Well... What a demented Dragon.Speaking of Joan and Liz, this paragraph of Torch Song trivia makes me wonder how could anyone not love Joan.....
Christina... The Demi Dragon.
Well that rules 1908 out completely. Obviously.
From what I gather, there was speculation that Crawford's birth certificate couldn't be located for a number of years. This, coupled with Crawford's desire to be younger (perhaps by the pressure of Hollywood heavyweights), led to her decision to adopt 1908 as her year of birth. It seems her daughter Christina was told by her grandmother that 1904 was the correct year, although the facts from the 1910 census seem to lean towards 1905 as being more accurate. It's got to be either 1904 or 1905. One or the other.
DEAD RINGER and STRAIT-JACKET were shot and released at the same time, so they're often compared. While STRAIT-JACKET is better-remembered today because of its outrageousness (after all, Bette had already played twins before) DEAD RINGER was the much more polished picture, directed by her former-costar Paul Henreid and offering a gripping score by Andre Previn, although they're both seen as B-movies.
DEAD RINGER and STRAIT-JACKET were shot and released at the same time, so they're often compared. While STRAIT-JACKET is better-remembered today because of its outrageousness (after all, Bette had already played twins before) DEAD RINGER was the much more polished picture, directed by her former-costar Paul Henreid and offering a gripping score by Andre Previn, although they're both seen as B-movies.
The problem with STRAIT-JACKET is that it's soooo tackily-produced and sloppy (even by William Castle standards) that its potential is squandered, even though Joan is histrionically great in it... That said, don't forget to freeze frame the fatal stuffed-dog attack upon Peter Lawford in DEAD RINGER.
By my standards (and most others, I suppose), Dead Ringer would be more of a mainstream production than Strait-Jacket. I actually enjoyed both films, although the former was the better produced. Davis and Crawford both turn in good performances, too. Overall, I would say Strait-Jacket cashes in its camp quotient more than Dead Ringer, but that's where Crawford usually excelled.
Crawford did seem more willing to change with the times than Davis. While Davis is generally regarded as the Actress and Crawford as the flashy Movie Star, I would side with the theory that Crawford was the greater Star overall. Both had substantial talent that kept their audiences wanting more. I tried to find something that showed Crawford's "phases" a little better, but this is the best I could get my hands on at such a short notice.
STRAIT-JACKET should have had so much to offer, yet even Castle's HOMICIDAL and I SAW WHAT YOU DID (also with Crawford) were more polished productions. But STRAIT-JACKET was like some college play broadcast on a local cable access channel (if such a thing existed in 1963).
On paper, the storyline for Strait-Jacket would certainly be more interesting, or in my head, anyhow. Being the fan of Crawford that I am, I always tend to root for her over others. (I would have preferred Crawford toughing it out for Hush, Hush... Sweet Charlotte.) In saying that, and while Strait-Jacket did intrigue me, it ultimately left me unfulfilled. The production seemed weak, cheap, and rushed; and despite all the hype it got, only Crawford and Diane Baker's performances were good enough to write home about. Nothing else really stood out.STRAIT-JACKET should have had so much to offer, yet even Castle's HOMICIDAL and I SAW WHAT YOU DID (also with Crawford) were more polished productions. But STRAIT-JACKET was like some college play broadcast on a local cable access channel (if such a thing existed in 1963).
Here we have the most promise for a horror film almost ever. You've got Joan Crawford, with an axe, in the era in which it was the easiest to do creepy ever -- the early-'60s.
And yet Castle, who'd reportedly hoped to make his "masterpiece" with STRAIT-JACKET, just phoned it in, seemingly disinterested in the project (although I'm sure he wasn't). No subjective camera view during the prologue murders??
The editing is clunky, the camerawork (by Doris Day's cinematographer, blurry-yet-unflattering close-ups included) and the flat-lighting, the period TV sitcom music score (okay, I actually like that -- you feel like Joan is slicing people up down the street from Hooterville, and that's kind of cozy), the scene ending dialogue which just sort of ..... stops ..... for no reason.
Yes, Crawford's great, and the Fields' party near the end is a scream, but this is one of those movies I adjust in my head each time I watch it... to the point I'm compelled to fix it digitally, if I weren't so technologically hopeless.
If only Castle had held out for cameraman Joe Biroc (who would later film Joan in HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE and I SAW WHAT YOU DID) to give STRAIT-JACKET some badly-needed dignity. But Biroc was busy shooting VIVA LAS VEGAS and Crawford was probably convinced that Arthur Arling would make her look like the professional virgin Doris was.
So much possibility. It just makes me want to kill somebody.
Yes, definitely. I SAW WHAT YOU DID is still disposable, even though the production values easily supercede those of S-J.
I would've hated to have missed CHARLOTTE or THE NANNY, but most of the others weren't terribly good. (THE NIGHT WALKER with Stanwyck has an effective prologue clearly not directed by William Castle himself). Although I always want one more from Joan than what she gave us -- one where she, too, plays twins -- in lurid halloweeny color, around 1966. Smells like Hammer. I don't know why. I guess NIGHT GALLERY has to suffice.ClassyCo. said:
Certainly, there were some good films in the genre that followed What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but the majority of them, from what I gather, were not as good as hoped.Yes, definitely. I SAW WHAT YOU DID is still disposable, even though the production values easily supercede those of S-J.
I would've hated to have missed CHARLOTTE or THE NANNY, but most of the others weren't terribly good. (THE NIGHT WALKER with Stanwyck has an effective prologue clearly not directed by William Castle himself). Although I always want one more from Joan than what she gave us -- one where she, too, plays twins -- in lurid halloweeny color, around 1966. Smells like Hammer. I don't know why. I guess NIGHT GALLERY has to suffice.
