Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5818 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-01-29
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Synopsis
Joey is a troubled boy accused of drowning his little sister in a bathtub and institutionalised, though he claims the family's old, trusted Nanny is the killer. When his return is followed by the deaths of his aunt and mother, Joey is again a prime suspect. Based on Evelyn Piper's novel, THE NANNY is a stylish whiteknuckler with Bette Davis' menace at its peak.

Customer Reviews

"What HAPPENED!!"
An excellent chiller here from Hammer (1965) crisply shot in black and white, Bette Davis, for once underplays her role as a family Nanny to an affluent London household. With a superb and solid British supporting cast including Wendy Craig and Jill Bennett. Young William Dix plays the 10 year old boy. There will be no spoilers here, however credit has to go to Jill Bennett as 'Aunt Penn' whose acting is excellent and soon discovers 'Nanny' is not all she seems to be...
Chilling and disturbing.

Unusual Hammer film
Bette Davis stars in the title role of this much better than average Hammer film from the mid 1960's. Shot in crisp black and white, with excellent performances from the cast, this is certainly one of Hammers best efforts. It benefits strongly from being a subtle thriller, rather than the gothic blood soaked efforts the company is more famous for.

It is cleverly written so that it is never clear until quite near the end of the film exactly who is the guilty one. Without giving too much away the crux of the story is which one of The Nanny or the 10 year old boy is the unhinged one. Could it be both of them? I have only watched the DVD once, and will probably watch it again just to make sure I've understood it correctly!

By the way the Amazon synopsis is incorrect (I won't say in exactly what way) so expect to see one or both of the Aunt and Mother alive and well...

This is certainly amongst the 10 best Hammer films I have seem and quite possibly even my top 5. It is also part of the Hammer Collection 21 Disc Collectors box set, which is well worth considering as well.

Bette Davis, the Nanny from Hell!
An apparently wicked 10 year old boy is released from an institution for allegedly killing his younger sister, and, once ensconced in the middle class family home, the film explores the tensions between him and the family's Nanny... Is he really evil or is there something about the nanny we (or his parents) don't know? Bette Davis is superb as the sinister Nanny,in a performance remisnicent of her roles in 'Whatever happened to Baby Jane' and 'Hush hush sweet Charlotte.' And Wendy Craig is effective as the neurotic, dependent mother.But perhaps the best performance is the young Seth Holt's as the troubled boy, Joey. This is a great Hammer film and a rejoinder to its detractors, proof that the studio could produce well scripted quality thrillers besides churning out seemingly endless (and sometimes corny) Frankenstein and Dracula sequels.