Friday, January 9, 2009

THE NANNY - Sir Richard Rodney Bennett - "Joey Joey Joey" (1965)

So here you go, as requested by our good friend, Mr. Greg Goodsell, the fabulous Bette Davis starring in "The Nanny"!

But this movie is also about a little 10 year old boy named Joey, who was blamed for the death of his sister and has been institutionalized for the last two years!

It seems Joey is quite the cut-up and also has quite a twisted sense of humour after all he's been through!!

Wendy Craig as Joey's helpless hopeless Mother must have really been taken with this film because in 1981, she created and starred in a TV series that went on for 30 episodes, called what else, "Nanny!"

William Dix does a killer job as Joey, and went on to be in "Dr. Doolittle," and that's pretty much what he did after that!

I can't imagine this film with anyone else in the role of "The Nanny" except Bette Davis, because it just wouldn't, or couldn't, be the same!!

As far as orchestrated music is concerned, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's soundtrack is about as good as any, but what really saves the day, are two short musical segments in the kid's scenes. Here Joey's listening to a really swell record as he plays with his hangman's noose!

Born in Malaysia on a X-Mas Eve; introducing Jill Bennett as Penelope or as she is better known, Aunt Pen! Aunt Pen has a heart condition, but drinks and smokes just to show her indifference to the whole situation!

Quite an interesting assortment of female characters, oddly, the strongest of the bunch was the 5' tall, 15 year old Pamela Franklin as Bobbie Medman, Joey's neighbor and confidant!! Pamela went on to have quite a career and is still very much alive today!!

I'm thinking Joey's sandals have something to do with his personality defects!

Yum, Yum, steak and kidney pie, one of Master Joey's favorites!!! Did I forget to tell you Joey thinks Nanny is trying to poison him!! That was one of the reasons they sent him off in the first place, he wouldn't eat!!

Bobbie kinda likes Joey as long as he keeps stealing cigarettes from his Dad and giving them to her!!

Then Joey explains to Bobbie that Nanny tried to drown him!!!

Let's see, Dad has to leave town on business, Mom mysteriously gets food poisoning, Pen comes to stay because Joey is afraid to be alone with Nanny, and when she wakes up in the middle of the night and Nanny is about to enter Joey's room with a pillow, she becomes very suspicious, her heart doesn't take real well to the whole situation, and her Nanny isn't any help at all!!

If absolutely all, and none of this makes sense to you, well, good! Luckily, you can rent this movie on Netflix, and I'd do it if I was you!!

Bette Davis serves up another of her many masterful performances in what can only be considered a classic!!

2 comments:

  1. The again .... Ken Hanke in his definitive guide to "hag horror" films of the Sixties is correct in saying that THE NANNY is almost too scary for its own good. It takes a most unexpected turn into real-life grmness towards the end, dispelling the campy tone that preceded it. By all means, check it out.

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