Ten year old Joey returns home to his parent's plush London home after a stint at a residential school for troubled kids. Before he arrives his fragile mother Virgie tells the family Nanny (Hollywood legend Bette Davis) "Nanny, I don't want him home." Hardly surprising, just before being picked up by his father and Nanny he plays a trick in which he pretends to have hung himself! When home he insists he no longer needs Nanny. Joey is a right brat, he plays a trick on Nanny by placing a large doll belonging to his teen female neighbour face down in a bath (his younger sister drowned this way, he may or may not have been responsible). He pushes a flower box off a balcony which nearly lands on the milkman, the angry fella tells Nanny that the boy is a "homicidal nut." In a flashback scene Joey tells his younger sister to "Go and play with your dolls, that's all girls can do!" The Nanny is more of a suspenseful and dark psychological thriller than a horror, it was also Hammer's final black and white film, and indeed it looks fabulous in b & w. Needless to say that this movie is best known for starring the great Bette Davis and she is excellent but for me young William Dix as Joey gives the best performance. Truly outstanding, though all of the cast are very good and their performances are what makes this such a gripping movie to watch. On the downside I would like to have seen a few more scares to perhaps push this more into psycho horror territory but that's just a minor gripe, The Nanny is an excellent film.
Review of The Nanny
