The Nanny **** (1965, Bette Davis, Jill Bennett, William Dix, James Villiers, Wendy Craig, Pamela Franklin, Maurice Denham, Jack Watling) – Classic Movie Review 6943

Director Seth Holt’s 1965 suspense thriller The Nanny stars Bette Davis, who came to Britain to Elstree Studios to work for Hammer Film Productions as the supposedly devoted English Nanny with a dark secret in charge of a disturbed little 10-year-old boy called Joey Fane (William Dix). He has just returned from two years in a children’s special school home being treated for apparently drowning his little toddler sister in the bath, though he says that Nanny did it.

Bette Davis in The Nanny (1965).

Heading a classy cast, Davis gives a restrained, effective performance, and the actors, director and writer-producer Jimmy Sangster ensure a high level of thriller entertainment. With a good English accent, Davis integrates nicely with the British cast. Wendy Craig is outstanding as the boy’s neurotic mother, with Jill Bennett not far behind as her sickly sister, Aunt Pen.

With Sangster’s screenplay based on the novel by Evelyn Piper (a pseudonym for Merriam Modell), the satisfying, twisting tale is chillingly directed by Holt, with plenty of suspense and tension.

Also in the cast are Jill Bennett, James Villiers, Wendy Craig, Pamela Franklin, Maurice Denham, Jack Watling, Nora Gordon, Sandra Power, Alfred Burke, Angharad Aubrey and Harry Fowler.

The Nanny is directed by Seth Holt, runs 95 minutes, is made by Hammer Film Productions, is released by Associated British, is written by Jimmy Sangster, based on the novel by Evelyn Piper [Merriam Modell], is shot in black and white by Harry Waxman, is produced by Jimmy Sangster, and is scored by Richard Rodney Bennett.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6943

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