Bette Davis vs Joan Crawford?
who was the better actress?
shareCrawford could be a very fine actress but Davis was on another level.
shareI agree. Much better range.
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MovieChat Forums > Bette Davis Discussion > Bette Davis vs Joan Crawford?
Bette Davis
shareDavis by far!
Crawford could be good, especially when she was young, but she aged into a camp monster. A very entertaining camp monster, to be sure, and I love her for it! But that's not the same thing as being a top-level actor like Bette Davis.
Interesting, I have almost the opposite reaction when I watch them act together in their later years in Baby Jane. Crawford seems quite nuanced and restrained whereas Davis is like an explosion of campness and (don’t shoot me for saying so!) over-acting.
All that said, I agree looking at both careers as a whole, Davis turned in far more impressive performances.
That's a fair point about "Baby Jane", but I've seen a lot more of their later work than that, and well. Crawford underplaying and Davis overplaying were exceptions to each lady's career trends.
Davis could rein it in when she needed to and go BIG when appropriate, and what would "Baby Jane" be if she hadn't gone big and created an unforgettable monster? Yes, it was camp, but camp doesn't mean bad!
Unless it's one of Joanie's later, campier, films, like "Torch Song", "Queen Bee", "Johnny Guitar":, "Strait Jacket", etc. I mean those films are as fun as all hell, if you like camp as much as I do, but they're so bad they're good rather than actually good.