Bette Davis is a scream in cult classic HUSH . . . HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE
HUSH . . . HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE (Robert Aldrich, 1964)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
Monday, September 21, 8:00
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
Hot on the heels of their success with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, director Robert Aldrich and star Bette Davis sought to make a kind of thematic sequel again with Joan Crawford, another campy psychological thriller about jealousy, family, and the wounds of time. Crawford pulled out of the production, but she was replaced by one of Davis’s good friends, Olivia de Havilland, which added a terrific edge to what became another hit, Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte. The film is screening September 21 at 8:00 as part of the monthly IFC Center series “Queer/Art/Film,” curated by Adam Baran and Ira Sachs, consisting of influential works selected by gay artists. Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte was chosen by self-described “actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and drag legend” Charles Busch (The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, Die Mommie Die!), who will be on hand for a postfilm discussion. “I had my father take me to the opening day,” Busch says on the IFC Center website. “The stars were there, promoting the film. I was transfixed, studying how a legendary actress behaves.” The film is set on a Louisiana plantation where Charlotte Hollis (Davis) lives as a recluse with her devoted housekeeper, the batty Velma Cruther (Agnes Moorehead). It is 1964, thirty-seven years after Charlotte’s lover, the married John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), was brutally behanded and beheaded at a party thrown by Charlotte’s father, the controlling Big Sam (Victor Buono, who also appeared in Baby Jane). The Hollis mansion must be torn down to make way for a bridge, but Charlotte refuses to leave, causing major headaches for the sheriff (Wesley Addy) and the construction foreman (George Kennedy). Charlotte’s poor cousin, Miriam Deering (de Havilland), arrives to help the deeply tortured Charlotte, but Miriam and family doctor Drew Bayliss (Joseph Cotten) seem to have other plans. Meanwhile, kindly old reporter Harry Willis (Cecil Kellaway) starts poking around, trying to get to the truth behind all the mystery and madness.
Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte is a grisly southern gothic centered on the relationship between the crazed Charlotte and the calm, collected Miriam, allowing Davis and de Havilland to play off each other beautifully, the former chewing up huge swaths of scenery, the latter cleaning it all up neatly with a spritz of cold menace. The supporting cast, which features numerous Twilight Zone veterans and a cameo by Mary Astor in her final role, provides able support as Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, Kiss Me Deadly) wishes a fond farewell to the Old South in striking black-and-white, courtesy of cinematographer Joseph F. Biroc, who also worked with Aldrich on such diverse films as The Flight of the Phoenix, The Killing of Sister George, and The Longest Yard. Composer Frank De Vol is responsible for the chilling soundtrack. It’s all great fun, with legitimate scares, helping it earn seven Oscar nominations, including for Moorehead, Biroc, and De Vol (as well as for art direction, costume design, editing, and song). It should be quite a blast getting Busch’s take on this cult classic. “Queer/Art/Film” continues October 9 with Agnès Varda’s Vagabond (with K8 Hardy) and November 23 with Alan Parker’s Fame (with Kia LaBeija).