Sadly, news has just come to pass that Sylvia Anderson, known best as the voice of Lady Penelope from the cult TV show The Thunderbirds has passed away, aged 88.
We here at the To Watch Pile would like to pass along our condolences to her family, and hope that wherever her spirit flies, that she still feels the love of a gigantic fanbase who were brought up on her and her husband’s work.
Thank you, M’lady.
One from the To Watch Pile…
The Nanny 
Film: I’m not always a balls-to-the-wall, high gore horror fan, in actual fact, a lot of the time, I much prefer the slow-burn style thriller. This leads me to enjoy some of the more older, black and white horrors, which is why I was excited to watch this Bette Davis, Hammer Horror film The Nanny.
The story is of young Joey Fane (William Dix), a ten year old boy who has spent two years in a facility for ne’er-do-well children after it seems that he accidentally killed his younger sister, Susy (Anghared Aubrey). Upon returning home from the facility, Joey is quite happy to see his mother, the faint-hearted Virginia (Wendy Craig, best known for the Tv series ‘And Mother Makes Three’/ ‘And Mother Makes Five’) and his quite strict father, Bill (James Villiers from Repulsion) but seemingly refuses to want to have anything to do with the family’s long standing ‘Nanny’ (Bette Davis, the Hollywood legend from films such as Dead Ringer and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane).
He becomes convinced that ‘Nanny’ is trying to kill him, and confides so in the 14 year old neighbour from upstairs, Bobby (Pamela Franklin from …And Soon The Darkness). Soon though, other members of the house become ill with evidence pointing to Joey poisoning them, and it would seem that perhaps he actually DOES have murderous intentions.
This film was produced and written by Jimmy Sangster, who wrote many scripts for the Hammer Horror stable, and was based on a book by Evelyn Piper. The director Seth Holt, sits high on my list of Hammer go-to guys as he directed Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb, which I love. The score was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett who also gave us the scores to such films as The Witches and Four Weddings and a Funeral.
This is a thrilling movie that is told very deliberately, and contains some great performances; especially from the youngsters involved who really had to hold this film together. The film takes place mostly in and around the apartment building that the Fane’s live in, and Holt’s direction keeps it interesting, though never too much like it is a theatre piece, which could have happened in a lesser director’s hands. Highly recommended.
Score: ****
Format: The review copy of this film was a region B bluray released by Shock in Australia. The movies goes for 93 minutes, and the audio is presented in a decent and clean 2.0 LPCM track, and the image is presented in a moderately clean 16:9 image, that is quite artefact-y with many little marks and scratches on the print, but not to the point of distraction. All in all, a nice image for a film of this vintage.
Score: ****
Extras: Unfortunately, there are no extras on this disc, which is a bummer, as surely this is an important piece of film history with its victim being a child, and other elements that possibly hadn’t been dealt with before this film which I won’t reveal here as they are somewhat spoilerific.
Score: 0
WISIA: I don’t think this film will end up on high rotation, but it is good enough to keep in any collection, especially for fans of older, less ‘Hollywood’ horror.
If you are a movie collector, you’ll be familiar with these two phrases: ‘got it, haven’t watched it’ and ‘it’s in the to watch pile’. Other collectors have them as well, but the word ‘watch’ would be changed for comic collector to ‘read’ or music collectors to ‘listened’ or gamers to ‘played’… Or if you are like me, it’s all of the above!
I have a collection of movies curated since the dawn of DVD; it did start before that, but I sold/ replaced all my VHS with DVD as the new medium releases came out. My fandom comes mainly in the form of horror and exploitation films due to my parents buying me issues of Famous Monsters as a kids, and then I graduated to Fangoria when that appeared.
So I’d better introduce myself: my name is J.R. McNamara, and I guess you could say I have been a horror ‘journalist’ for over ten years. I have done over 300 reviews, mainly movies but books and comics as well, ranging across two Australian websites and have interviewed several members of the professional horror community. My reviews have appeared on the covers of movies over the world, including a Northern European release of Turkey Shoot and the current Australian release of I Spit On Your Grave and one company even used one of my reviews as the online ‘blurb’ for their web store.
As far as collecting is concerned, I am possibly a borderline hoarder. I collect movies, comics, movie posters, toys, movie magazines (mainly Rue Morgue, Horrorhound, The Dark Side and Doctor Who Monthly), movie soundtracks (on vinyl), statues and toys… Phew! I do have one particular film that I buy anything associated of it: I Spit On Your Grave, and I have multiple DVD releases, Australian Beta and VHS tapes and a movie poster from almost every country! I also probably play far too much Xbox!
The ‘To Watch Pile’ is actually a name a group of my friends who get together call ourselves. It’s a fellowship of movie fandom, and the members include Joe Smith, Stuart Jones, Michael Norman and Simon Miller (of @explosiveaction fame) whom as the blog evolves, will join me with reviews and other points of interest. Anytime a review is done by one of these guys, a footnote will be added so you can direct your eternal gratitude or venom in that person’s direction. The wish, eventually, is to combine my YouTube channel and a podcast to the site, in addition to our current Facebook presence. Also, follow me on letterboxd.com/JRMc .
Anyway, what is going to be different about our reviews? Well, firstly, I am going to be doing my reviews alternatively, with a film I’ve never watched before, off the To Watch Pile, followed by a favourite/ well-known film and then back to the other. Thrown in around these reviews will be epic news of relevance, book/ comic/ game reviews, links to the aforementioned YouTube/ podcasts or even just a purchase that I might be doing a happy dance over.
… And no, the happy dance will no be televised.
The review format is going to be like most. A score out of 5 for the film, and in the case of home releases, a score for the extras out of 5, that will be assigned separately. Also, we have some thing a little different: the WISIA index. WISIA stands for ‘Would I See It Again?’ I have found on occasion that I have an enjoyed a film, but have no desire to ever watch it again, and the WISIA index will indicate that. Loved the film, won’t see it again.
Also, the movie reviews will done in any format: cinema, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, Netflix…. Hell, even laserdisc if one falls across my lap, and my intention is a weekly one, though the day is yet to be determined… Probably a Monday as it gives me the weekend to watch and review.
So, I hope you enjoy the brew of movies the To Watch Pile offers you, and that you stick around!
Note: All content (c) J.R. McNamara
Digital Retribution 