A classic

Since this movie has a really solid reputation, I was really eager to check it out. Well, even though I really liked it, to be honest, I wasn't completely sold though. First of all, the whole point was obviously to see two huge acting icons, Joan Crawford and Better Davis, playing some sisters and the fact that they apparently hated each other in real life made the whole thing even more spellbinding to watch. However, even though Davis took some major risks and gave an outstanding performance, Crawford played the whole thing way too safe constantly trying to protect her glamorous reputation. Indeed, she tried to play the whole thing as some innocent victim but it didn't work as it made her character rather flat and boring and she was as a result completely upstaged by Davis. If both women would have been on the same level, playing some demented old movie stars who have hated each other since childhood, pretty much matching the actual hatred the actresses had for each other, then, the whole thing would have been really awesome. On top of that, another issue was that most of the movie was about the two sisters living together in the same house but it actually didn't make much sense that Jane would actually take care of her sister after all what happened between them. The twist at the end also had very little impact and only proved again that Crawford had chosen the wrong approach all along. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a solid psychological thriller with a very strong performance by Bette Davis and it is definitely worth a look.

7/10