User reviews

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.

The Nanny (1965, Dir. Seth Holt)

With Joey Fane (Dix) back home, all Virginia (Craig) and Bill (Villiers) Fane want is a calm and respectful atmosphere amongst the house. Only something is still disturbing Joey and that one thing is Nanny (Davis). Whilst Nanny is a loving woman who helps around the house, Joey sees her as someone else someone who believes is responsible for the death of his sister (Aubrey).

Wonderful classic British thriller which still keeps you hooked in now. Bette Davis creates a wonderful 'Nanny', which really gets you involved in the character. With a wonderful supporting cast, Horrors don't involve you anymore like this did.

What was so bad about Mrs. Griggs? – Nanny (Bette Davis)

She was like you. – Joey Fane (William Dix)

You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the nut job is in "The Nanny". This is Bette Davis in post "Baby Jane/Sweet Charlotte" mode. She's nanny to disturbed little Joey, (an excellent William Dix), who may or may not have drowned his little sister in the bathtub. Joey is a sulky little sod given to rather extreme practical jokes, (little pretending to hang himself), but one look at Mary Poppins Davis and you might be inclined to run a mile. That fine and underrated director Seth Holt directed his excellent psychological chiller well adapted by producer Jimmy Sangster from Evelyn Piper's novel. Davis is superb but so too are Wendy Craig and Jill Bennett as Dix's mother and aunt. It has now built up something of a cult reputation.

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!!!!!

Bette Davis (in thick eyebrows and speaking very precisely and condescendingly) plays a prim English governess who may or may not be responsible for the drowning death of a child left in her care. Oddly muffled, but absorbing, creepy and generally well-acted suspense-melodrama from Britain's Hammer Films. Crack screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, adapting Evelyn Piper's novel, includes a terrific role for precocious William Dix as the nanny's young nemesis, but the tools are not quite present in Piper's original material for Davis to let loose and make a grand show of it (she's "in character" throughout: tense, fake-polite and rather glum). Audiences in 1965 were probably hoping for a macabre camp-thriller, another entry in the "Baby Jane" subgenre of older actresses cast in psychological creep-outs, but the shocks are rather subdued. This restrained approach, however, works to the picture's advantage, as the scenario plays more effectively as a dark character portrait rather than as a screamer. Davis is backed by a solid supporting cast, including Pamela Franklin as an amusingly typical teenage girl who lives in the apartment upstairs, and many film-historians have now hailed the picture as one of the best Hammer productions from this era. *** from ****

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 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.

So many people associate Wendy Craig with comedy roles only; many are either too young, or simply don't remember that she played along side such diverse actors and Hollywood Greats as Dirke Bogarde and Bette Davis. In this - probably her greatest Movie, she gives an award-winning performance as the neurotic wife of a Queen's Messenger with a disturbed ten year old son.

This Movie could not go wrong with such a strong cast which included so many familiar greats as; Maurice Denham, Pamela Franklin and Jill Bennett to just mention one or two of them. Each actor gives their best in this gripping thriller from the outset. This Movie is not least made so great by no less than three wonderful child stars of the time - a feat that cannot be matched today, partly due to the fact that the age of the traditional Child Star has long left us... Angharad Aubrey, who plays the little dead girl Suzy in flashbacks is exceptionally talented at such a tender age, and surprisingly is never seen in Movies ever again. Not so surprising I suppose, when one considers that William Dix who plays Joey disappeared just a couple of years later, along with the famous Pamela Franklin who vanished from the Silver Screen never to return in 1976...

This Movie was difficult to get hold of when on Video release, and has only ever been done on DVD as a 'double' feature release with 'The Blue Lamp' which was a cheap and nasty way of issuing any Great British Classics.

I think the least one is told about this film, the better. The Viewer is best kept completely in the dark in order to enjoy it at its best. It's certainly a Movie I've savoured in my collection; having viewed it no less than thirty times to date, and still not tired!

There's nothing worse than an American attempting an English accent, or the other way round if not truly accomplished, but here, Bette Davis surpasses herself when she acts and sounds truly British. One ought to note that it is far more difficult to 'drop' an American accent, than it ever is to pick one up. Even the smaller parts are taken by well-known actors such as Alfred Burke and Harry Fowler.

Jill Bennett thoroughly enjoys herself in her dramatic role as the sickly sister; she always said that her idea of heaven was forever rehearsing - what a time she must have had here! Think about that one when you watch her in The Nanny!

Not to be missed!

Although Seth Holt is no Robert Aldrich and "The Nanny" is less than "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte," Bette Davis provides another classy performance from her fright-film period of the 1960's. These films were more Gothic tales than horror films, and Davis plays menacing characters with a depth and skill that raises them above the genre pieces they could have been.

A troublesome young boy returns home after a period in an institution. Despite the patience and understanding of the family nanny, the boy harbors an intense dislike for the woman and rejects any gifts, gestures, or overtures from her. When a series of malicious events takes place, the boy's complicity seems evident, or is it? Although fans of this type of film will guess the truth early on, the fun lies in the chase. While set in London, Davis plays the nanny with little attempt at an accent, but she is convincing and not entirely unsympathetic. The rest of the cast, headed by Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, and James Villiers, are English; and the crisp black-and-white photography by Harry Waxman captures London in the 1960s and the moody shadows of the family townhouse.

"The Nanny" is a tidy little film of modest aspirations with a talented cast and an intelligent script, even if the concept is not entirely original. Not a classic, but Bette Davis is worth watching, and the story is engaging for the film's tight 90 minutes..

Bette Davis gives her most chilling performance in this film. Her restraint is remarkable, following Baby Jane as this film did. If you ever want to see what passive aggressive looks like, watch this movie. I've seen it twice, and would want to see it again.

Many of the reviews posted here are giving away far too much of the plot, revealing too much of the mystery. It's best to watch this film cold, as I did, because most of the fun comes from the uncertainty surrounding the boy's accusations of malevolence against his loyal nanny, and the question of who's next to get knocked off. Whom are you to believe? Adding to the confusion, the movie is loaded with red herrings to throw us off track, and Bette Davis plays her part with such unblinking common-sense sincerity, it's hard to get a take on her. There are some clumsy bits, but the film held me in suspense all the way through. A good Hammer production, well-paced, perfect for a rainy afternoon. I have only one question - what's with Davis' weird Joan Crawford eyebrows?

Although she did have other and good roles in her last three decades, it seems that after Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, Bette Davis was forever trapped in the horror/fright genre where all good actresses of the studio era seemed to gravitate. No one gravitated more than Bette Davis.

Hammer Film, British horror specialists signed Davis for The Nanny. It's the day of the arrival home of William Dix the young son of James Villiers and Wendy Craig. It seems as though a few years back young Dix drowned his sister in a bathtub. He swears that it was The Nanny who did it. But everyone took Davis's word over a child. I'm also not understanding why if one kid was dead and one was in a psychiatric facility there was a need to keep a Nanny employed.

Why Dix was let out is a mystery to me since he was completely incorrigible in his incarceration. Maybe they needed bed space. When he gets home Dix really acts out hostility toward Davis.

What did happen to the little sister? There are as Catholic doctrine tells us sins of omission and sins of commission. Davis was guilty of a sin of omission but the results were fatal.

The fright part of this is that you never know until the end what really happened and just how to parse out the guilt. The Nanny is an all right piece of fright work from Hammer. It will never be rated as a top Bette Davis film.

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.

Joey, troubled young son to emotional mother Wendy Craig and strict father James Villiers returns home after 2 years care following a tragedy where his little sister drowned and he blamed the long time family nanny - Bette Davis. Still hating the nanny, no-one will believe Joey except his friend Pamela Franklin from the flat above, regarding the past and now, when Wendy Craig is poisoned.

Intelligent, well crafted Hitchcockian thriller held together with excellent performances all around from the kids, Wendy Craig and Jill Bennett as her sister. Throughout it all of course is Davis who has created a wonderful menacing nutter, who is far more complex than is first viewed. Her purposeful staring face is quite something to behold.

The sixties produced a lot of films based on a powerful matriarch after the release of Robert Altman's masterpiece What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, and The Nanny is an early take on the theme. Aside from the matriarch, the film also features another common movie character - 'the problem child', and the pair gets to face off in this tale of murder, mayhem and insanity! Hammer Horror would go on to become most famous for producing colourful horror films based on the classic stories of Dracula and Frankenstein, but directors such as Seth Holt and Freddie Francis made some of their best films with little thrillers such as this one. The Nanny isn't as great as Taste of Fear (also by Seth Holt), but it's not bad! The plot kicks off properly when we see the return of ten year old Joey Fane to his family home. He doesn't like the nanny that his mother has employed to help out the family, and she doesn't like him much either. He seems paranoid that she's going to poison him, but his teacher at the special school he was sent to explains that by stating that the boy doesn't like old women...

The most notable thing about this film is definitely the central performance from Bette Davis. Davis has the ability to completely carry a film on her shoulders, and not that I want to harm the credibility of this film; but that's pretty much what she does here. I have to say that I preferred her in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, as well as the later Hammer comedy The Anniversary - but here she turns in a performance that is both macabre and constantly intriguing, and is overall a huge credit to the film. The plotting is in that it keeps up the suspense for most of the running time, before dishing up a nice twist towards the end. The black and white picture definitely benefits the film, as it gives it that good old classic look and also provides more atmosphere than the film would have had if it was in colour. I suppose the only real criticism I can make of the film is that the plot sometimes drags, and there are long periods where not much happens. By the end, it's obvious that director Seth Holt was always building up to the conclusive twist; but it's well worked and the ending is likely to make most people that have watched it happy.

Being somebody that loved 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane', a film that 'The Nanny' has been often inevitably compared to, that was enough to intrigue me into seeing 'The Nanny'. As well as admiring Bette Davis hugely, liking the premise a lot and having liked to loved a lot of Hammer's films. The studio responsible for some of the best Frankenstein and Dracula (even if a couple of the latter films weren't so good) films as just some examples of their fine work.

'The Nanny' is not the best of Hammer House of Horror's work and not one of Davis's best films, but it has more than enough of what made their films as enjoyable as they were and what made Davis so appealing as an actress is also on display. The premise also isn't wasted, even if it wasn't fully realised. It is well worth watching and generally an effective "chiller" with a lot of great things, not on the same level as 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane' but the difference between them is not too wide at the same time.

Sure, there are things that could have been done better. Not all the pacing is quite there, with some of the pacing in the early stages dragging a bit.

As quite intriguing the flashbacks were, they would have been even more effective if they revealed things that actually did happen rather than the opposite. It would have made the viewer feel perhaps less cheated. The ending was gripping and well staged but the identity of the killer didn't shock me all that much.

It is a great-looking film though, beautifully and atmospherically shot, there is a genuine eeriness to the lighting and the Gothic look to the set design works to the film's advantage. The music is haunting without being melodramatic, while Seth Holt (one director who should have been better known) directs valiantly and with great skill throughout.

From start to finish, the script is intelligent and not rambling. While the flashbacks are flawed somewhat, the story is still very clever and has a genuine tension and chilling feel which builds increasingly as the story develops with twists and turns that always intrigue. All the acting is very good, with a restrained but very powerful in presence Davis (especially at the end) dominating. Another standout, despite the character perhaps not being very subtly written, is the beyond his years William Dix.

Overall, not great but effective despite the story at times needing more work. 7/10

"The Nanny" probably just started out as an attempt to cash in on the immense success of lead actress Bette Davis (who starred in "Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" the previous years) and – who knows - maybe even the profitable concept of "Mary Poppins", since that classic also revolved on the nanny/children relationship; albeit a much happier and cheerful one. By no means, however, this means that "The Nanny" is an inferior thriller production. Quite the contrary, this is a hugely atmospheric and very suspenseful pot-boiler and perhaps even one of Hammer's most underrated efforts ever. The legendary British horror studio is mainly known for its grueling takes on classic monster stories ("Dracula", "Frankenstein"…) and stupendous Sci-Fi movies (the "Quatermass" trilogy), but they were also responsible for several gore-free but spirited and story-driven psychological thrillers with a film-noir type of atmosphere, and "The Nanny" is unquestionably one of the highlights in this often overlooked sub category alongside "Hysteria" and "Paranoiac".

Our lead actress, with her uniquely creepy charisma and eyes that were sung about specifically (Bette Davis Eyes – Bette Davis' Eyes), stars as an exaggeratedly polite and overly dedicated nanny in a household full of neurotic outcasts. Mommy is an emotional wreck since the death of her cherubic daughter; daddy is a senseless prick who's never there when needed and ten-year-old son Joey just left a mental institution because he's suspected of drowning his sister. Joey hates Nanny with a passion, claims she killed little Suzy and now openly accuses her of wanting to do the same to him. No matter how patient and loving she tries to be, Joey's behavior grows increasingly aggressive and uncontrollable. Admittedly no one, not even the most inexperienced and/or unintelligent horror viewer, will have much trouble figuring out what's really going on quite early in the film already, but Hammer veterans Seth Holt ("Taste of Fear") and Jimmy Sangster ("Fear in the Night") nevertheless maintain the tension level high and the delivers the chills on a very regular basis. It's a slow-paced but non-stop ominous film, with the photography in good old black & white – which always adds to the atmosphere – and a truly depressing depiction of certain uptight British social classes. It's praiseworthy how, even though the denouement is transparent from the beginning, Holt and Sangster still manage to occasionally make you wonder who speaks the truth: the little boy who acts like Dennis The Menace on acid and simply asks for a thorough spanking … or the stoically cold but unimpeachable nanny? Davis is sublime, but young actor William Dix definitely doesn't have to yield to her persona as he gives away a marvelous performance. It even is truly incomprehensible and unfortunate that he just appeared in only one more movie after this.

There is just something not quite right when Bette Davis stars as an English nanny. And is her 10 year-old charge (William Dix) an emotionally disturbed murderer or just an insolent brat? When it comes to Hammer, I am not terribly familiar with director Seth Holt. Aside from "Blood From the Mummy's Tomb" (1971), he seemed to steer clear of the horror stuff. Even "Nanny" is not horror in the truest sense, leaning more towards suspense or thriller territory.

Whereas Holt is not well known to me, writer-producer Jimmy Sangster is something of a legend. Dracula? Frankenstein? Mummy? "The Snorkel"? All Sangster. And he does not disappoint us here, presently a complex psychological tale where each and every character seems to have something wrong with them.

The real gem of the picture? Not Bette Davis (who does alright, but I have personally never cared for her). Of course, it would be Pamela Franklin. Probably best known for "Legend of Hell House", she shines here as the teenage neighbor who may be up to no good... though nothing more than harmless trouble. I could watch anything with Franklin in it, which makes it all the more unfortunate that she has not acted in over thirty years.

Definitely a better than average film, and a great Hammer film -- even without mad scientists or vampires! (As far as 1965 goes, however, I did prefer "A Study in Terror". But two good films again this month!)

This story evokes fear and is sustained by suspicion. Bette Davis is the Nanny, who seems to have been with a strange and dysfunctional family forever. There is the almost helpless wife, self centered husband absorbed with his work and a bratty little boy that insists the Nanny drowned his little sister in the bathtub. The young boy(William Dix)returns home after being placed in a correctional home for a couple of years and appears to be more disturbed than ever. It becomes a battle of suspicions and will power between Nanny and the boy leaving you wondering who in the Hell is responsible for all the little evil deeds surrounding the family apartment.

At times Miss Davis seems passive and overwhelmed; then again she leaves an impression she is evil and down right creepy. Dix is so good in his role, you want to slap a knot on his head yourself. There is more suspense than horror, but just not shocking enough for my blood. Also in the cast are Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett and James Villiers.