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The Nanny
Bette Davis offers another of latter career, post graduate acting courses in a 1965 psychological melodrama called The Nanny that remains riveting despite a simplistic and confusing screenplay.
Davis plays the nanny/housekeeper for the Fanes, an English family who are still struggling with the effects of the death of their young daughter a year ago. Joey Fane is the 10 year old brother of the victim who was suspected of drowning his sister and was institutionalized because of it. Joey is now returning home to his stuffy father, Bill, his basket case of a mother Virginia, and his cynical Aunt Pen. Upon his return, Joey finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with the nanny because he believes she is the one who killed his sister , was responsible for him being sent away, and he is now convinced that Nanny is planning for him to be her next victim.
Jimmy Sangster's problematic screenplay is based on a novel by Evelyn Piper, that simultaneously telegraphs a lot of what is going while throwing the viewer enough red herrings that the viewer is never really sure what happened to the little girl or whether or not Joey's fears about his nanny are legitimate. A flashback about halfway through the film reveals that the daughter's death was an accident but a later peek into Nanny's backstory reveals that this might have not been the case. But the connection between Nanny's backstory and what happened to the little girl doesn't really make sense.
Sangster's screenplay also spends a lot of time telegraphing things that are going to happen. During the scene where we meet Joey's eccentric Aunt Pen, it is mentioned three times during a 15 second period that the woman has a heart condition and then five minutes later, Joey asks his mother if his aunt could be scared to death. It's made crystal clear that Aunt Pen is going to be dead before this story concludes, though it doesn't happen the way we expect. A major red herring is offered in the opening scene when our introduction to the character of Joey Fane is a shot of the boy pretending to hang himself.
Director Seth Holt does display some skill behind the camera, providing a couple of effective "boos" along the way , not to mention pulling some effective performances from his cast. Davis' taut and icy nanny, sporting eyebrows that would put Peter Gallagher to shame, offers a chillingly controlled performance. William Dix is splendid as Joey, one of the most despicable child movie characters ever. Wendy Craig is quite affecting as the hot mess Virginia and Jill Bennett is a lot of fun as Aunt Pen. Pamela Franklin also makes one of her earliest film appearances here as the teenage upstairs neighbor and confidante of Joey. It's an effective little thriller as long as you don't think about it too much.
Bette Davis offers another of latter career, post graduate acting courses in a 1965 psychological melodrama called The Nanny that remains riveting despite a simplistic and confusing screenplay.
Davis plays the nanny/housekeeper for the Fanes, an English family who are still struggling with the effects of the death of their young daughter a year ago. Joey Fane is the 10 year old brother of the victim who was suspected of drowning his sister and was institutionalized because of it. Joey is now returning home to his stuffy father, Bill, his basket case of a mother Virginia, and his cynical Aunt Pen. Upon his return, Joey finds himself engaged in a battle of wills with the nanny because he believes she is the one who killed his sister , was responsible for him being sent away, and he is now convinced that Nanny is planning for him to be her next victim.
Jimmy Sangster's problematic screenplay is based on a novel by Evelyn Piper, that simultaneously telegraphs a lot of what is going while throwing the viewer enough red herrings that the viewer is never really sure what happened to the little girl or whether or not Joey's fears about his nanny are legitimate. A flashback about halfway through the film reveals that the daughter's death was an accident but a later peek into Nanny's backstory reveals that this might have not been the case. But the connection between Nanny's backstory and what happened to the little girl doesn't really make sense.
Sangster's screenplay also spends a lot of time telegraphing things that are going to happen. During the scene where we meet Joey's eccentric Aunt Pen, it is mentioned three times during a 15 second period that the woman has a heart condition and then five minutes later, Joey asks his mother if his aunt could be scared to death. It's made crystal clear that Aunt Pen is going to be dead before this story concludes, though it doesn't happen the way we expect. A major red herring is offered in the opening scene when our introduction to the character of Joey Fane is a shot of the boy pretending to hang himself.
Director Seth Holt does display some skill behind the camera, providing a couple of effective "boos" along the way , not to mention pulling some effective performances from his cast. Davis' taut and icy nanny, sporting eyebrows that would put Peter Gallagher to shame, offers a chillingly controlled performance. William Dix is splendid as Joey, one of the most despicable child movie characters ever. Wendy Craig is quite affecting as the hot mess Virginia and Jill Bennett is a lot of fun as Aunt Pen. Pamela Franklin also makes one of her earliest film appearances here as the teenage upstairs neighbor and confidante of Joey. It's an effective little thriller as long as you don't think about it too much.