The hapless lothario was hacked to pieces after Charlotte’s father forced him to finish his affair with her. The definitive site for Reviews, Trailers, Showtimes, and Tickets The setting is a rural plantation home that in 1927 was the scene of a brutal murder where an unfaithful husband was beheaded and behanded. Hush, Sweet Charlotte is going to end up being a ghost story. It's the Southern setting that gives the film its potent flavor, with that overwrought plantation house, the Southern accents, the small town gossip, antebellum attitudes, and the music at the party in 1927. HUSH...HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE is a mysterious horror drama which, in addition to the general madness on the surface, has a great deception designed in the background. Olivia de Havilland gave a chilling performance as a scheming, vicious vindicator of envy...a long cry from her roles as the good woman in such films as To Each His Own and In This Our Life. a couple of years earlier. I've got a sort of yen for the older films, especially when they involve bizarre love triangles and great musical scores, but this one tops them all! On my first viewing of 'Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte' a few years back, it did strike me as a very good film if not quite masterpiece level. Finally, the cinematography is several notches better, in my opinion. Turns out we liked it better than "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane!" 'Charlotte' is one of my all time favorite movies. Released on Blu-ray by Eureka Entertainment as part of The Masters of Cinema Series Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte opens in 1927 at a party where young Southern belle Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) is set to meet her married lover John Mayhew (The Hateful Eight’s Bruce Dern) and … In this movie, the genre is virtually defined! Awards So rush out now (Or stay at your computer), and get "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte"! With over-the-top performances in no short supply in this picture, it is understandable that Astor's marvel of delicacy and restraint hardly ever gets a mention. Hush, Sweet Charlotte has been available on Blu-ray in the UK. It is now part of film legend that the two Movie Queens did not get along and it came to a boiling point when Davis without any proof said that Crawford campaigned against Bette to deny her a 3rd Oscar. For those who find the performances in this film to be overdone, it should be noted that this is intended to be an intensely dark, gothic horror film. It’s this balance of tone that makes Hush… a compelling experience despite its giddy excesses. Though the film does cop out a little by the end, it still succeeds as a beautiful piece of sophisicated horror. "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" is after all is said and done really a rather sweetly sad movie. But I'm willing to bet that even NON fans of Davis would appreciate her tour in this particular movie. Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) Reviews on Cinafilm.com - An aging, reclusive Southern belle plagued by a horrifying family secret descends into madness after the arrival of a lost relative… Cinafilm has over seven million movie reviews and counting … Blackmail and deceit abound in this psychological suspense drama which exceeded my expectations; much better than the cheap blood and gore that I thought it would be. Few films have the ability to show the decay of plantation life in the South better than Hush...Hush sweet Charlotte. Yes, by this time her performances were becoming excessive, hammy, and over-the-top (if possible they were to become even more so: has anyone seen "The Anniversary"?) (Davis's career didn't start with silent movies, as Joan Crawford's did, but it's quite possible that with her electric presence, personality, expressive face and those eyes, she would have made her mark there.) My 8-star rating reflects my fondness for this movie, despite its imperfections. She was eventually replaced by Bette's long-standing friend, Olivia de Havilland, fresh from "Lady in a Cage" (1964). Not EVER. . The extraordinary B&W photography builds a sumptuous noir atmosphere from the start, magnificently aided by Charlotte's stately home, by Aldrich's assured direction and, above all, by de Havilland's superlative performance, resting on a controlled, mellow voice that disguises a cunning criminal mind, and mesmeric eyes that convey more than any amount of words. It's hard for me to think that Joan Crawford was cast in the original role of Miriam, only because de Havilland brings such a refinement to the character. She believes her late father carried out the frenzied killing. To use a well-worn cliche....they just don't make em like this anymore. The ending was very well planned and carried out, and you feel after the film ends there is something else that happened that the viewer never saw. Following the success of camp classic 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?' John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), a married man, is having an affair with Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis). Robert Aldrich and Bette Davis team up again for an unofficial follow-up to the loony glory of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? It's all over, and whatever her life will be from now on, it's hers - she no longer has to carry the guilt and baggage of the past. We're reviewing every movie ever made. Decided to see it again to see whether my positive memories of it would hold up. Hush, Sweet Charlotte has a twisty and disturbed narrative, centring on a murder with an impact that lasts for decades. It's got a great cast and gives Olivia de Havilland her first taste at playing a real bitch (the car scene where Miriam (de Havilland) slaps Charlotte is fantastic!) Hush.Hush, Sweet Charlotte Check Price The movie and story begin in 1927 when Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) was young and in love with John Mayhew, (Bruce Dern) who is already married. Producer/director Robert Aldrich who had helmed "Jane" wanted to repeat that film's box office success. However, this is NOT a bad movie! It is a film of dreams and memories, and living a life trapped in the past. Bette Davis was in her element in this role of Charlotte, while Olivia de Havilland in the role originally planned for Joan Crawford was superb, and was an inspired piece of accidental casting! DVD Review: Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte. It stars Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead, Cecil Kellaway and Mary Astor. In France, the film sold a total of 79,168 tickets. It’s pure pulp of course; a swampy morass of Bayou bat-shit of the kind swept away by the American New Wave towards the end of the decade. Agnes Morehead was roundly praised in 1964 for her performance in this movie, and even got an Academy Award nomination. Bette Davis returns, this time as the raving Southern belle Charlotte Hollis, and was to have been paired again with her nemesis, Joan Crawford, as Charlotte’s cousin Miriam. Davis and Moorehead are shameless, Davis' non-stop screeching becomes annoying, and Aldrich's direction drags out the cumbersome plot. Joan Crawford Upstaged Bette Davis on Oscar night, "I'm never going to suffer for you again. She feels like a better fit for the calculated nature of the role than Joan Crawford, the original choice and Davis’ old adversary, would have been. Hush, Sweet Charlotte” tells the tale Charlotte Hollis, a miserly old woman who’s been shunned by her community for decades, since the brutal murder of her boyfriend. Hush.. is very obviously the work of the people behind …Baby Jane, from the Deep South setting, to the heightened, over-the-top atmosphere and delirious work from Davis and Agnes Moorehead as her formidable housekeeper. On dual format Blu-ray/DVD Mon 21 Jan 2019. hush sweet charlotte For forty years, spinster Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) has lived in seclusion after the brutal murder of her married lover. Nevertheless, despite its spotty campiness, unintentional funny moments, borderline flashback sequences, storyline holes and generally predictable plot, this is a spectacular film, especially considering the era in which it was made. The other performance is by Mary Astor as Jewel Mayhew. The reasons for this are four=fold. There are suspects galore. (1962), producer/director Robert Aldrich once again cast Bette Davis in the lead for his follow up 'Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte', this time with Olivia De Havilland as her co-star. Today, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, the spiritual sequel to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. There were plenty of cheap gory films in 1964 but audiences for 'quality' films weren't all that used to seeing severed limbs and rotting corpses on the stairs, or weird nightmare scenes with masked dancers surrounding a girl with an obscene bloodstain on her dress. External Reviews "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" is wonderful Gothic camp in the same delicious category as "What ever happened to Baby Jane?" She's well-mannered, classy and eloquent, which makes it that much better when she finally snaps. A haggardly faithful servant, Velma Cruther (Agnes Moorehead at 64yo) takes care of Charlotte since she's both so haunted by the ghost of Mayhew & so damned to reclusive isolation. This spiritual successor to ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ is slow at … It's tough to beat this for a good, deep cast: Bette Davsi, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorhead, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Buono, Mary Astor and Bruce Dern. Film. Extras include two feature-length audio commentaries: Hush…Hush, Sweet Joan: The Making of Charlotte and Bruce Dern Remembers, and a collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Lee Gambin, archival imagery and more. Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis at 56yo), carries one of her heaviest roles as a wealthy unmarried Southerner who is socially outcast by neighbors of all ages--including children making scandalizing rhymes about her--because they believe she's responsible for the town's most notorious murder: that, of John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), her fiancé', 40 years ago. Even without Crawford, though, Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte turns out to be creepy fun just the same, and the ensemble cast and storyline are superb!