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<blockquote data-quote="Snarky Oracle!" data-source="post: 375595" data-attributes="member: 57984">I just watched HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE again as part of my Halloween season viewing. I have no idea how many times I&#039;ve seen it, but it remains the ne plus ultra in gothic atmosphere -- either southern or otherwise. There are other films that might go even further in that direction, and others don&#039;t go far enough, but none quite get the balance right like CHARLOTTE.It&#039;s hard to explain why. The director, the cast, the writer, and crew are identical to that of BABY JANE. And as iconic as BABY JANE is, I&#039;ve just never found it quite as compelling -- in fact, it even drags at times.CHARLOTTE, though, has Olivia de Havilland who brings a breezy contrast to Bette Davis (although I&#039;m still curious about how it might&#039;ve been with Joan Crawford in the role, more ambulatory and overtly malevolent than in BABY JANE). And there&#039;s the ghostly, shadowed B&amp;W cinematography of Joe Biroc. And whatever it is about the story and the execution, and its existence on that psychic cusp of both halves of the &#039;60s, the last vestiges of an era that&#039;s exiting, the film is just perfect in terms of what it does.Well, perfect except for that &quot;1927&quot; prologue party where everyone&#039;s dressed and coiffed as if its 1964 (an odd mistake BABY JANE didn&#039;t make). But oh, well. Even perfect&#039;s not always perfect.It&#039;s interesting what makes up a &quot;good macabre&quot; project and why most stuff doesn&#039;t hit the target, going too far (relying on gore and excess) or not far enough.I&#039;ve said before that I often remake in my head DALLAS&#039; Season 13 (per DVD count) and DYNASTY&#039;s Season 8 and FALCON CREST&#039;s Season 7 -- not because they&#039;re the only periods in those shows that could use the help, but because those seasons have a creepy, gothic potential they mostly miss. It&#039;s the spot in these series that, to me, cries out for it.Likewise, I find incompetent STRAIT-JACKET (1963) and MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997) so frustrating to watch: you can see so easily what they want to be, and it&#039;s stunning to see how much they miss that mark. Of all the bad movies out there, they&#039;re the two which may drive me the most insane -- I have a desperate need to fix them.But that&#039;s mostly about my weird personal tastes.<img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6J6ZmwHgBjI/UYH0toOeLfI/AAAAAAABvXg/YFFSRTn8ywY/s1600/Hush+Hush+Sweet+Charlotte+060.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 898px" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Snarky Oracle!, post: 375595, member: 57984"] I just watched HUSH... HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE again as part of my Halloween season viewing. I have no idea how many times I've seen it, but it remains the [I]ne plus ultra[/I] in gothic atmosphere -- either southern or otherwise. There are other films that might go even further in that direction, and others don't go far enough, but none quite get the balance right like CHARLOTTE. It's hard to explain why. The director, the cast, the writer, and crew are identical to that of BABY JANE. And as iconic as BABY JANE is, I've just never found it quite as compelling -- in fact, it even drags at times. CHARLOTTE, though, has Olivia de Havilland who brings a breezy contrast to Bette Davis (although I'm still curious about how it might've been with Joan Crawford in the role, more ambulatory and overtly malevolent than in BABY JANE). And there's the ghostly, shadowed B&W cinematography of Joe Biroc. And whatever it is about the story and the execution, and its existence on that psychic cusp of both halves of the '60s, the last vestiges of an era that's exiting, the film is just perfect in terms of what it does. Well, [I]perfect [/I]except for that "1927" prologue party where everyone's dressed and coiffed as if its 1964 (an odd mistake BABY JANE didn't make). But oh, well. Even perfect's not always perfect. It's interesting what makes up a "good macabre" project and why most stuff doesn't hit the target, going too far (relying on gore and excess) or not far enough. I've said before that I often remake in my head DALLAS' Season 13 (per DVD count) and DYNASTY's Season 8 and FALCON CREST's Season 7 -- not because they're the only periods in those shows that could use the help, but because those seasons have a creepy, gothic potential they mostly miss. It's the spot in these series that, to me, cries out for it. Likewise, I find incompetent STRAIT-JACKET (1963) and MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997) so frustrating to watch: you can see so easily what they [B]want [/B]to be, and it's stunning to see how much they miss that mark. Of all the bad movies out there, they're the two which may drive me the most insane -- I have a desperate need to fix them. But that's mostly about my weird personal tastes. [IMG width="898px"]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6J6ZmwHgBjI/UYH0toOeLfI/AAAAAAABvXg/YFFSRTn8ywY/s1600/Hush+Hush+Sweet+Charlotte+060.jpg[/IMG] [/QUOTE]

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