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The commentators on this spoiled film obviously didn't do good enough research. Instead, they allowed their own biases to sway the film's content to be loaded with exaggerations of falsehoods. Most, if not all, of the commentators seem to have had vested interests in maintaining the stardom status of Crawford since they earn their livings doing male impersonations of her. I was very dissapointed in the content of the film. It did not rise to the level of being credible. It's more of a tabloid type of gab session between male impersonating peers. While I'm a big fan of drag, I'm also a tough critic about shotty research. Another reviewer wrote here that it takes at least two parties to create a rivalry. I disagree. It seems that Joan Crawford was delusional enough to believe she was involved in a rivalry all by herself. Perhaps that was due to her alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder both of which ultimately killed her. I think Crawford would have done just about anything to have her name linked with Bette Davis'. I believe the evidence shows that she felt that desperate when she was too old to use sex appeal to land decent parts in great movies. Davis easily went on to make films with major actors and directors. She also continued to be nominated for countless awards and won many up to the end of her life. The quality of her work never suffered and neither did her self-esteem. She was also an author who is a delight to read now. Unless this shotty B-flick is a special featurette on a DVD, I'd recommend not wasting either time or money on it.Read full review
Only Joan Crawford believed she was the rival of Bette Davis. Crawford suffered from an extremely weak ego, as is crystalized by the abuse of her children. Bette Davis was very accomplished & quite confident about the quality of her abilities & talents. She'd won 2 Oscars before she was a 30yo. Crawford was mediocre at best but was part of the gigantic MGM studio which paired her with great leading men. Crawford was notorious for sexing her way into movie parts. Davis enjoyed a healthy sex life but using sex to gain access to roles was not her idea of how to advance her acting career. One of her favorite directors suggested that she should have on her tomb stone the words, "She did it the hard way," and so, she had those words engraved where she is now entombed. The Warners hired Crawford after she had been dumped by MGM & then placed her in the position to rival Warners' key leading lady, Bette Davis. Davis did not enjoy pretentious people like Joan Crawford & made it abundantly clear to them all, not just Crawford. That's because Davis was quite candid & outspoken about filmmaking. She found Crawford's green-eyed jealousy of her pathological, if not insane. But, as was Davis' style, she chose to make humor of it. Any time an opportunity arose to make fun of Crawford's jealousy, Davis made the most of it. Davis was very professional as an actor; however, whenever there were goofs on a set, she was the 1 who would crack up he crew & cast by making fun of herself & of offbeat situations. Davis' sense of humor had the effect of making everyone lighten up. Crawford, on the other hand, would be horrified & humiliated when she or a peer actor goofed while filming. Crawford refused to have her wardrobe designed by the 1 the other actors worked with preferring to wear fancier clothing than her roles called for. This had the effect of making her look ridiculously costumed. Many of her films became camp ones because they flopped when released only to be considered corny enough to be exaggerated. Even her eyebrows were way over done for her age. Crawford repeatedly attempted to play roles of women who were decades younger than she was. This too made her look ridiculous. Davis was too busy using her well earned good name to create movies for screen & television that had socially meaningful value of the times. Her later life films took on topics of racism, red-baiting, ageism, sexism, classism, child abuse, the right to die & religious extremism. Crawford was stuck in the rut of making horror B flicks that became cult films after she had died. The only places she could be seen in her 60's was on television talk shows. Then, she was usually drunk. She couldn't accept that she had destroyed her acting career. Davis' bloomed throughout her senior years even though she was terminally ill with cancer. Her last major motion picture was also the last for Lillian Gish, Ann Sothern & Vincent Price; quite a formidable cast of seniors nodding goodbye to their many admirers. Like my title says, it takes 2 to make a rivalry. Between Crawford & Davis only 1, Crawford, lived in a state of rivalry due to professional jealousy. It destroyed her career. No one held power over Bette Davis that could make her feel inferior. Least of all, Joan Crawford. When interviewed & asked about Crawford, Davis smiled & made light-hearted remarks showing her intent to remain humored by Crawford's bent upon rivalry. Davis' professionalism prevailed.Read full review
In this corner we have "The First Lady of American Cinema," 11 Oscar nominee, 5 years in a row, the first woman AFI Life Achievement Award Recipient for a total of three Oscar wins, and very highly rated feature films until her dying days, 59 years into her acting career: Bette Davis, author of three autobiographies, including one written during recovery from breast cancer and stroke. In this corner we have a desperate enough social climber whose ego is so weak she depends upon the "casting couch" while she's young enough to be seductive, in order to land part in films that are rarely registering any notice with any kind of awards boards. An egomaniacal movie star who used her adopted children like toy props to smile pretty before the cameras to earn brownie points. Then, beat and brow beat them into frightened abused children. A movie personality who, once aged, could not land a decent part without it being a ridiculous flop only later to be laughed at as camp horror flix. There was no rivalry folks, except within the twisted and sick mind of Joan Crawford and a few of her most ardent male impersonators who made this joke of a film. The common definition of a camp classic or cult classic, either one, is a movie that's so bad, such a flop when it is released. Decades later, when audiences want to have a good laugh at how corny the flix were, these flops develop a cult following. Camp is extreme exaggeration that's so over the top AND ridiculous that if it was meant to be serious is definitely can't be taken as such. Camp is Jack Lemmon in drag in "Some Like It Hot." He's hilarious playing a woman ala Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. BUT, he's supposed to be. "Some Like It Hot" was definitely not a flop when released and it still isn't now. Crawford's films like "Berserk," "Johnny Guitar," and almost every other film she made from the early 1960's to the end of her career, are considered cult films and are not to be taken seriously. Warner Brother's used the fact that Crawford was commonly known to be extremely jealous of Davis, combined with the fact that Bette Davis didn't like phony people like Joan Crawford and was frankly outspoken about it, to create a spin of hype in order to promote the one film they did together, in order for it to become a big box office draw,"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane." In this corner, we have the Oscar nominee for Best Actress of 1963 for her brilliant performance playing the title role: Bette Davis. In the other corner, there lies Joan Crawford, left behind in the dust, with a bunch of movies where Joan plays Joan playing Joan because that's all Joan can play: herself. Just as another reviewer wrote, it takes two to make a rivalry. In this case, there was only one who lived in that mental state. The rest was production company hype. Since Davis had a marvelous sense of humor, she also found this amusing since there was never any contest.Read full review
Contrary to tons of evidence, films and books that keep perpetuating the bunk that Bette Davis was involved with Joan Crawford's vendetta against Davis are beginning to border on being libelous. This attempted smut-filled, tabloidish DVD isn't even entertaining. The commentators are so overtly biased that they express idolism for either Davis or Crawford. Charles Busch is one of the more ridiculous of these and makes a blithering fool of himself. Here's what it's like (the DVD content): as if a bunch of drag queen groupies, who have past experiences of doing impersonations of either Crawford or Davis propped themselves up as experts on the topic of a phony rivalry between BOTH of the subjects. It's hogwash to the hilt and a real bad attempt to make a pseudo-documentary. If there were a way to rate this with no stars I would.Read full review
I didn't like the film or the men who made all of the presumptive comments throughout it. Since the version I have came as a feature on a DVD, I didn't pay anything extra for it. I would NOT recommend this talk show done mainly by male impersonators of women in show business to anyone for any reason. It is boring, misleading and it seems that only the commentators are enjoying themselves. The show seems to be more about them.
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