The Nanny

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Cast & Crew

Bette Davis
Nanny

Wendy Craig
Virginia "Virgie" Fane

Jill Bennett
Aunt Pen

James Villiers
Bill Fane

William Dix
Joey Fane

Pamela Franklin
Bobbie Medman

Jack Watling
Dr. Medman

Alfred Burke
Dr. Wills

Maurice Denham
Dr. Beamaster

Nora Gordon
Mrs. Griggs

Seth Holt
Director

Jimmy Sangster
Producer

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Critic Reviews for The Nanny

Audience Reviews for The Nanny

• Nov 18, 2012

  One of Hammer Films' most accomplished works. An eerie and ambiguous psychological thriller that deals with some disturbing taboo themes inside family, sort of the common groundwork for novelist Evelyn Piper, the same who wrote the more popular "Bunny Lake is Missing". Filmed in a gloriously stark black and white, effortlessly attaining a claustrophobic, lurid and bleak atmosphere. Bette Davis, reinventing herself in those years as a horror muse after Robert Aldrich's "What ever happened to baby jane?", shows again her subtle but acute acting chops. My only regret is that the end seems watered down, just after reaching its real sense of menace.
  Pierluigi P Super Reviewer
• Jul 04, 2011

  A really good and criminally overlooked gem from classic British Horror studio Hammer, starring the always wonderful Bette Davis. Story revolves around a young boy named Joey who was recently released from a mental institution for troubled youth. He was locked up for the accidental death of his sister who drowned in the bath tub a few years earlier. Joey maintains that he was innocent and that the family Nanny was to blame. Naturally no one believes him and upon returning home nothing has changed between him and the Nanny, who remains at their home to care for Joey's mother who is something of a grown up child herself in the wake of her daughters death. I went into this movie knowing nothing of it and was really pleased with the results. The story is really well told and your never really sure who to believe, especially since Joey's character does seem to be a rotten little hellian. Bette Davis and the kid who played Joey both delivered excellent performances, and I would strongly recommend this under seen Horror classic.
  Ed Fucking H Super Reviewer
• May 10, 2010

  I thought for sure that The Nanny was going to turn out to be some campy and gaudy forgettable film in the twilight of the career of Bette Davis. What it actually turns out to be is a sadly overlooked powerhouse performance by Davis that's every bit as horrific as it is beautifully sad. Unfortunately you're probably going to spend most of The Nanny's 90-minute running time hating William Dix's (Joey's) guts when you're not mildly entertained by Pamela Franklin's upstairs neighbor performance. The flashbacks are well done and pretty frightening even if The Nanny isn't the standard Hammer film. It's easy to bunch this one in with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane and Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte even thought its completely different, but at the same time it reminded me more of Bunny Lake is Missing. For as short of a movie as The Nanny is it's kind of a long watch but worth it in the end.
  Michael G Super Reviewer
• Dec 15, 2009

  From Hammer Horror comes a creepy, psychological thriller starring Bette Davis in one of the roles which cemented her late calling as nutjob and expert in playing lunatics. The film evolves around a typical family and the aftermath of a little girls death. With accusations of murder and neglect being thrown around, the movie soon foucsses on a cat-and-mouse play between The Nanny, the son and other family members. Despite being fairly minimal in its scope and direction (which works fine by the way), the movie is unusally hard to crack and you will not know what has been going on in the oast and is going on in the present until the very end of the movie. The Nanny is not as camp and trashy as other Hammer Horror movies and reminds me of Rosemary's Baby for that matter. Bette Davis flagships the cast, but the rest is quite good as well. The movie is ot as creepy as it could have been, but when a creepy moments finally rears its head, it becomes quite edgy and disturbing, detouring from you usual horror shock toolbox and delivering deep and irritating pictures and suggestions, which is refreshing for every horror fan out there. Still, the movie revolves around one big showdown and the uncertainty of what happened in the past. Evevrything else that is going on between the family does not carry much weight and thus, the movie has the tendency to drag on, whenever Bette Davis is not on screen and takes even longer to get going. I would recommend this movie to every fan of Bette Davis and Hammer Horror. HX
  Henrik S Super Reviewer

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