The Nanny
Directed by Seth Holt
Written by Jimmy Sangster from a novel by Marryam Model
1965/UK
Hammer Films
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] The nanny: What was so bad about Mrs. Griggs?
Joey Fane: She was like you.[/box]
Bette Davis was the grandest of the dames during the era of psycho-biddy films. She is wonderful in this Hammer Studios thriller.
The nanny has been with the Fane family for years. She was nanny to mother Virginia Fane and her sister when they were girls, stayed on to serve the fragile Virgie, and went on to nanny for her children Joey and Susy. Susy was killed a couple of years before by drowning in the bathtub. The incident was blamed on young Joey. Joey is certain that the nanny did it but his smart mouth has not assisted his cause. He has just been released by the institution to which he was confined after the incident.
Joey refuses to eat anything the nanny prepares or to sleep, claiming fear of kindly old nanny. The action escalates to a rather predictable end.
Did Bette Davis ever turn in a bad performance? I think not. This is a solid thriller, nothing far out. Davis has a nice steely glint in her eye beneath all the Mary Poppins sweetness.
