What Ever [sic] Happened to Baby Jane?

What Ever [sic] Happened to Baby Jane?

Warner Bros.

October 31, 1962

Dramedy?

DVD

C-

I'd of course heard of this for years, and it turns out to be, well, luke-warm camp.  Admittedly, I tuned out after a quarter hour, before it got anywhere near horror.  The movie is based on Henry Farrell's novel and directed by Robert Aldrich, before the other four of his movies I've rejected in this project.

The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

The Watcher in the Woods (1980)

Disney

April 17, 1980

Children's, Horror

DVD
D+

I didn't think this worked as either horror or a kids' movie.  This is based on the novel by Florence Engel Randall, and co-directed by John Hough and Vincent McEveety.

Mr. Skeffington

Mr. Skeffington
Warner Bros.

August 12, 1944

Historical Drama

DVD
C+

This is based on the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim, but definitely not on the level of the '90s Enchanted April.  It starts out promisingly, with some spritely comedic elements as well as a serious subtext about anti-Semitism.  But the melodrama gets stronger as it goes on.  And it's one of those movies where turning 50 might as well be turning 90.  The title is somewhat misleading, especially in the second half, where Rains is hardly onscreen and it is very much Davis's showcase as Mrs. Skeffington.  I haven't read the novel, but I felt like her characterization was wildly inconsistent, and towards the end I wanted her earlier self to snap, "How can you say I never loved anyone but myself when I was distraught when my brother ran off to the Great War and later when he died in battle?"  Still, for a two-and-a-half-hour movie, it held my attention well enough to marginally recommend.

Vincent Sherman directed, six years before The Damned Don't Cry with Joan Crawford.

Of Human Bondage (1934)

Of Human Bondage (1934)

RKO

July 20, 1934

Romance

DVD
D+

Definitely not a meet-cute.  John Cromwell directed, sixteen years before Caged, which also got a D+.

Dark Victory

Dark Victory
Warner Bros.
April 22, 1939
Drama, Romance
DVD
B-

I've of course heard of this movie for years, but the only Bette Davis movie I think I'd watched in full was All About Eve (which I own).  So it was interesting seeing her relatively young and playing a sweeter character, although with many moods and shades to her personality.  It pretty much is just her movie, with everyone else, even a future president, Clarence the angel, and Bogie*, fading into the background.  I thus found the movie entertaining but can't rate it as high as something with a more balanced cast.  Edmund Goulding directed.

*This is, by the way, the fourth out of five Humphrey Bogart movies I've watched all the way through for this blog.  And I'm sure there will be more.