The Nanny
Tags: murder

Plot synopsis:
Jewish-American Fran Fine turns up on the doorstep of British Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) to sell cosmetics after having been both dumped and fired by her boyfriend and employer Danny Imperialli. Instead, she finds herself the nanny of Maxwell's three children, Maggie, Brighton, and Grace. Maxwell Sheffield is unhappy about it at first, but Fran turns out to be just what he and his family needed.
While Fran Fine manages the children, butler Niles (Daniel Davis) manages the household and watches all the events that unfold with Fran as the new nanny. Niles, recognizing Fran's gift for bringing warmth back to the family, does his best to undermine Maxwell's business partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane) who has her eyes on the very available Maxwell Sheffield. Niles is often seen making witty comments directed towards C.C with C.C often replying with a comment of her own in their ongoing game of one-upmanship.
As the series progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that Maxwell is smitten with Fran even though he won't admit it, and Fran is smitten with him. The show teases the viewers with their closeness and "near misses" as well as with an engagement. Towards the later seasons, they finally marry and expand their family by having fraternal twins. By the end of the series, it's also clear that Niles and C.C.'s constant sharp barbs are their bizarre form of flirtation and after a few false starts (including multiple impulsive and failed proposals from Niles) the pair marry in the series finale.
=== Episodes ===
=== Main characters ===
Fran Fine is the nasal voiced, outgoing protagonist of the series who stumbles upon the Sheffields' doorstep and winds up as the nanny to Mr. Sheffield's three children: Maggie, Brighton, and Grace. She starts off working for her boyfriend Danny Imperialli in a bridal shop but is dumped and fired not long after by that same boyfriend. She ends up meeting Maxwell Sheffield and his family while going door to door to sell cosmetics. Her character has an outgoing and humorous personality. Fran, as a result of her mother's overbearing personality, often feels the need to date and is compelled to get married as well. She is usually seen getting into trouble and having to solve those problems through using her street smarts.
Maxwell Sheffield is the male protagonist who ends up hiring Fran Fine to watch over his three children, Maggie, Brighton, and Grace. He is a widowed Broadway producer, having lost his wife Sara four years before the start of the series. While he does have some success as a Broadway producer, he remains constantly in the shadow of his rival Andrew Lloyd Webber, who always seems to have the upper hand. He does not spend a lot of time with his children due to his busy schedule, hence he ends up hiring Fran Fine as the children's nanny. Despite his mutual attraction to Fran, he tries to keep their relationship professional for fear of commitment.
Margaret Sheffield is the eldest child of Maxwell Sheffield. She is constantly seen bickering with her brother, Brighton, who views her as a nerd. While she is constantly fighting with Brighton, her relationship with her sister, Grace, is more one of mentorship. Towards the beginning of the series, Maggie is shy and awkward but, with Fran's influence, she becomes a somewhat popular young woman. Upon meeting Fran Fine, the two bond almost instantly.
Brighton Sheffield is the middle child of the family and the only son of Maxwell Sheffield. Due to being the only son, he often feels left out. This causes him to purposely bring about trouble for his two sisters. He doesn't bond with Fran Fine at first, having disliked all his previous nannies, but eventually becomes close with her as well. He plans to become a Broadway producer, like his father.
Grace Sheffield is the youngest child in the Sheffield family. She has a habit of naming medical conditions and complicated words. When Fran first became her nanny, Grace was in therapy. But, under Fran Fine's influence and guidance, she eventually doesn't need therapy any more. As the two became close to one another Grace started picking up some of Fran's Jewish slang and dressing habits, eventually thinking of Fran as a mother to her.
C.C. Babcock is the egocentric business partner of Maxwell Sheffield, with whom she has been working for almost 20 years. She clearly wants him as more than a business partner. Maxwell, however, appears oblivious and Babcock has yet to make a serious move on him. She never seems to be able to remember the names of Maxwell's three children. From her first meeting with Fran Fine, she accurately views the newly hired nanny as a threat and tries to undermine her. Fran is not C.C.'s only enemy in the Sheffield house, as she has an even more contentious relationship with his longtime butler Niles (who hates her just as much as she hates him).
Niles is the loyal butler and chauffeur for the Sheffield family. He and Maxwell have known each other their whole lives. He bonds with Fran Fine immediately, viewing her as the breath of fresh air that the Sheffield family needs. Niles is known as the household snoop as he is constantly seen listening in on conversations via intercoms, keyholes, and even in the very rooms where the conversations are taking place. He tends to manipulate events in Fran's favor to undermine C.C., his nemesis. In spite of this, over time it becomes clear that Niles has himself fallen for C.C. and their contentious relationship is a cover for mutual lust.

Review: A nice simple story told with powerful flashbacks, Bette Davis gives a terrific, controlled performance as the perfect nanny to a dysfunctional family -a non-caring hard working father, a neurotic mother, a troubled boy and a darling little girl, cute as can be.
The one problem, as with all films dealing with troublesome kids is that William Dix's Joey is so rotten in the beginning that one wants someone to knock him off, also he displays an unusual amount of intelligence for a 10 year old boy.
The Nanny (1965, Dir. Seth Holt) With Joey Fane (Dix) back home, all Virginia (Craig) and Bill (Villiers) Fane want is a calm and respectful atmosphere amongst the house.
Whilst Nanny is a loving woman who helps around the house, Joey sees her as someone else someone who believes is responsible for the death of his sister (Aubrey).Wonderful classic British thriller which still keeps you hooked in now.
William Dix is a standout as the disturbed little boy, Wendy Craig is genuinely affecting as the boy's infantile mother, Jill Bennett is simply magnificent as the level-headed aunt who, like her nephew, suspects that there's something not altogether right about the nanny.
With a superb story, excellent direction, and great performances, including William Dix as Joey, a 10 year old terror of a kid, who was suspected in the death of his little sister and put in an institution for a couple of years, and now has been returned home.
In this - probably her greatest Movie, she gives an award-winning performance as the neurotic wife of a Queen's Messenger with a disturbed ten year old son.This Movie could not go wrong with such a strong cast which included so many familiar greats as; Maurice Denham, Pamela Franklin and Jill Bennett to just mention one or two of them.
Not so surprising I suppose, when one considers that William Dix who plays Joey disappeared just a couple of years later, along with the famous Pamela Franklin who vanished from the Silver Screen never to return in 1976...This Movie was difficult to get hold of when on Video release, and has only ever been done on DVD as a 'double' feature release with 'The Blue Lamp' which was a cheap and nasty way of issuing any Great British Classics.I think the least one is told about this film, the better.
It's certainly a Movie I've savoured in my collection; having viewed it no less than thirty times to date, and still not tired!There's nothing worse than an American attempting an English accent, or the other way round if not truly accomplished, but here, Bette Davis surpasses herself when she acts and sounds truly British.
"The Nanny" probably just started out as an attempt to cash in on the immense success of lead actress Bette Davis (who starred in "Hush  Hush, Sweet Charlotte" and "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" the previous years) and  who knows - maybe even the profitable concept of "Mary Poppins", since that classic also revolved on the nanny/children relationship; albeit a much happier and cheerful one.
The legendary British horror studio is mainly known for its grueling takes on classic monster stories ("Dracula", "Frankenstein") and stupendous Sci-Fi movies (the "Quatermass" trilogy), but they were also responsible for several gore-free but spirited and story-driven psychological thrillers with a film-noir type of atmosphere, and "The Nanny" is unquestionably one of the highlights in this often overlooked sub category alongside "Hysteria" and "Paranoiac".Our lead actress, with her uniquely creepy charisma and eyes that were sung about specifically (Bette Davis Eyes  Bette Davis' Eyes), stars as an exaggeratedly polite and overly dedicated nanny in a household full of neurotic outcasts.
Admittedly no one, not even the most inexperienced and/or unintelligent horror viewer, will have much trouble figuring out what's really going on quite early in the film already, but Hammer veterans Seth Holt ("Taste of Fear") and Jimmy Sangster ("Fear in the Night") nevertheless maintain the tension level high and the delivers the chills on a very regular basis.
It's praiseworthy how, even though the denouement is transparent from the beginning, Holt and Sangster still manage to occasionally make you wonder who speaks the truth: the little boy who acts like Dennis The Menace on acid and simply asks for a thorough spanking  or the stoically cold but unimpeachable nanny?
Crack screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, adapting Evelyn Piper's novel, includes a terrific role for precocious William Dix as the nanny's young nemesis, but the tools are not quite present in Piper's original material for Davis to let loose and make a grand show of it (she's "in character" throughout: tense, fake-polite and rather glum).
Davis is backed by a solid supporting cast, including Pamela Franklin as an amusingly typical teenage girl who lives in the apartment upstairs, and many film-historians have now hailed the picture as one of the best Hammer productions from this era.
This is a rather oddly presented story with the common theme of something awry with the nanny....or butler or....anyone who you think you can trust.Suspense films like this are excellent in that one really can guess what is to happen next, and the characters and their behavior is quite mercurial.Wendy Craig , (who later starred in comedies such as "Butterflies" on NY station PBS) is good here as the mother of young Joey Fane, a troubled child with whom no one seems to know what to do with.
There is a Hitchcockian element to this story in that the black and white cinematography is slightly foreboding, little Joey's butter cream cake (to welcome him home after the hospital) looks inviting, but is it poison?.Jill Bennett who has been in other films of this genre as the narcissistic aunt Virgie, who feels she is up to the task of minding Joey until odd occurrences begin to shake her resolve.Ms. Davis as the nanny has a secret past, which is not divulged other than when we see the squalor in which her own daughter had lived.
Although Seth Holt is no Robert Aldrich and "The Nanny" is less than "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte," Bette Davis provides another classy performance from her fright-film period of the 1960's.
These films were more Gothic tales than horror films, and Davis plays menacing characters with a depth and skill that raises them above the genre pieces they could have been.A troublesome young boy returns home after a period in an institution.
The rest of the cast, headed by Wendy Craig, Jill Bennett, and James Villiers, are English; and the crisp black-and-white photography by Harry Waxman captures London in the 1960s and the moody shadows of the family townhouse."The Nanny" is a tidy little film of modest aspirations with a talented cast and an intelligent script, even if the concept is not entirely original.
Hammer Horror would go on to become most famous for producing colourful horror films based on the classic stories of Dracula and Frankenstein, but directors such as Seth Holt and Freddie Francis made some of their best films with little thrillers such as this one.
He seems paranoid that she's going to poison him, but his teacher at the special school he was sent to explains that by stating that the boy doesn't like old women...The most notable thing about this film is definitely the central performance from Bette Davis.
The Nanny (1965) *** (out of 4)Joey (William Dix) is a ten-year-old boy who was accused of killing his younger sister and he's been spending time away at a home for troubled children.
The entire point of the film is its mystery as to what exactly the kid did and what exactly the nanny did and Davis makes it believable because of her brilliant performance.
There was something I didn't like about this smiling old girl right from the get-go, Pamela Franklin eyes--sorry, Bette Davis eyes--or no Bette Davis eyes.Speaking of Pamela Franklin, she's the one spot of good cheer in the film, playing the young upstairs neighbor to the little fellow brought home, and actually managing to have a few normal conversations with said terror-tyke, once they've met on the fire-escape of the building.
Visiting auntie--somewhat cooler than the mother but slowed down by a bad heart--not quite able to soothe all the never-ending tension.Of course the power of Bette Davis is such that no matter how unrelentingly bratty and vile the kid is, the smiling persecuted Nanny is scarier.
I confess she seemed like someone who could lose it and go ballistic at any moment, but it's Bette Davis, and strange thoughts can enter one's head in that case.Recommended to me by: Fangoria Magazine # 300, featuring a List of the "300 Best" Horror films (2011).
A neat psychological study with heavily browed Bette Davis (as Nanny) prepared for the return of ten-year-old William Dix (as Joey Fane), after two years in an institution for the emotionally disturbed.
******** The Nanny (10/27/65) Seth Holt ~ Bette Davis, William Dix, Jill Bennett, Wendy Craig.
Sweet Charlotte" are certainly better known Bette Davis Camp Classics, but "The Nanny" should be included in any true fan's film library.
Many critics at the time turned their haughty noses up at the thriller/horror films of Bette Davis.
The score (by Richard Rodney Bennett)gives the film an unsettling dream like sound.Of course, it's Bette Davis as Nanny, who won't let viewers take their eyes off the screen.
And sure enough, it transpires that director Seth Holt was forced to film extra footage by a Hollywood executive who, having been treated to a preview screening and expecting an upbeat finalé, had questioned 'Where's the ending?'.Still, ignore the ridiculous last couple of minutes, and The Nanny is a superb movie.All of her life, Virginia (Wendy Craig) has relied on her trusted nanny (a creepy Bette Davis, whose eyebrows steal every scene she is in) for day-to-day help and companionship.
Not if you believe Virginia's ten year old son Joey (William Dix), who has just returned home after two years in an institution, having been blamed for the accidental death of his sister: he claims that nanny killed her!With great performances (particularly from youngster Dix, and Pamela Franklin, who plays his pretty teenage neighbour Bobbie), solid direction, a story that keeps you guessing until near to the end, and some quite nasty moments, The Nanny is, quite simply, one of Hammer's best movies.I'm going to pretend that the daft ending to this film never existed and give it 8 out of 10..
SPOILER ALERT: BUT I HAVE TRIED TO GIVE THIS FILM AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS AS I FEEL IT WARRANTS THAT.A ten-year-old boy called Joey Fane (William Dix) returns home after two years of psychiatric treatment to cure his suspected guilt complex, after he was blamed for the accidental drowning of his little sister in the bath tub.
Bette Davies is first class as the nanny, William Dix is superb as Joey, while Wendy Craig and James Villiers are both flawless in the roles as the bewildered and troubled parents.
It becomes a battle of suspicions and will power between Nanny and the boy leaving you wondering who in the Hell is responsible for all the little evil deeds surrounding the family apartment.At times Miss Davis seems passive and overwhelmed; then again she leaves an impression she is evil and down right creepy.
This all adds to the air of mystery and the film keeps you guessing until late on.Then we have the boy's nanny, a sinister woman with a very creepy vibe about her, played to perfection by the one and only Bette Davis.
As I said, this is a "little" film as its only real star is Davis and it just shows that a small budget does not mean the movie is second-rate.The story involves a nanny who had worked in a home with two kids.
No one gravitated more than Bette Davis.Hammer Film, British horror specialists signed Davis for The Nanny.
This is a British film which stars Bette Davis as a nanny for a family living in London in which a young boy has been sent away for supposedly killing his sister.
After a young girl tragically dies in the bath, her family sends her older brother away to an institution- fearing he was responsible for her death.However, upon his return home, he is adamant that the nanny did it.As close calls continue and mysterious poisonings become the norm...both the nanny and the boy lay the blame on each other.But the film is constructed in a way, as to heighten suspense, and keep you in the dark as to who the true culprit really is.Though, the original incident may very well have been an accident that both played a part in (unbeknownst to the other).
Too rarely seen, THE NANNY is arguably the last good, textured role Bette Davis played on the big screen.A subtle psychological thriller about a mental competition between an English governess and a 10-year old boy suspected of murdering his sister, THE NANNY is as low-key and understated as WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE were baroque.A surprisingly effective "small" film, this is no schlock horror picture by any stretch.
It stars Bette Davis, Wendy Craig, William Dix, Jill Bennett, James Villiers and Pamela Franklin.
Secrets will out...A psychological thriller of some substance from Hammer Film Productions, The Nanny thrives on deft story telling and acting of quality from Bette Davis.There's a slight annoyance that the mystery element of the story struggles to command interest, because the title of the film kind of tells us what is wrong in the Fane household equation, but the constant battle between young Joey (Dix excellent as a kid being stubborn and aggressive, but alienated) and Nanny Bette is riveting.Holt builds the core of the story patiently, the Fane house is a fraught place, Craig's mom is perched on the edge of a break down, Villiers' papa a stiff backed type not nearly at home enough and emotionally cut off from the worries of his wife and child.
IMDb 7.2/10 ROTTENTOMATOES 3.7/5 A boy wants his nanny out of his life.I think this film is widely overrated.Most of the performances are mediocre, except for Bette Davis and the little girl (she performs for just a minute).
Bette Davis is very good, and William Dix was as effective as a child actor can be.
Throughout the film, you keep on thinking to yourself, that she has definitely got a dark side that is going to come out and when it does, she uses her unique eyes to frighten you even more.The suspense carries on throughout the film and keeps you guessing at every corner and you become afraid of what might happen to other characters that enter, like Aunt Pen. You think that Joey, the boy, is going to kill them all in the night.I bought the DVD of this film only because it was a Hammer film, it had a script by Jimmy Sangster and it starred Bette Davis, but I got a lot more than I bargained for..
Probably director Seth Holt's most famous film, "The Nanny" of 1965 is a different, but highly suspenseful thriller from the great British Hammer Studios.
After the success of Robert Aldrich's "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" (1962) and "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" (1964), the aging Bette Davis had established herself in the Horror/Thriller genre, and "The Nanny" definitely is a film that strongly relies on this great leading actress.Having spent a longer period of time in a special boarding school for disturbed children after his baby sister's mysterious death, 10-year old Joey is released to go home to his parents' house.
William Dix was really good as the boy Joey, both he and Davis needed to carry the film because the other characters were somewhat peripheral, and both met the challenge--a bit harder, one expects, for a ten year old than an accomplished and experienced actress.
Charlotte Vale, Gone a Little Mad. While Crawford was appearing with a mountain of hair in the low-budget William Castle film I SAW WHAT YOU DID, Bette Davis, her parallel actress/sister in life, was appearing in a Hammer production called THE NANNY.
It's when something really bad happens to Aunt Pen (Jill Bennett) that the spades come flying down, but even then, Nanny has a strange hold on the viewer, and her story rings with pathos, making her less demonic, more a lost woman, more so because Davis underplays her part even in the more tense moments of the film.
An effective low key thriller featuring a battle of wits between a nanny (Davis) and her disturbed 10 year old charge (William Dix).
An excellent supporting cast performs well under Seth Holt's direction and talented Pamela Franklin makes a good confidant for young Joey.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE started it off, and Bette Davis again features here, as a possibly sinister, possibly innocent nanny to a glacially cold family who have suffered a tragedy.The child actors here are all great, especially William Dix as the disturbed son.
Two notable examples being Taste of Fear and The Nanny both directed by Seth Holt.The last film I saw Bette Davis in was the haunted house hokum Burnt Offerings.
THE NANNY is one of a slew of psychological thrillers put out by Hammer Films, perhaps better remembered than some thanks to the star presence of Bette Davis as the titular character (she was, of course, riding high on a series of similar roles after WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?).
Bette Davis plays the titular character, working for a family that includes an often absent father, Bill (James Villiers), an unstable mother, Virginia (Wendy Craig), and a bratty son, Joey (William Dix).
Basically Bette Davis plays The Nanny, who looks after Virginia 'Virgie' Fane (Wendy Craig) and her family, Bill Fane, Queen's Messenger (James Villiers) and the near nasty son Joey Fane (William Dix).
Davis is nanny to the seemingly incorrigible Joey (William Dix), who may or may not have killed his little sister.