In 1962, Davis appeared in the Broadway drama "Wushan Stormy Night", and the response was mediocre. Four months later, he left the show due to a cough. Later, she starred in Frank Capra's film "Tricks" with Glenn Ford and Ann Margaret. Her next role is in the horror film "Langui". After reading the script, Davis believes that this film will be as successful as Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 "Scary" . She negotiated a 10% dividend for the film in addition to the pay. The film became one of the most sensational films of the year. In the film, Davis and Joan Crawford play the roles of sisters who were once actors, living in a dilapidated Hollywood apartment due to financial pressure. Director Robert Aldridge said that both Davis and Crawford knew that the film was extremely important to their respective acting careers. "It can be said that they are hostile to each other in their hearts, but on the surface they are very friendly." After the filming was over, the two announced that they would no longer communicate with each other. Later, Davis was nominated for an Oscar for the film again, and Crawford publicly opposed it. Davis was also nominated for the British Academy Film Awards for his performance in this film. Betty Davis and Joan Crawford, the two superstars in "Lan Boss Surprise" not only fought against each other according to the plot, but also "fighted" on the set, in real life, and in the Oscar awards selection. Competition has become a very exciting "story" in the history of Oscars. The performances of the two people are full of tension in the play. The actual competition between the two movie stars promotes the plot, and the film climaxes one after another. Especially the younger sister starred by Betty Davis, she said that she just wanted to create a neurotic old woman who wears heavy makeup all day long, and even powders her face without washing her face the next day! Her "terrible" professionalism made the image of her younger sister impressed all the audience.
In 1961, the producer of the ABC's thriller series, William Frye, discovered a novel of "The Landowners". The author is Henry Fallow. The novel, along with Betty Davis and Olivia de Havilland, and director Ida Lupino were packaged and recommended to Wiesermann. As a result, Wieserman refused. Because when Davis was filming the "Caravan" series, he was very troublesome. Director Robert Aldridge heard about the novel from his former secretary. Her new boss just bought out the copyright to the book. If Aldridge is interested, he can get it for ten thousand dollars. Robert Aldridge once directed a suspenseful film "Autumn Leaves" starring Joan Crawford in 1956. In the following years, Crawford kept writing to express that she hoped to collaborate with Davis on a film. Perhaps Crawford remembered the film "Whoever Lies". Mary Astor, the supporting actress in the film, not only snatched Davis's play, but also won an Oscar. Davis never wanted to work with any actress who might pose a threat to her. She always alienated Crawford and called him "MGM's mannequin." According to MGM press officer Dole Freeman, who has known Crawford for fifty years, this hostile relationship revealed. It has a long history. "When Crawford entered Warner forty, Betty Davis was the big star of the company. She didn't take Crawford seriously at the time. But when Crawford got the Golden Man, she began to interact with him. Grab the role. Just like Norma Sheila did to Crawford at MGM. So the two became hostile to each other." Nevertheless, Crawford pleaded with Robert Aldridge. Said that she still wanted to work with Betty Davis, and Robert Aldridge later recalled, "I couldn't imagine that they could work together. Then, I saw "Langui".
Robert Aldridge sent the book to Crawford. At the time, she was promoting Pepsi in New York. During this period, the copyright of the book changed. An agent named Stead Beckman bought out the book and handed it to Henry Essex, the screenwriter of "It Comes from Outer Space" for adaptation. Aldridge insisted on the book, and Beckman offered $61,000. Robert Aldridge doesn't have that much money, but his new producer, Josephine E. Levine, is willing to pay him in advance. In the end, Essex got 28,500, Beckman got the rest, and Robert Aldridge got the copyright—almost. Later, when the contradictory relationship broke down, Robert Aldridge had to pay Levine $85,000 for the book and the script adapted from the book by him and Lucas Heller. Now, all he had to do was to find two old witches with brooms to perform the play. In January 1962, Betty Davis came to the Royal Opera House on Broadway, preparing to play Maxi in Williams' "Thinking of the Soul". After an evening performance, she sat in the dressing room. No one thought that Crawford would show up, and she smiled and showed Davis to Davis. And respectfully said, "I have always wanted to work with you." Davis didn't like this book, but he reluctantly accepted it, and spent a weekend reading it at her home in Connecticut. "Well, not bad." She recalled the situation. "It's well written. The false Joan and the crazy Betty." A week later, Davis had lunch with Frye in New York. "It's unbelievable," she said. "Crawford gave me this book with a note saying I hope I will play my sister. I told her it is impossible. I am only interested in baby Jane." Davis later received a letter from Robert Aldridge and script. The letter said: "If you think this is not the best script you have read, you don't need to contact me." Of course, the two met. "Who am I playing?" Betty asked. "Of course it is Jane," Robert Aldridge replied. "Oh my God, it's just what I want!" She paused. Suddenly asked, "Did you sleep with Joan Crawford?" "No," Robert Aldridge smiled slyly. "However, it's not that there is no chance." "I just want to make sure whether you have a preference for anyone."
The director started to do things up and down. "Robert Aldridge wanted the company to be interested in me and Crawford," Davis recalled. "Those corporate minds said,'We won't vote for you for these two old women. "" The four bosses said no, but Aldridge never gave up. "There were three publishers who read the script and the budget," he recalled. "Two of them said that if I use younger actors, they might be interested." Later, Eliot Heyman called him—this Heyman bought the Warner Bros. Film Archive in 1956. Relying on the old films of Davis, Bogart and Crawford, he made a lot of money and opened his own company, Seven Arts, in just two years. "I think this script is great," Hyman said, "but the risks are also high, so I have to strictly control costs." Robert Aldridge kept the actors he wanted, but had to cut his budget. "Pull my hair from myself, let these two actresses play, plus part of the salary." Crawford will get 40,000 U.S. dollars and 10% of the film's gross profit. Davis must be grateful to her agent, she can get 60,000 US dollars and 5% gross profit. Everyone in the film industry wants to know what kind of film needs such two old stars? The answer is naturally: tell a story between two old stars! According to the ideas of Heller and Robert Aldridge, "Lan Boss" should have a history of foaming Hollywood, sister grievances, mother worship, aging, disability, sin, resentment, hatred, madness, and murder. The Hudson sisters in their fifties live together in a "Spanish Hollywood" mansion. The house is not really in Los Angeles, and neither are the people. Jane Hudson is an drunkard with an unhealthy mind, and has always wanted to relive the age of her child star when she became famous in singing and dancing "Baby Jane". She lives on her sister Blanche, who was once a beauty but has grown old. Blanche was a movie star in the 1930s and was very rich before her sister drove her to a disability. Now the two sisters live on the edge of reality linked by hatred. Blanche wants a richer life, but Jane slips into a mental disorder. When Blanche was about to sell the house and send Jane to a mental hospital, Jane put her in confinement. Terrorize her and refuse to feed her. He also used Blanche's money to bribe Fat Mom's child to write proof that the baby Jane was in good spirits.
The script may be suitable for many established female stars, such as Marion Law, Rosalind Russell, Norma Sheila and Miriam Hopkins, and even Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. But they only see it as a psychoanalytic drama, drama or tragedy. But Crawford and Davis have incorporated their previous signature images into them. The evil Davis with protruding eyes once appeared in William Wheeler's "Little Fox", and Crawford, tearful of self-dedication, came from "The Demon of Desire". Crawford and Davis created horror by compressing the role beyond life in the small space of this dilapidated old house. Compared with the struggle between the two of them on stage, the torture caused by "Summer Cry" can only be regarded as a tea party. Not only did the two fight fiercely in front of the camera. Previously, there were conflicts with others in the producer's studio on Marrose Avenue. Crawford hopes her makeup will be more feminine, while designer Naoma Koch thinks she shouldn't wear sexy nightgowns or the like, because that would expose her dying leg muscles. It was Crawford’s fitting time, and Aldridge was using a mobile camera to film the makeup process. Script supervisor Bob Gray noticed. "When the camera was facing Crawford's face, she was crying. It seemed that the dress would kill her... Tears flowed down. She is the only person I have ever seen crying during fitting." Koch's design for Davis is very strange. "This is an adult size children's clothing," Koch said. "I lengthened the clothes worn by the child star." According to the script, Jane should bring a wig set based on her childhood curly hair. Davis' hairdresser borrowed a Shirley Temple fluffy hair from Max Fact. But Aldridge didn't like the look. He secretly found Crawford's hair stylist Peggy Shannon. "Peggy, you have worked with many old celebrities at MGM, can you help me?" So, after work stopped that day, Shannon found an old friend of MGM and picked a light silver. Gray wig. When Davis put it on in front of the mirror the next day, she exclaimed: "It's great! I like it!" But no one told her that wig was used by Crawford in the 1930 film "The Shy Bride". "Brought in.
During the makeup stage, Davis invented a look similar to Jack Pierce. "She, not me," Robert Aldridge said, "deciding on baby Jane's makeup. It's the ugly plaster mask." She was inspired by chatting. "I want to make myself look more hateful. Like a rotten Mary Pickford," she said. Shannon once told her some tidbits about MGM color music films. "They like the look of their face that they never wash," Shannon said. "After some time, you can see them walking across Bray Street." That's what Davis wanted. "Jane doesn't wash her face," she was delighted, "just add a layer of makeup every day." At the same time, Crawford didn't like the one designed for her. Marty Wismore was instructed by Aldridge that Blanche should be as scary as Jane. "I made a long line under her eyes," Wismoore said. "The shadow on her face accentuated her cheekbones. She looked upset, as if she had been painted." Finally, she and the director All made concessions, allowing Crawford to start to look more mature and less terrifying at the same time. And she is also preparing to learn from the disabled veterans of World War II, learning how to go to bed on her own from a wheelchair, raise her legs, how to fall forward from the wheelchair, and then roll. The rehearsal ended on July 20, 1962. At that time, Crawford left a famous saying: "After waiting for twenty years, I want to cooperate with Miss Davis. On the day of the shooting, Crawford came to the shooting scene with his entourage. Among them are her personal driver, a young agent from Villimilos, her maid, priest, stylist, and hairdresser. Davis is alone. Photographer Ernst Heller has served as a photographer in Davis's award-winning films "Women and Women" and "Red Shirt Tears", and Crawford's "The Devil in the Sea". In this film, black cotton is not used for the main light part of the protagonist, and no diffuser is added to the lens. "If I use the technique that was popular ten years ago," Heller said, "they would be furious at me." At lunch, Davis went to the nearby Ruth restaurant without removing her makeup, and then she was surprised that it caused traffic. Blocked. Crawford said to her friends Lorita Young, Barbara Stanwick and others, "You should really look at Betty's makeup on the set at the time. She walked around in slippers, a shabby robe. , There are still stains on the collar." At the end of the day, Crawford walked to her limousine. "The whole entourage followed her," the photographer Philip Stein recalled. "Look at Davis again, stepping over the wires on the floor and going home alone.
A few days later, when Crawford and Davis watched the porn, both of them wept in tears. Crawford turned to Heller and said, "Why do I look so old? It's like an old grandmother is playing my role." "Wiping his nose, Davis came to his spirits. "Joan, if you don't like it, I will play your role and you will play mine." "I won't play her." Crawford curled his lips. "It's all ugly at my grandma's house." When he noticed that Crawford's close-up shots became softer and more numerous, Davis did not continue to watch the footage. "There are indeed more close-ups than scripts," the photographer admitted. Later, Crawford began to give Davis red roses every day. Davis ignored her. In this regard, Crawford always responded to "bless you." During the filming, the autobiography of the two were published one after another. When Crawford gave Davis from "Portrait of Joan", she hoped for a copy of Davis's "A Life Alone". Davis hesitated and didn't write "Dear Joan." Finally, she thought of something, "Joan," she wrote, "Thank you for wanting my autobiography." Crawford began to understand from the side. Davis despised her strongly, Crawford was a little overwhelmed, but she was not entirely innocent. "Everyone covets what others have," said director George Cook. "Joan is jealous of Betty's extraordinary talent, and Betty is jealous of Joan's charming charm." When the filming entered the fourth week, Crawford, who had been left out in the cold by the other party, had a turnaround. Davis came to see Crawford's rehearsal, and suddenly asked, "You really intend to do this?" "Yes, Betty, what's the matter?" Crawford asked back. "Nothing." Davis yawned. Crawford also believes that Davis stole the honor of discovering the material of the novel and that she received preferential treatment from the director. "Betty had to fight against Crawford in everything, although it was within her power, and the way was relatively peaceful." Actress Anna Lee recalled. "She once pinned a note on the door of her dressing room. It said-'In all my relationships Lee, I like sex the most (relationship)'-she thought Joan would be scared." Crawford Think Davis treated the actor Victor Bruno too coldly, so she took extra effort to help him improve his close-up expression. Davis sees the wind and tells him immediately that he likes his acting style. Crawford worried that he would look flat-chested in the bedridden paragraph. So she started wearing large fake breasts. "She should have shrunk," Davis observed, "But her breasts are growing, just like the Hollywood Hills." When Crawford asked the director if he could let the crew watch the TV show she was in, Davis sat in the corner of the recording studio. , Sing her baby Jane on the record player. Hope to overshadow the TV sound. On the other day, Davis yelled at the crew and cursed Crawford. The voice was loud and it went straight to the door of her dressing room. Immediately, the door was closed.
Crawford called Robert Aldridge that night, "Bob, do you know what Betty did to me?" When the director hung up, Davis called in, "Did Crawford just call Have you ever called?" "Mom had to make at least one phone call to Aldridge every night," Davis's daughter, BD Hyman recalled, "She repeatedly mentioned what happened in the studio that day, and the director had to apologize... and promised. The same thing won't happen the next day." The phone seemed to be wound up. "When one rings, another comes in," Robert Aldridge said. "I can only guarantee that, they are like two American armored tanks." Just as Davis's daughter recalled her mother's situation at the time, Robert Aldridge's son often heard midnight calls. "My father had to spend a lot of time coaxing them. But he was never partial. Fortunately, he worked with some great guys at the time, so he managed to deal with them properly. Of course, he himself It’s also great." Sidney Skorsky, a columnist from a veteran, analyzed their different styles, "Joan is like MGM, and Betty is like Warner. This is a war between two kingdoms and two queens. Both are very conceited, energetic and have nowhere to vent." The mental warfare also escalated as the two plunged into this unprecedentedly cruel drama plot (rolling down the stairs, slapped, punched and kicked, until the killing). The constant pressure made Crawford a head cold. She felt a little powerless after filming so many episodes of the fight with Davis. "Can you rest for a few minutes? I feel so tired."
"You know, it's been so many years after all. We are all old guys," Davis said. Crawford gave her a feeble look and walked towards her Pepsi machine in the recording studio. "She kicked Pepsi with her heel," Davis said, his voice unusually low. "That bitch is always drinking crazy." If Crawford drinks more than usual, it must be because she is worried about the scene in the filming. Jane kicked Blanche rolling in the music room. Robert Aldridge used several angles to shoot the dummy Blanche being kicked. Davis kicked very hard and looked like he had hurt his foot. When it was Crawford's turn to play, she pulled the director aside. "I dare not," she whispered. "I can't believe in Miss Betty, she will kick me to the ground looking for teeth." Aldridge could only take a few more shots with the dummy. Then carefully directed the rehearsal of the two stars. When the camera was turned on, Davis played very realistically, but did not touch Crawford's head. One foot, two feet...finally spliced together. Crawford screamed and rolled. Then Davis ran away. "She made Joan Crawford a big bag," gossip columnist Hida Haber wrote the next day. There are also unconfirmed trips to the hospital for stitches, but there are no reports of apologies. The last scene requires the crazy baby Jane picked up her dying sister Blanche from the bed and walked out of the bedroom. When they were rehearsing, Davis asked Crawford not to be deliberately dead, which would aggravate her backache. "Actually, there is a way to make it easier to be an actor holding an action," Robert Aldridge said. When preparing to start shooting, the atmosphere on the scene seemed extremely tense. "It was a continuous shot," Heller recalled. "Betty picked her up from the bed, walked through the bedroom, and walked out the door." For some reason, Crawford looked heavier at the time. "You should know how hard it was when Betty picked up Jane," Gary said. "Walking all the way to the aisle, out of the camera, she put Jane down, and then let out a scream. That sound is terrifying!," Heller said. "My back! Oh, my goodness! My back!" Crawford got up and slowly slipped into her dressing room under the suspicious gaze of the crew. I don't know what she stuffed in the costume, anyway, Davis was unable to move normally for four days. When she came back, the crew moved to the beach to film the dreamlike ending. Crawford and Davis never said a word. "I don't think it is too much to say that they hate each other," Aldridge recalled, "but their performance was perfect." He might not realize that his movie created two monsters.
The film ends on September 12. Robert Aldridge’s editor worked overtime for a few weeks to get the movie to be previewed in Long Beach on October 20th. The response from the young audience was unexpectedly strong. They like this movie very much and want to watch it again in the cinema. A few days later, the critics of "Hollywood Citizen News" represented the voice of most people. "For months, it has been circulating in Hollywood that Betty and Joan have fallen into a B-level film. No one thought this film was so great!" Paul V. Buckley of the New York Herald wrote: "If you say David If Miss Si’s sloppy shape and naive brain created a hurricane, then Miss Crawford’s shaping of the disabled sister can be described as the eye of the hurricane. It may be abnormally calm, but it is absolutely dangerous and desperate. ." Variety show praised a shot in the film. "At that perfect moment, Miss Crawford was facing herself on TV, her face shining brightly, reminiscing about her past glory." After deducting the expenses of 980,000 for 11 days, the net profit of "Langui Jingbian" was 350. Ten thousand U.S. dollars. "It must be said that we are a little bit complacent." Davis said to Jack Parr on tonight's show. In fact, she has more reasons to be complacent, because she was nominated for an Oscar for this film, but Crawford did not. The Queen of Warner hit a mannequin from MGM, or a monster? On Oscars night in 1962, Davis stood in the auditorium waiting for the announcement of the best actress results. She once awarded the best original screenplay award. Crawford also awarded the best director award. According to Frye’s recollection, Crawford “was a beautiful scenery that night. Edith Sid made her a very beautiful silver tight dress. Together with her fingers, wrists, neck and ears All kinds of pearls and diamonds." Davis didn't know that Crawford had been arranged to accept the award for the nominee who was not present. If you know, the problem may not be that serious. She strongly desires to win her third statuette that night. But the first blow was when she heard that Anne Bancroft of "Helen Keller" won the best actress. Then came the second one, and it was Joan Crawford who presented the prize to Annie! According to the United Daily News columnist Bob's recollection, “Betty felt someone touched her with her hand.'Sorry,' it was Joan Crawford who strode past her. Then he stepped onto the stage to thunderous applause. That. At that moment, Betty Davis will probably never forget it in this life."
William Caso, the opportunist who sits on the sidelines, doesn't want to waste the opportunity to make a horror movie with a vicious old woman. But his preferred goal is no longer possible. Crawford suddenly became popular. Acting as a strong director of a mental hospital in "The Manager". And Davis is working with the only actress who can't surpass her limelight: herself. Relying on movie magic, Davis played the two roles of twin sisters in "Evil Button". Other actors who play twins are usually happily divided into one good and one bad. In this film, the sisters are both very vicious. This film about the fight between two sisters, the gloomy and secretive intrigue between girls, is no different after many years, especially when two older actresses interpret this story through their hearts, and make it human. The connotation is more profound, especially exciting. Betty Davis’s vivid and physical performance of evil and cowardly human nature is already a very eye-catching feature. The sincere feelings of the performance even reminds me of Juliet Massina in "The Road", although evil and fragile Not the main theme of human nature. And the dialectics of good and evil verified by the final identity swap is the content that is truly worthy of appreciation. In fact, it seems that it is just a suspenseful film of human suspicion.
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