The story is actually fairly predictable, borrowing a great deal from every thing from Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND to the French DIABOLIQUE and quite a bit from BABY JANE as well. In the 1920s, Southern belle Charlotte Hollis has a torrid affair with a married man--an affair that ends when her lover is hacked to bits with a meat cleaver. Every one assumes that Charlotte did it, but did she? And some four decades later the question is still unanswered and Charlotte has become a recluse. When her decaying mansion is threatened by highway construction, she turns to cousin Miriam for help... and with Miriam's arrival the mystery begins to unravel at last.

The great thing here is the cast. Davis plays wildly, wildly over the top and gets away with it as only Davis can. But the real acting interest here comes courtesy of Mary Astor, Agnes Moorehead, and Olivia de Havilland. Star of such classics as THE MALTESE FALCON, Astor makes her final screen appearance here in the small but pivitol role of Jewel Mayhew; Agnes Moorehead, one of Hollywood's most memorable character actresses, almost steals the show from Davis as the ... housekeeper Velma. And de Havilland is quite remarkable. Although she had a broad range, de Havilland had never played such a role as the perfidious cousin Miriam--but she brings it off with all the authority of a coiled rattler.

Given the broadness of the project, SWEET CHARLOTTE inevitably emerges as more "camp" than "classic"--but whether you watch it as a thriller or as a cult comedy, the film is just flat-out fun. Unfortunately, this particularly video tape is not: you'll actually find that the occasional television broadcast of the film offer better picture quality, and you may want to wait for a restored release. Or better yet, a DVD!


Hush Hush, only if we get a DVD   October 31, 2004
 33 out of 42 found this review helpful

Bette Davis had a remarkable career. She is by far one of the best actresses that I have ever seen. She was capable of a range of emotions. "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" is a wonderful example of the other end of the spectrum from this movie. This movie shows how she could be the victim and appealing to our sympathy. In Baby Jane she is deliciously evil. If you like this you must see the other. This movie is psychologically scary and not bad in the physical scary department either.

Olivia de Havilland does a wonderful job of playing a manipulative and overbearing cousin. A far cry from her role in "Gone with the Wind". Agnes Moorehead as a poor self-sacrificing servant is amazing. I always liked her work, but she should have got an academy award for her portrayal here. For that matter all three actresses should have gotten awards. Ask fans of classic movies and they will tell you this is up there near the top. Fans of Bette Davis or Olivia de Havilland should definitely snap this up when it comes out on DVD. I refuse to pay this price for a VHS. Besides with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" out on DVD for just fourteen dollars and ninety-nine cents I can't believe they won't follow suit and release this one as well.


"YOU JUST CAN'T KEEP HOGS AWAY FROM THE TROUGH!"   November 30, 1999
 15 out of 18 found this review helpful

"HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE" is my 3rd favorite movie ever. My 2 favorite are Joan Crawford films. I agree with the other reviewer. As great an actress as Joan Crawford was, she would not have been the BEST Miriam. Olivia de Havilland's brilliance in the role of Miriam is the way she played with understatement. That's what makes the psychological abuse inflicted on Charlotte so chilling...Miriam is unbelievably believable right up to the very last. Had Joan Crawford gotten into a power struggle via the camera, the whole film would have suffered. She would have had to keep too much charisma, strength, and presence pumping to hold her own with Bette Davis (which she was ENTIRELY CAPABLE OF DOING). Someday, if it still exists, 20th Century-Fox Video would be able to make a mint by releasing the unreleased film footage shot with Joan Crawford. Agnes Moorehead is excellent as Velma Ca--rothers: "Shooo-weeee! She ain't nothin' but a chiiiiiild..." This is my favorite Bette Davis performance (a close tie with "Deception" from 1946). Joseph Cotton's and Mary Astor's roles could have been walked through by just about anyone, so you can't blame the actors. All in all, you just can't beat "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" for putting the "fun" back into dysfunctional family reunions. Show it at YOUR next one! Hopefully, 20th Century-Fox Video or Key Video will get around to repackaging this title soon. The box artwork has not changed since...well, since about 1964!


About Bloody Time!!!   June 1, 2005
 15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Whew!!! Here's a great film that took ages to finaly make it to the DVD format. Hey Fox, what took you guys so long?! Oh well, it doesn't matter. At least it's finally here.

This is the film that single-handedly transformed my perception of what an "old" film could be. I remember when I was thirteen years old (1996) and I caught this one on AMC on a stormy evening. By the fantastic staircase confrontation scene between Velma (Agnes Moorehead) and the sinister Cousin Miriam (Olivia DeHavilland, the movie had absolutely grabbed me by the eyeballs and wouldn't let go. I was captivated. I've had a lifelong love affair with older suspense films such as this one ever since, and this particular masterpiece is still my all-time favorite film.

If you've got a young person in your family who wonders why people are always talking about the "Golden Age" of film, you just pop this baby into the DVD player and let those young'uns learn a thing or two. If they're anything like me, they'll fall in love.


Robert Aldrich and his All-Hag Revue   January 5, 2001
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

My initiation into the wonderful world of Bette Davis was at the age of eight, when I begged my father to take me to see "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" at the Center Theater in Sunnyside. I just figured it was a "horror" movie. Well, seeing Bette Davis and company, it was love at first sight! "Charlotte" boasts a cast of "old vets" chewing up the scenery as if their lives depended on it. Miss Davis storms and rages and descends into near-madness as only she could, Olivia DeHavilland, who is a very fine and diversified actress, portrays Bette's sugar-coated rattlesnake of a cousin in a most convincing manner, and Agnes Moorehead-well, what can I say? Her slovenly, white-trash Velma Crother is a sight to behold-the woman was a scene-stealer. Add to this witch's brew an oily Joseph Cotten, the grand Mary Astor, Victor Buono, George Kennedy, and Ellen Corby in a small part, and you're in for a hoot of an evening! The films is a little too long, but with such company, who cares? Nowadays, where "horror" films are populated by 24-years-old and younger performers, I can only think about the "good old days" when the genre boasted seasoned performers whose life experiences didn't take place in shopping malls. "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" is an old-fashioned blood-and-thunder melodrama enacted by performers who had years of theater and screen experience under their belts. There are also nods to "Diabolique","Gaslight", and "Eyes Without a Face" in this deep-fried fag-hag extravaganza. Now, how about an all-drag-queen stage recreation of this camp classic?