Michael_Elliott Anniversary, The (1968) ** (out of 4) Bette Davis made her second and final appearance in a Hammer film with this dark comedy that certainly gives the actress a memorable role. In the film she plays a mother from hell who invites her sons and their families back to her mansion to celebrate her wedding anniversary. Once the sons get there, mommy goes to work by ruining their relationships with their women and really sets her eyes on her youngest son's fiancé (Elaine Taylor). This black comedy has a lot going for it except the laughs. I really found most of the humor to be too dry to really work and in the end I can't help but be disappointed in this film even though we get Davis eating as much scenery as anytime in her career. Whether she's wearing her red or black eye-patch, she gives it her all in creating a woman you can't help but hate not only because of how mean she is but because of how cocky, arrogant and just downright vicious she is. Davis chews up one scene after another and really controls and punishes the rest of the actors in her way. The only one of the supporting cast that really stands a chance is Taylor who is quite easy on the eyes and comes off pretty good. Her character is the one who fights back at Davis and the young actress makes you believe her toughness. The screenplay is fairly straight in terms of it trying to get humor. There's really no slapstick or any physical laughs but instead it's mostly dialogue driven. The dialogue itself isn't the greatest and a lot of it focuses on meanness rather than anything else. One of the sons enjoys dressing in women's clothing, which is another easy gag that never really provides any laughs.

kerrison-philips It's highly unlikely that anyone nowadays would remember seeing the original London stage play with Mona Washbourne in the Bette Davis part. However, those who did so will tell you that Mona was far more effective in the main role than Bette, who just flew over to the UK to do her Big Hollywood Movie Star thing. Most of the rest of the cast were in the original stage production so just give their theatre performances. Indeed, the play's origins are emphasised throughout by the lack of any background music. This, plus the lack of any kind of filmic "style", makes for a disappointing movie, though Bette's fans will doubtless relish her occasional bravura moments.

Poseidon-3 Based on a deliberately nasty little West End play, this film became a late-career tour-de-force for Ms. Davis who was enjoying a career resurgence playing ghoulish or crazy roles in horror and suspense films. Though this is not a horror film (despite the Hammer name on it), it is slightly creepy thanks to the overwhelming emotional hold that one-eyed Davis has on her brood. She plays the incredibly controlling and demanding mother of three sons who collects them together each year on the day of her wedding anniversary to their late father in order to play a four-sided game of mental chess with them, taunting and testing them to see if they can possibly get out from under her iron-clad control. Youngest son Roberts brings a fairly headstrong fiancé (Taylor) with him, wondering if she'll be the one who is able to help him break free. His brother Hedley has a wife (Hancock) and five children and likewise has a plan to slip out of Davis's grasp. Cossins, as the other son, isn't as eager to get away as his mother is strangely tolerant of his secret fetish and tends to pick on him less than the others. The sextet spends the course of the movie sniping at one another or trying to outdo one another, though there is rarely any doubt about who is in charge (in the film or on the set! Davis had the original director canned after one week's filming.) Davis, looking rather chic despite some very high-clipped bangs and a set of badly nicotine-stained teeth, is in full command of everything around her. From the moment she appears, she grabs the reins and never lets go. A more firm director might have encouraged her to allow some more shading to her character and not play all her cards within the first several minutes, but she's fascinating to behold nonetheless. The one good eye she is allowed to reveal works overtime, darting to and fro like a pinball as she relishes the snarky dialogue she's been given. Hancock gives her a real run for her money (the two clashed somewhat during the shoot) and provides some of the best acting in the film. Actually, all of the principle performers do well, as well as they can after having been brought on to support Davis. Hedley is believably frustrated, Cossins is effective and memorable and Roberts is convincingly stymied and petulant. Taylor (who would marry Christopher Plummer soon after this) is attractive and mostly appealing, providing a character for audiences to identify with as they enter this pit of vipers. Though unavoidably stage bound for much of its running time, the vivid color and vivid performances keep it aloft. The production design is arresting as well. Unique as this may seem, it actually serves as a descendant from the much earlier play and film, "The Silver Cord" which featured an overbearing, clingy mother (an amazing Laura Hope Crews in the movie) who went to great lengths to keep her boys near her. The chief difference is that in that story, the mother played the victim while here there is no such artifice. The mother is blatantly villainous. Also, there's purposeful dark comedy in the later work. Fans of Davis will likely relish seeing her run roughshod over her chicks, though some may feel a tad oppressed by the time the end rolls around.

edwagreen When I think of the great Bette Davis films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and then this piece of junk comes along, I shutter.I know that the late Bette always said that work keeps her going, but to subject herself to a dull, poorly written film is beyond the realm of human understanding.Davis is the matriarch of the family. She parades around with a patch in one eye, the result of her child shooting it out years before.Davis completely dominates 3 sons. One is a pervert, the second she pays off to keep his wife forever pregnant and the youngest brings home women who are promptly gotten rid of by the evil Mrs. Taggert (Davis)Of course, Davis gives a good performance. She's Bette Davis! Why do the British always make the most boring films. I know, "Brief Encounter" is the exception. If this had been an American film, it would have been far better.With it all, there is a very good performance by Sheila Hancock as the repressed daughter-in-law who loathes her mother-in-law. Who wouldn't?