The Nanny

There was something about Bette Davis that made everything she did great viewing. Whether she was evil Bette, headstrong Bette or misguided Bette, she dominated all her films. In this film she is strange Bette, a queer housekeeper that could just be off her rocker. The film rachets up the tension from the very beginning. No setup at the beginning to explain anything, any questions the viewer might have will be answered in due time. The one problem, as with all films dealing with troublesome kids is that William Dix's Joey is so rotten in the beginning that one wants someone to knock him off, also he displays an unusual amount of intelligence for a 10 year old boy. But watch this for Davis as you wonder, did she or didn't she.

This is one of those 1960's black & white British horror films that pack a wallop. I saw it on Tv as a young kid and it creeped me out and Bette Davis' performance haunted me. I saw it again not too long ago and was suprised how well it stood up. A nice simple story told with powerful flashbacks, Bette Davis gives a terrific, controlled performance as the perfect nanny to a dysfunctional family -a non-caring hard working father, a neurotic mother, a troubled boy and a darling little girl, cute as can be. But the family has a tragedy and what really happened? Well acted, well shot, a good late at night treasure.

If I were to use one word to describe this film, CREEPY would probably be it. But since this is one of my favorite psycho-thrillers, I'm gonna have to go slightly further than that. I will start off by stating that this is a masterpiece of horror filmmaking. It manages to thrill and entertain without the grotesque excesses of Bette Davis' other sixties shockers, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, or HUSH HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE. Don't get me wrong, these are also two very fine films, but let's face it, they go way over the top at times. THE NANNY, however, is one of Davis' most realistic chillers dealing with the popular servant problem. Davis' employers are convinced that she's Mary Poppins, but the child in her care knows much better. The little boy, fresh out of a children's asylum, has great difficulty convincing his stuffy parents that the nanny was responsible for his baby sister's death. But we in the audience knows who's telling the truth and who's not, right? Wrong!!!!! Screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, who wrote several scripts for these sixties psychological-horrors, has taken great care in manipulating the audience every which way he can that pretty soon it seems that no one or anything in the story is quite what they appear to be. This is one of Bette Davis' most memorable latter-day film roles, but the great supporting cast is worth mentioning too. William Dix is a standout as the disturbed little boy, Wendy Craig is genuinely affecting as the boy's infantile mother, Jill Bennett is simply magnificent as the level-headed aunt who, like her nephew, suspects that there's something not altogether right about the nanny. The most impressive performance, however, is given by the remarkable child actress Pamela Franklin who plays the pretty young girl upstairs that the boy confides in. For intriguing mystery and heart-pounding suspense, THE NANNY is highly recommended!!!!!

This 1965 thriller starring Bette Davis as the Nanny is pretty much a perfect thriller. This follows her great performance in another classic "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte". Much different in theme than that movie or "Baby Jane", "The Nanny" is non-stop suspense and tension right from the beginning until the twisty ending. With a superb story, excellent direction, and great performances, including William Dix as Joey, a 10 year old terror of a kid, who was suspected in the death of his little sister and put in an institution for a couple of years, and now has been returned home. His neurotic Mother is not too well herself, and the overbearing Father make this family a little dysfunctional, making the Nanny to be the most sane of them all. But is Joey's action and constant nagging at the Nanny and everybody else, actually the only truth going on, or is he just a truly bad seed? By the end of the movie, that is all too clear. Excellent movie in all departments, and for Bette Davis fans especially, this is a must-have. Seeing this way back when, it was also a pretty scary movie.

This is a rather oddly presented story with the common theme of something awry with the nanny....or butler or....anyone who you think you can trust.

Suspense films like this are excellent in that one really can guess what is to happen next, and the characters and their behavior is quite mercurial.

Wendy Craig , (who later starred in comedies such as "Butterflies" on NY station PBS) is good here as the mother of young Joey Fane, a troubled child with whom no one seems to know what to do with. Or is that really the case?. There is a Hitchcockian element to this story in that the black and white cinematography is slightly foreboding, little Joey's butter cream cake (to welcome him home after the hospital) looks inviting, but is it poison?.

Jill Bennett who has been in other films of this genre as the narcissistic aunt Virgie, who feels she is up to the task of minding Joey until odd occurrences begin to shake her resolve.

Ms. Davis as the nanny has a secret past, which is not divulged other than when we see the squalor in which her own daughter had lived. Her expressions are sublime, then jaw dropping. She acts with expression, her movements and beats are the mark of her talent. She does not need to vocalize what is percolating internally. A gem here worth seeing for Davis alone. 9/10.