The Hunchback of Notre Dame + What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Episode Notes

Celebrating October with something old. Two films about people outcasted from society and the roles the are relegated to play. The invention of cinema in Paris. Or Europe. Or, you know, New York. Film was born wherever you want to say it was born. The era of the movie palace. Keeping Americans from watching foreign films. A period within a period within The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Getting to the bottom of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. The often cited rise of television pushed film exhibition along – but, in often overlooked ways, film exhibition caused television to innovate as well. It’s the birth of repertory! (or: the re-run)

Trailers

Covers

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Released: September 6, 1923
Runtime: 133 min | IMDB | Wikipedia

Director: Wallace Worsley
Writer: Perley Poore Sheehan, Edward T. Lowe Jr., Chester L. Roberts
Starring: Lon Chaney, Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry

In 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Released: October 12, 1962
Runtime: 134 min | IMDB | Wikipedia

Director: Robert Aldrich
Writer: Lukas Heller
Starring: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Victor Buono

Two aging film actresses live as virtual recluses in an old Hollywood mansion. Jane Hudson, a successful child star, cares for her crippled sister Blanche, whose career in later years eclipsed that of Jane. Now the two live together, their relationship affected by simmering subconscious thoughts of mutual envy, hate and revenge.