The Band Wagon
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Screening on Film
Two radically different backstage perspectives on the entertainment industry and the demise of the Hollywood dream factory. One of the last great musicals from MGM’s fabled Freed unit, Minnelli’s Technicolor extravaganza The Band Wagon follows a washed up dancer (Astaire) out to prove he can pull off one last show. Casting real life rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as aging sisters whose film careers have long faded, Aldrich’s Baby Jane delivers a devastating critique of the star system that suggests there are skeletons in every studio’s closet.