This psychological thriller from Hammer stars Bette Davis as a sinister nanny who is very much the antithesis of Mary Poppins!
Nanny works for the rather dysfunctional upper-crust Fane family: Busy diplomat Bill Fane (James Villiers) is cold and distant, and his fearful, tearful wife, Virginia (Wendy Craig), is in the throes of a nervous breakdown and teetering on the brink of madness following the drowning death two years ago of her baby daughter.
Their mischievous 10-year-old son Joey (an excellent performance from young William Dix) has recently been released from a special school for mentally disturbed children after he was blamed for the death of his baby sister Susy (Angharad Aubrey).
Bill and Virginia depend on Nanny – who also used to nanny for Virginia and her sister Pen (Jill Bennett) when they were children – for everything.
She is calm, kind and impeccably efficient in running the busy household. But Joey believes Nanny is trying to kill him, and his obsession tears the home apart.
He accuses Nanny of trying to poison him and trying to drown him in the bath. She accepts all his accusations with composure and resignation.
In an exciting and nightmarish climax, it is shown that Joey was right. Nanny’s carelessness was the true cause of the baby’s death, and Nanny – crazed by this and the death of her own daughter – has been protecting herself murderously at Joey’s expense.
At the last moment, however, when she has him completely at her mercy, she cannot bring herself to kill him.
Nanny
Bette Davis Virginia Fane
Wendy Craig Aunt Pen
Jill Bennett Bill Fane
James Villiers Joey Fane
William Dix Bobbie Medman
Pamela Franklin Dr Medman
Jack Watling Dr Beamaster
Maurice Denham Dr Wills
Alfred Burke Susy Fane
Angharad Aubrey Mrs Griggs
Nora Gordon Sarah
Sandra Power Milkman
Harry Fowler
Nanny works for the rather dysfunctional upper-crust Fane family: Busy diplomat Bill Fane (James Villiers) is cold and distant, and his fearful, tearful wife, Virginia (Wendy Craig), is in the throes of a nervous breakdown and teetering on the brink of madness following the drowning death two years ago of her baby daughter.
She is calm, kind and impeccably efficient in running the busy household. But Joey believes Nanny is trying to kill him, and his obsession tears the home apart.
