5/5 The Nanny
  by James F. Park III
This is an old film I saw as a child and it scard me to death. It's the best way to describe Betty Davis for sure. Still gave me a scare when watching it this time, and the ending is a suprise, things aren't what they seem.

4/5 Unusual Hammer film
  by S J Buck (Kent, UK)
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!

This is certainly amongst the 10 best Hammer films I have seem and quite possibly even my top 5.

5/5 Bette Davis as The Nanny
  by (Mr.) N. Sean Wright (Whiteville, NC USA)
I love Bette Davis films and that was the only reason why I bought this movie. If it were not for her in the lead role, I wouldn't have even bothered. This movie comes towards the end of Davis' career and it's one of her final lead roles. However, the film was not very interesting to me.

The story is good, but the film moves VERY, very, slowly. Ironically, the only character the viewer can sympathize with is the killer. The father is cold and indifferent; the mother is a whining, emotionally disturbed weakling; the aunt is okay, but she's only around to raise the victim count; and the young boy is by far the MOST ANNOYING youngster I've ever witnessed on screen. I wanted so much for Nanny to off him. Perhaps that's good acting on the kid's part, but it goes on for way too long in this film and it left my nerves in pieces.

Bette Davis does the best she can with this role. The movie itself is far inferior to her, but she gives it her all. I appreciate her willingness to play a full variety of characters, both sympathetic and unsympathetic alike. My 5 stars are strictly for her gracing this movie with her magnficent talent. Apart from her, this movie would be a total waste.

3/5 English Kabuki
  by Jay Dickson (Portland, OR)
It's absorbing in its own way, and it does have some incredible jolts involving children in danger, but this 1965 horror film is mostly of interest for its depiction of British anxieties regarding the corruption of the effete upper classes. Though diehard Bette Davis fans sometimes try to justify her performance here by reasoning her theatrics are in keeping with the material, she really seems like she's from another planet here: her thick eyebrows, strange wig, and whitened makeup make her seem like an elderly Kabuki version of Charlotte Vale in NOW, VOYAGER before her transformation. Wendy Craig, years before her excellent comic work in BUTTERFLIES, delivers a strange expressionistic performance as the mother of the child protagonist that seems pitched to the level of the whole production; William Dix gives a fascinating intentionally dislikable performance as the disturbed child.

4/5 The Nanny - Why Parents Need Therapy
  by K. hughes (johnsoncity, tn)
Bette Davis as a nanny to a family of neurotic, overindulged, priviledged Brits. The plot is the little boy is coming home from the psych hospital where he's been for 2 yrs due to the suspicious drowning of his little sister. The kid's a brat but it turns out things aren't what they appear to be. I don't generally like Bette's later film roles; I don't like to see such a great actress as a psychotic clown as she was in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. I prefer to remember her as she was in The Little Foxes or All About Eve. In The Nanny Bette combines stiff upper lip restraint with compassion, add in only a dash of psychosis. I saw this movie for the first time on the late, late, late show and it stood out in my memory for a couple of reasons. One, the world of children vs. adults, another, I felt sorry for Bette's character, the invisible nanny who missed out on a family of her own for very little in return. The quality of the film is excellent, it's restored beautifully as everything I get from Amazon.