"Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte," Good Bette Davis Performance

This is one of those movies where, if you tell about it in just about any way, you give away the story to those who have not seen it, or to those who may have forgotten some parts.

The film, produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, was released in 1964, with Charlotte played by Bette Davis. The story centers around the murder of Charlotte's married lover, John Mayhew (played by Bruce Dern), at a party given by her father (played by Victor Buono). This happens after Charlotte's father had "convinced" Mayhew, through threats, to break off a relationship with his daughter, which the young man then does at the party. Shortly thereafter, the audience sees a meat cleaver disappear from the food area, and not long afterwards, Mayhew is brutally murdered, with both his head and one hand cut off. Charlotte walks into the midst of the party in the family mansion, her white dress covered in blood, and her father proceeds to try to comfort her.

The scene shifts to the 1960s and the now run down mansion and a reclusive Charlotte, who has not aged well. Like with the mansion, Charlotte has let herself go, just going about an existence that involves little personal contact with others, except mainly for her doctor (played by veteran actor Joseph Cotten), and her faithful housekeeper Velma (played by Agnes Moorehead). Her father has passed on, but Charlotte has considerable wealth left to her, although she doesn't enjoy it, as she just goes about her lonely life. The townspeople all believe she is a murderess, and the kids in the area torment her with songs about the killing. The thing is, modern times come calling, as the state (Louisiana) plans to tear down her home for a new highway. Charlotte totally ignores all of the notices sent to her, and the sheriff, an old family friend, tries to persuade her to leave the old mansion peacefully, as she had fired on a work crew sent to prepare the mansion for demolition. Charlotte believes the widow of her former slain lover is behind all of the attempts to evict her, as well as bundles of hate mail sent to her through the years (the widow, Jewel, played by Mary Astor). 

Her doctor tells Charlotte that she'll have to leave the house, and she turns to her one known living relative, a cousin who actually had grown up at the mansion many years before, Miriam (played by Olivia de Havilland). As is Charlotte's wont, she reminds Miriam how she was taken care of at the mansion many years before, just as she had earlier reminded the sheriff how he owed his career to her father. Meanwhile, an insurance investigator (played by veteran actor Cecil Kellaway) has been checking on the old case of John Mayhew's murder, talking extensively with Jewel Mayhew and also with Charlotte, before she becomes upset.

I just don't see how I can go further here, without giving away too much and ruining the movie for you. Agnes Moorehead was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The movie is available on DVD, and I'm sure you will not regret seeing this film, a long time favorite of mine.

Photo from the 2005 20th Century Fox DVD

WORD HISTORY:
Sweet-This common word goes back to Indo European "suwad," which had the notion of "pleasant tasting." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "swotja," which meant "sweet." This gave Old English "swete," which then became "sweete," before dropping the ending "e," to give us the modern version. The idea of "sweetness" being pleasant also led to the secondary meaning of a person or animal being "sweet," in the mild and caring sense, and of course, to the noun "sweetie," a shortened form of "sweetheart." The noun form "sweet" (often used in the plural in this sense) came to be used for candies, cookies, cakes, etc; that is, products sweetened with sugar or honey. The other Germanic languages all have related forms: German "süß," ^ Low German Saxon "sööt," Dutch "zoet," West Frisian "swiet," Danish "sød," Norwegian "søt," Icelandic "sætur," Swedish "söt."

^ The high Germanic dialects underwent a sound shift long ago, with certain sounds often changing. The high dialects eventually became the basis of modern standard German. In this case, the ending "t" sound in the other Germanic dialects of those times changed to double "s." Other examples are: English "kettle," but German "Kessel," and English "better," but German "besser."