Feud: Bette and Joan, episode 1 review: sparks flew in this delicious tale of Hollywood misogyny
"You know how much power women had back then? Exactly as much as we got now: zippo." So said world-weary actress Joan Blondell (Kathy Bates) in Feud: Bette and Joan (BBC Two). After a year in which Hollywood’s gender inequality has been grimly exposed, this period drama was uncannily timely.
This US series chronicled the notorious rivalry between screen queens Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. We met the pair in 1962, as Crawford (Jessica Lange) realised that juicy roles weren’t being written for women her age. As her pal Blondell sighed: “The only women getting hired had big chests and small brains.” I fear things haven’t improved 55 years on.
Chancing upon Henry Farrell’s suspense novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Crawford was sure she’d found the perfect part and convinced director Robert Aldrich (Brit actor Alfred Molina, on brilliant, affecting form) to shoot a film adaptation. To secure studio backing, though, Crawford needed the star power of her bitter foe Davis (Susan Sarandon).
This eight-parter is airing in double bills, and the second episode saw shooting get under way on Baby Jane. While their egos clashed, both stars could at least agree that the pretty young actress cast as their neighbour simply had to go, so teamed up “like the Hitler/Stalin pact”. Meanwhile, manipulative studio boss Jack Warner (Stanley Tucci) encouraged Aldrich to stoke the flames of conflict between his leading ladies to garner publicity.
Feud is the creation of screenwriter Ryan Murphy, who made last year’s Bafta-winning hit The People vs OJ Simpson. This new fact-based tale was similarly soapy but irresistibly entertaining. It recalled Mad Men with its hard-drinking, chain-smoking, Saul Bass-style credits and handsome production design, which vividly recreated the Sixties era.
As he does in his other current franchise, American Horror Story, Murphy refreshingly makes a point of giving screen-time to mature actresses. As well as towering turns from Lange and Sarandon, a cracking supporting cast boasted Bates, Catherine Zeta Jones, Judy Davis and comedian Jackie Hoffman as the scene-stealing Mamacita, Crawford’s lugubrious housekeeper.
Sparks flew. Delicious one-liners were traded. Ageism, sexism and misogyny were explored. This was Feud for thought.
