The Nanny (1965)
A later Bette Davis performance. A child comes home from a special school intended to sort out his poor behaviour. In the house the boy's mother seems highly reliant on the nanny and she's seen more like part of the family than as a paid assistant, but the boy himself is rude to her and refuses to have anything to do with her.
The central child actor is brilliant and the interplay between him and the excellent Bette Davis is wonderful. The film very cleverly teases out all the details of their odd rivalry and there are actually some quite twisted moments.
The film seems to be somewhat spoilt by the ending which seems to pull away from the seemingly inevitable downbeat ending. I thought this must be due to the Hays Code of the era which demanded that any crimes in films are punished. However, one website notes that the inclusion of children smoking cigarettes and the clear reference to abortion would put this film firmly outside the constricts of the Hays Code anyway. In any case, the Hays Code would seem to require a fuller and more definite punishment and a more obviously happy ending. You only have to look at the ending of "Night of the Hunter" to see what kind of superfluous and pointless sweet and cheerful blandness the Hays Code required from otherwise brilliant yet dark tales.
Still even with my qualms with the ending in mind, this is still a tense, clever and brilliantly performed film. The tension is built up masterfully and the shocking nature of the film's content actually makes it seem ahead of its time.
"The Nanny" explores some very interesting themes like the difference between being an adult and a child and the way that a carer can control or even infantilise those they care for.
"The Nanny" is brilliant, terrifying, thought-provoking and wonderfully acted. Oddly enough this was the last of the black and white Hammer Horror films (making me wonder whether the change to colour was a terribly good move on their part).
A+