Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte (film)
"Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte" is a psychological horror film directed by Robert Aldrich, released in 1964, which serves as a follow-up to the iconic "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" The film is set in a shadowy Louisiana plantation house and follows the life of Charlotte Hollis, portrayed by Bette Davis, who is living in isolation due to her troubled past involving the murder of her lover, John Mayhew, in 1927. As Charlotte battles to save her ancestral home from demolition, she is joined by her cousin Miriam Deering, played by Olivia de Havilland, who has ulterior motives along with Dr. Drew Bayliss (Joseph Cotten).
The film explores themes of manipulation and mental instability, as Charlotte is driven to the brink of madness by the schemes of those around her. The atmospheric cinematography, characterized by striking lighting effects and shadows, plays a crucial role in enhancing the film's eerie ambiance. While "Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte" did not achieve the same level of success as its predecessor, it left a significant mark on the genre and is noted for its contributions to black-and-white filmmaking. The film received seven Academy Award nominations and is remembered for its dramatic performances and Gothic elements, leading to a brief revival of interest in stories featuring vulnerable older women.
Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte (film)
Released 1964
Director Robert Aldrich
A shocker that continued in the tradition of an earlier Aldrich film featuring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Although the film was intended as a vehicle for these two stars, only Davis appeared.
Key Figures
Robert Aldrich (1918-1983), film director
The Work
Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte opens with the 1927 bloody ax murder of John Mayhew (Bruce Dern), then jumps forward thirty-seven years to a shadow-filled Louisiana plantation house where neurotic Charlotte Hollis (Bette Davis) lives. Charlotte was suspected of murdering Mayhew, her married lover, but was spared arrest because of her late father’s prominence. Charlotte, an aging, single woman, becomes further isolated by her fight to save the house from being razed for construction of a highway. Cousin Miriam Deering (Olivia de Havilland, in the role meant for Joan Crawford) arrives, supposedly to help. This intrusion is regarded with suspicion by the slatternly housekeeper, Velma (Agnes Moorehead), who is later murdered. Dr. Drew Bayliss (Joseph Cotten), with whom Miriam is secretly having an affair, also comes to help Charlotte. Despite their facade of concern for Charlotte, Miriam and the doctor are plotting to get her money. To convince the half-crazed Charlotte that she has gone insane, they plant phony body parts that seem to be from Charlotte’s murdered lover, and Miriam tries to convince Charlotte that the elderly woman has murdered the doctor. Charlotte is almost driven into insanity but overhears their gloating and pushes an immense planter off a balcony, crushing them. Charlotte’s return to some sort of normality is further aided when she learns that the wife of her long-ago lover (Mary Astor in her last film appearance) has confessed to killing her unfaithful husband.
Impact
Although not quite as successful as its predecessor, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte was a worthy follow-up. It owed a debt to theGrand Guignol grotesquerie exemplified in such classics as Gaslight (1944) and Diabolique (1955) but was a departure in that the horror was caused as much by the protagonist’s own psyche as by outside occurrences. Robert Aldrich’s 1962 film touched off a brief revival of interest in films dealing with elderly ladies in jeopardy (the 1964 film Lady in a Cage, starring de Havilland, being another example), but Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte more or less ended that subgenre. The bravura lighting effects, with their foreboding shadows, were developed using new techniques, and they made the old mansion one of the main characters. The film was somewhat of a watershed in black-and-white filmmaking, which gradually declined thereafter. The film garnered an Academy Award nomination for black-and-white cinematography and received a total of seven nominations. Although criticized at the time, its scenery-chewing overindulgences and mossy mise en scène contribute to its enduring qualities.
Related Work
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), directed by Robert Aldrich, was this psychological horror film’s progenitor.
Additional Information
For interpretations of Hush . . . Hush Sweet Charlotte and information about Aldrich as a filmmaker, see The Films and Career of Robert Aldrich (1986), by Edwin T. Arnold, and What Ever Happened to Robert Aldrich?: His Life and Films (1995), by Alain Silver.