"Feuds are never about hate” states Olivia de Havilland. “Feuds are about pain." She should know, having endured her own long-running feud with sister Joan Fontaine.  The feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford did not last as long as that case of sibling rivalry, but it did start long before Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962) and continued for some time thereafter.

It is the making of this classic piece of hagsploitation that occupies the first four episodes of this eight episode mini-series. Incensed by her lack of film offers, Crawford sets out to find her own project in which to star. Armed with the right story and right director, she offers the film’s title role to her long-time rival Davis. Though the two agree to put aside their differences for the sake of the film it isn’t long before off-screen acrimony turns into outright hostility onscreen, much to the delight of their old sparring partner Jack Warner.

Despite its length, this biopic continuously entertains from start to finish. In a role she was destined to play since she first fluttered her Bette Davis eyes, Susan Sarandon is magnificent. Though Jessica Lange’s turn as Joan Crawford isn’t as immediately impactful, her brave portrayal of an aged beauty empathetically conveys her character’s fierce determination. Nevertheless, despite all the fun provided by a script replete with one-liners to make you laugh out loud and gasp in disbelief, it is in the quieter moments that reveals the accuracy of de Havilland’s theory.