Hi i just wondered if this was a good documentary and making of featurette. I have it on region 2 but saw this new region 1 for quite cheap and wondered whether to buy it. Does it talk about casting and joan crawford a lot?
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It's not a bad featurette and does focus a lot on casting and Crawford. It's only 21 minutes long, but on the positive side it includes a lot of photographs of Crawford on set and during the actual shooting. No actual footage except that brief longshot of Miriam arriving in the taxi (that's still in the film anyway).
I found it annoying to listen to Aldrich's daughter (who was script supervisor on the film) criticize Crawford (mainly by crafty sins of omission and snide innuendo) over and over again during the course of the documentary. She seems to hate Crawford, perhaps because of nasty remarks Joan made about her father after the shabby treatment she received on the set of "Hush Hush". Also Bette Davis' son speaks alot about his mother's dislike for Joan.
No one particularly speaks up for Joan Crawford in this thing.
and what about that convoluted story Bruce Dern tells about the hand chopping scene? How it was Victor Buono wielding a real cleaver that could have really injured him if he didn't have his real hand pulled back far enough. God, was he drunk when he fabricated THAT one?
shareI understood what he was saying, you didn't? Maybe you were drunk.
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
It was total bull. Why would Victor Buono be using the cleaver? Why would they do something so dangerous as having a real cleaver cutting so close to Dern's real hand that could hurt him if he didn't manage to pull his hand back enough? Obviously Bruce likes spinning fun stories, but this one makes no sense.
shareand what about that convoluted story Bruce Dern tells about the hand chopping scene? How it was Victor Buono wielding a real cleaver that could have really injured him if he didn't have his real hand pulled back far enough. God, was he drunk when he fabricated THAT one?
It was from the interview with Dern that's part of the extras on the last edition of the film. The one that includes Hush Hush Sweet Joan. He says that Aldrich told him that the "big guy" (Buono) was going to be weilding that cleaver and that Dern better make sure his hand was pulled back far enough. I realize now that Aldrich was probably just messing with Dern's head. And of course, Buono would not even be needed for the scene.
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