THE NANNY (20th Century Fox/Seven Arts 1965) Fox Home Video

Based on Marryam Modell’s mystery novel, Seth Holt’s The Nanny (1965) emerges as a rather disjointed thriller in which bewilderment and uncertainty generates more questions than answers. Initially, the project was proposed to Greer Garson – who wisely could not see her way to playing either dowdy or demonic, and thus, bowed out of the project. In restructuring the novel in movie format, screenwriter, Jimmy Sangster omitted Modell’s references to possible sexual abuse, thus diffusing much of the logic for all the tension that was to follow. The Nanny catches Bette Davis’ career on the downturn; considered as something of a ‘scream queen’ after her iconic performance as the emotionally-disturbed Jane Hudson in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Davis would find shadings of that character in this, her penultimate turn as the troubled caregiver with a past and an axe to grind. Herein, Davis is ‘Nanny’ – a proper English governess and housekeeper employed at the home of the Queen’s messenger, stoic Bill Fane (James Villier) and his emotionally fragile wife, Virginia (Wendy Craig). The two are supposed to retrieve their son, Joey (William Dix) from a nearby sanitarium where the boy has been placed for observation and disciplinary reformation after the death of his sister, Susy (Angharad Aubrey).

The institution’s headmaster, Dr. Beamaster (Maurice Denham) informs Bill that Joey is far from cured. In fact, Joey has recently accelerated his devilish pranks to terrorize the institution’s matron, Mrs. Griggs (Nora Gordon). Despite this forewarning, Joey is placed in his father’s care and reluctantly returns with Bill and Nanny to the family’s fashionable London flat. Increasingly, he is bitter, rude and condescending – particularly Nanny and his mother. Joey’s allegations – that Nanny is evil and out to poison him – seem unfounded conjecture at best. Indeed, Nanny goes out of her way to be kind to Joey. Meanwhile, Joey befriends Bobbie Medman (Pamela Franklin) the randy teenage daughter of Dr. Medman (Jack Watling) who is their upstairs neighbor. Bill is called away on weekend business. That evening, Virginia succumbs to a curious poisoning of her meat pie at dinner and is rushed to hospital by Dr. Medman to have her stomach pumped. Virginia’s sister, Pen (Jill Bennett) is called by Nanny to baby-sit for Joey.

So far, the narrative makes perfect sense with Joey being perceived as the evil in the Fane family home. Ah, but then screenwriter, Sangster interjects a few plot twists which damage the credibility of his entire story. First, a flashback in which the audience is privy to Susy’s death. Previously, Joey has told Bobbie that Nanny forcibly held Susy’s head underwater in the bathtub. Instead, the flashback reveals the child lost her footing on the tub’s edge while trying to retrieve her doll – falling unconscious into the tub with the curtain drawn. Making ready a bath for the children, Nanny – who was not home at the time of the accident – starts the water without drawing open the curtains first. The tub fills and the child, unintentionally drowned. This big reveal deflates the prospect Nanny is deliberately homicidal. The second problematic event Sangster infuses into the latter half of the film has to do with a rather sudden and unexpected escalation in violence directed at the family by Nanny. This begins with the ‘big reveal’ Pen suffers from a heart ailment requiring her to take a daily regiment of pills in order to survive. Waking in the middle of the night, Pen – who does not believe Joey’s claims about Nanny – suddenly becomes suspicious when she finds Nanny standing in the kitchen with a pillow. Pressed to the point, Nanny reveals the pillow is for Joey’s bed. Pen suffers an attack and Nanny, rather than saving her life, carries her to bed where she patiently waits for her to die. Nanny then tries to break into Joey’s bedroom where he has barricaded himself and smother him with the pillow. He is spared this fate at the last possible moment and Nanny is brought to justice.

What is most confusing about these final episodes is they shift the onus of evil incarnate away from Joey – who until then has been the purveyor of diabolical mischief he genuinely seems to derive pleasure from – to Nanny – who has displayed not one iota of these homicidal tendencies until the last act. Nor was she responsible for Susy’s accidental drowning. The screenplay by Sangster offers no explanation for Nanny’s sudden psychosis – no logical reason why she should turn on her lifelong commitment to the Fane family with whom she has been invested since Virginia’s rearing. If anything, the flashback reveal of Susy’s accidental death weakens the story’s credibility that Nanny is our villain. Instead, Nanny evolves into a tragic figure – the wrong person at the wrong time, whose actions inadvertently take the life of an innocent. The memory of Susy’s death then haunt her memory to wild distraction, until a complete nervous breakdown – presumably – is forthcoming. The character of Joey is the most problematic. As played by Dix, Joey is entirely unlikable or, for the most part, unredeemable. Take for example Joey’s emotionless response to being informed by Dr. Medman his mother has been poisoned and will have to be rushed to hospital. Herein, a ‘normal child’ might have seized the opportunity to inform Medman of his suspicions about Nanny and use the situation more wisely for leverage. Instead, Joey’s aloofness and lack of allegations play more like an extension of some innately perverse need to self-destruct, or connive and manipulate. Pamela Franklin is enigmatic in the few brief scenes she appears. The least affecting turn comes from James Villier – more menacing than fatherly, and, quite suspect for the chills and thrills until the screenplay jettisons him from the duration of the story. In the final analysis, The Nanny is diluted entertainment.

Fox Home Video’s DVD is disappointing at best. The anamorphic B&W image is faded throughout. Blacks are dull gray. Whites are dirty. Film grain is present as are age related artifacts. Contrast levels are weak and inconsistently rendered. The audio is mono but has a muffled characteristic at the beginning that renders some of the dialogue virtually inaudible. The orchestral music over the main title is shrill. Extras include a restoration comparison, TV spots, trailers and interactive press book.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3

EXTRAS

2