAne to be her carer. In The Baby, Ann Gentry's architect husband has been injured, and has regressed to a child-like state. By killing the Wadsworths, she's free to adopt Baby as a playmate for her 'baby husband'.

Can anyone else spot any other parallels?

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Devans00 15 years ago

I disagree with you a little bit, Alan-42. Even today on TV shows and movies, they have people living in impossibly large apartments or houses for the income the jobs of the occupants.

I remember one interview where someone played a part time secretary on a TV show. The celebrity said her character lived in a bigger, nicer apartment than she did as an actress who's made over a million dollars.

I did wonder how four grown adults could live so nicely off of one social security type check provided by The Baby being disabled. Maybe welfare checks were bigger back in the mid-70s?

The house of social worker Ann and her mother in law were more realistic. After all, her husband's family could have been quite wealthy. As The Baby's sisters pointed out, Ann's social worker outfits would barely cover her clothing allowance, let alone pay any other expenses.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] L0GAN5 13 years ago

They imply the older sister makes lesbian porn, so there is obviously some money coming in. It's always possible they "stole" the house rather than bought it; they could have easily have killed the family that lived there i.e. the mother assumes the identity of the mother, say the father did a runner and kept the baby alive so his disappearance wouldn't have to be explained.

[–] Antoine_Bugleboy 13 years ago

No, but you've just made me resolve to watch this movie.
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