The Nanny

Joey is ten, and returning home after a two-year stay at a special school because he refused to sleep or eat after his toddler sister drowned in the bathtub. He feels his nanny, Bette Davis, killed the girl and now might kill him. Neither his oblivious father nor his emotionally shattered mother believe him. We are probably meant to wonder if he is nuts, if in fact it was him who killed his sister, or it was really the nanny. I felt sure I knew the true story, and I was right. Bette Davis turns in one of the finest performances as an older, weird lady, and she looks very, very old in close-ups. She was fifty-seven. The director, Seth Holt, skillfully enhances the mood with odd camera angles and other noir effects.