Feud 1.07 - Abandoned!

In the penultimate episode of the series, Bette gains creative control and Joan loses everything, while B.D. and Mamacita get out while they still can. Here's Jorge...

Feud doesn’t play favorites.  The show has done a good job (for the most part) at digging down into why these two screen legends acted the way they did towards each other. And they’ve made a point (over and over and over) that they were not as different as the world saw them; they were actually very similar, acting from the same place of desperation and clinginess to relevance.

In this week’s episode. Joan repeatedly boycotts the production of Hush, Hush… Sweet Charlotte, unable to cope with the creative control that Bette has over her as a producer. This eventually ends with her being fired from the picture, and Olivia de Havilland stepping in; the only actress willing to take her spot and also Bette's dear friend...

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Links, 11

NYT Amanda Peet on why she doesn't read reviews
Variety Ron Howard to produce and direct much discussed political book Hillbilly Elegy. A very odd fit if you ask us, since Howard is skilled at broad-stroked popcorn pictures, not nuanced thematic drama
NYT Radley Metzger, erotic cinema pioneer (The Lickerish Quartet, Score) has died at 88

Shadowplay looks back at Joan Crawford in Torch Song with some notes on Feud
Interview Mag talks to Pilou Asbaek (A War, Ghost in the Shell) 
MNPP John Waters still making trouble onscreen and in print 
Theater Mania Provincetown's got an amazing lineup of concerts this summer including Sutton Foster and Megan Hilty
Coming Soon Some Scarlet Witch action from the Avengers: Infinity War set. It's always amusing to see how strange these things look before visual fx
i09 reviews the direct to video animated feature Teen Titans: Judas Contract, based on the classic 80s storyline
Cinematic Corner the best and worst of 2016. Yes, it's still okay to post these. I know I need to finish up some categories in the film bitch awards

Finally, please do check out the Pulitzer Prizes for 2017. Winners and finalists have been announced. Nothing movie or TV related this year among the winners except, eventually, the fiction winner Underground Railroad, which is Barry Jenkins next project as previously discussed. There are two theater related winners so congrats to Lynn Nottage who is the first black woman to win two Pulitzers for Drama (her new play "Sweat" which stars Feud and The American's Alison Wright alongside Johanna Day and Michelle Wilson) and to Hilton Als of the New Yorker for his theater criticism. Among the finalists that didn't win is one worthy voice for movie lovers: Ty Burr of the Boston Globe was honored with 10 of his columns noted.

Feud: Bette and Joan "Hagsploitation"

Previously on Feud: Bette and Joan 
1. "Pilot" 2. "The Other Woman" 3. "Mommie Dearest" 4. "More or Less" 5. "And the Winner Is" (Part 1) (Part 2)

By Spencer Coile  

Although initially centered on the drama that took place during the filming of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Feud persists. As we enter into episode six, "Hagsploitation," both Bette and Joan have no bona fide hits on the horizon. Sure, Joan is tackling Strait Jacket and Bette has her hands full on TV (much to Joan's judgement) on Wagon Train, but in 1964, the success of Baby Jane has waned. In fact, in a scene that features vase throwing and Mamacita standing her ground, Joan laments that it had been nine months since any offer came her way. Clearly, as the title suggests, there is something more pervasive and sinister that happens in Hollywood, far more dastardly than the actual feud that persists between Bette and Joan: the exploitation of older actresses for the benefit of their audience... 

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Beauty vs Beast: Daisy Daisy Give Me Your Answer Do

Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" contest  - the older I get the more amateurish and obvious it feels to call F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby, which was published on this day in 1925, my favorite book... but then I go read the book again and it lifts me up and swirls me around wildly for 180 brief pages and drops me off along those boats beating against the current, and I'm reconvinced it remains the Great American Novel. So I take comfort in knowing I'm not alone - alongside me stand whole swaths of movie-makers who keep trying to turn it into The Great American Movie, time and time again, to wildly varying degrees of success.

So today let's focus in on the two highest profile adaptations - Jack Clayton's 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, and Baz Luhrmann's 2013 jazzy flick with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. And because we're all good and proper actressexuals here at The Film Experience let's head down to the end of the dock and stare at the green light across the bay to dream of the ladies alone. (Since they're both playing the same character I'm going to skip the PROS & CONS this time around since we're judging them by their performances.)

PREVIOUSLY Last week we sent a letter to daddy telling him how much we love What Ever Happened To Baby Jane, and specifically Baby Jane herself, since y'all gave Bette Davis' performance a full 75% of your votes. (But don't worry about Joan Crawford - she just showed up at my house to accept the award in Bette's honor.) Said Jones:

"Bette as Baby Jane is a master act with continuous high-wire moments that never feel absurd or over the top. Her acting shines masterfully when she reveals the broken soul within through tender shifts in her facial expression or voice intonation. The last few minutes are particularly heart-breaking and makes you feel for her. Joan is amazing, but I'm team Baby Jane unflinchingly."

Feud: Bette and Joan "And the Winner Is" (Part 2)

Previously... And the Winner Is (Pt 1)

-Wait up for me boys. Tonight I'm bringing you home a baby brother.

by Nathaniel R

Picking up where we left off... and, to quote, Mamacita (the delightfully dry Jackie Hoffman) "pick up the pace, it's Oscar day!"

In the second half of Feud's best episode, after watching Joan & Hedda swaying voters away from Bette Davis and arranging for Joan to both present (Best Director) and accept (Best Actress should Bancroft or Page win), it's time for Oscar night. A whole army of hair and makeup people swam Chez Crawford...

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