The Nanny (1965)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1965
Running Times: 93 mins
Format: black and white     35mm
Ratio:
Sound:

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Hammer Films / Associated British Productions Limited / Seven Arts Productions
Producer: Jimmy Sangster
Production Manager: George Fowler

SCRIPT
Script: Jimmy Sangster
Novel: Evelyn Piper (real name: Marryam Modell)

DIRECTION
Director: Seth Holt
Assistant Director: Christopher Dryhurst

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Harry Waxman
Camera Operator: Kelvin Pike

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Tom Simpson

MUSIC
Musical Supervisor: Philip Martell
Music: Richard Rodney Bennett

SOUND
Recording Supervisor: A.W. Lumkin
Sound Recordist: Norman Coggs
Sound Editor: Charles Crafford
Sound System: RCA Sound System

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Tom Smith
Hair: A.G. Scott
Wardrobe Mistress: Mary Gibson
Wardrobe Consultant: Rosemary Burrows

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Edward Carrick

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Renée Glynne

LOCATIONS
Locations: Elstree Studios of Associated British Productions Limited, Herts, England, UK

CAST
Bette Davis (Nanny)
Wendy Craig (Virgie)
Jill Bennett (Pen)
James Villiers (Bill)
William Dix (Joey)
Pamela Franklin (Bobby)
Jack Watling (Dr Medman)
Maurice Denham (Dr Beamaster)
Alfred Burke (Dr Wills)
Nora Gordon (Mrs Griggs)
Sandra Power (Sarah)
Harry Fowler (milkman)
Angharad Aubrey (Susy)

PLOT SUMMARY

After spending two years in a school for disturbed children after he was implicated in the drowning of his sister, ten-year-old Joey returns home where he begins a war of nerves with his Nanny. He's convinced that Nanny is trying to kill him and that she was the one who murdered his sister. But is Joey telling the truth, and if he is how can he persuade anyone of the danger he's in?

Hammer, having recently signed a production deal with Seven Arts, contradicted their previous policy and began building their movies around a recognisable name. Bette Davis, whose career had been revitalised by Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), was cast in the title role of this psychological thriller. Whereas previous Hammer attempts at "psycho thriller" ripped off Les diaboliques (1955), The Nanny is the art hit The Servant (1963) played as mystery chiller without the social commentary pretensions. Davis, without any of the camp seen in Baby Jane, is terrifyingly still as the murderous Mary Poppins and the film is stunningly directed by Seth Holt, especially a cold blooded murder scene as The Nanny lets a woman die an agonisingly slow death. Holt, whose career was blighted by alcoholism, should have gone on to direct If..., eventually helmed by Lindsay Anderson. The Nanny is one of the great neglected horror thrillers.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: Warner-Pathe Distributors Limited

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century-Fox

Finland
Rating: K-16

Sweden
Rating: 15

USA
Rating: unrated

1965
October
27: USA - theatrical release

November
7: UK - theatrical release

1966
March
23: Sweden - theatrical release

June
3: Finland - theatrical release

2001
December
21: USA - television broadcast (on Turner Classic Movies)

2006
August
26: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London
31: UK - shown at the National Film Theatre, London

Would you trust the nanny... or the boy?

Barnjungfrun - Swedish title
Kuolema kulkee talossa - Finnish title
A merced del odio - Spanish title
Nanny la governante - Italian title

MAGAZINES

British National Film Catalogue vol.3 (1965) (UK)
credits, synopsis

Daily Cinema no.9125 (6 October 1965) p.9
review

Dark Terrors no.9 (November 1994) pp.18-21 (UK)
illustrated article

Film Daily vol.127 no.77 (20 October 1965) p.5 (USA)
review

Hollywood Reporter vol.187 no.41 (19 October 1965) p.3 (USA)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.32 no.382 (November 1965) p.164 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Variety 13 October 1965 (USA)
credits, review

BOOKS

The Hammer Story pp.92-93
illustrated article, review (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

KEYWORDS

book into film, nannies, abortions, children, drowning, hanging, infanticide, paranoia

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008