Six Movies About Aging Artists, In Honor of ‘Quartet’ Opening Today in St. Louis

The Comic (1969)

Dick Van Dyke stars in the fictional bio-pic of Billy Bright.  Van Dyke’s character, and amalgam of silent-film comedians such as Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, narrates the film from beyond the grave. His is tale of hubris and squandered talent. Directed and co-written by Carl Reiner, the film is fascinating but flawed – often at the same time.

Van Dyke is a huge fan of silent comedies and a gifted physical comedian himself.  The film’s best moments come when he recreates “two-reelers” in the same style as his idols.  Unfortunately, it’s shot in that overly-bright ‘60s era Hollywood style which makes the dramatic parts feel incongruent. But for fans of film-comedy or early cinema it’s an interesting curio that’s not without its charms – if you can find it.  It’s never been released on DVD or Blu-ray.  It was release on VHS in the early ‘80s. VHS copies fetch $50 on Ebay and laser-disc versions can go for more than $100.  But it occasionally pops up on Turner Classic Movies and a beautifully restored version of it recently aired on the semi-obscure cable channel SonyHD.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)

And for those of you who landed here from The John Carney Show on KTRS here’s your web exclusive sixth movie. Bette Davis stars as Jane, a former-child star.  The days of her vaudeville stardom are long gone and now she’s caring for her wheelchair-bound sister Blanche (Joan Crawford).  While Jane was the famous one, Blanche had the real talent and was destine for far greater things until she was run over by a car.  Years of jealousy and confinement have warped their relationship and Jane’s mental imbalance results in a series of psychological mind-games that the medical community would almost certainly refer to as “bat-shit crazy”.

Davis gives a fearless performance – part camp, part horrifying, part tragic.  It’s an over-the-top performance that teeters on the edge of going off the rails.  In the hands of a lesser actress, i.e. anyone else, it would have almost certainly been a career-ending embarrassment.  Instead, she was nominated for an Oscar.  And probably would have won if a ravenously jealous Joan Crawford (speaking of “bat-shit crazy”) hadn’t actively campaigned against her.