''The Anniversary'' is a 1968 British

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the old ...

directed by Roy Ward Baker for

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...

and Seven Arts and starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

. The screenplay, by Jimmy Sangster, was adapted from

Bill MacIlwraith William Pirie MacIlwraith (13 April 1928 – 9 May 2016) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. Born in London, to Scottish parents, he trained as an actor at RADA and worked in repertory during the 1950s, performing around the country. With ...

's 1966 play.

Plot

One-eyed Mrs. Taggart is an emasculating woman whose husband, a successful building contractor, has been dead for ten years. Joining her for the traditional annual celebration of her wedding anniversary are her three sons: eldest Henry is a

transvestite Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western ...

; middle son Terry is planning to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to Canada with his shrewish wife Karen and their five children; and youngest Tom, a promiscuous philanderer whose many past relationships have ended at his mother's insistence, arrives with his pregnant girlfriend Shirley in town. Throughout the day and evening, the domineering, evil, vindictive, manipulative matriarch does everything in her power to remind her children who controls the family finances and ultimately their futures.

Cast

as Mrs. Taggart *

James Cossins James Cossins (4 December 1933 – 12 February 1997) was an English character actor. Born in Beckenham, Kent, he became widely recognised as the abrupt, bewildered Mr Walt in the ''Fawlty Towers'' episode " The Hotel Inspectors" and as Mr Wats ...

as Henry Taggart * Jack Hedley as Terry Taggart *

Christian Roberts Christian Roberts (born 22 October 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer. He was most notable for his four-year spell at Swindon Town, which was disrupted by various injuries and misfortunes. In addition to Swindon, his career saw him ...

as Tom Taggart *

Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. Hancock trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before starting her career in repertory theatre. Hancock went on to perform in plays and music ...

as Karen Taggart * Elaine Taylor as Shirley Blair (Tom's fiancée) *

Timothy Bateson Timothy Dingwall Bateson (3 April 1926 – 15 September 2009) was an English actor. Life and career Born in London, the son of solicitor Dingwall Latham Bateson and the great-nephew of rugby player Harold Dingwall Bateson, he was educated at ...

as Mr. Bird *

Arnold Diamond Arnold Diamond (18 April 1915 – 18 March 1992) was an English character actor, regularly cast in small parts on television. He graduated from RADA in 1936, and his stage work included the RSC, and three years in Agatha Christie's '' The Mo ...

as Headwaiter

Production

The play was first produced in the West End with

Mona Washbourne Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film '' Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Gold ...

as Mrs. Taggart.

initially turned down the role in the screen adaptation, but after Jimmy Sangster, who had scripted her earlier film ''

The Nanny ''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three ch ...

'' (1965), rewrote the screenplay, she agreed to play the role.

, Jack Hedley, and

were signed to reprise the roles they had played in the stage production. Original director

Alvin Rakoff Alvin Rakoff (born Abraham Rakoff; February 6, 1927) is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Hen ...

was replaced a week into filming after he clashed with Davis, who felt he "didn't have the first fundamental knowledge of making a motion picture, let alone what an actor was all about". Rakoff, an award-winning director who had steered quite a few actors to acclaimed performances (Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, etc.) countered: "Not the most rational woman one can meet. But a great screen actress. She didn’t want a director. She wanted someone enthralled to her. Initially I was. But eventually..." "Talk of my making her subservient to the camera is nonsense. The script remained a wordy stage play - hardly the best basis for a film. My removal was a mixture of regret and pleasure."Stine, Whitney with Davis, Bette, ''Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis''. New York: Hawthorn Books 1974. , pp. 319–321 Davis was required to wear self-adhesive eye patches for her role, which not only proved to be a constant irritant,Higham, Charles, ''The Life of Bette Davis''. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company 1981; , pp. 279–80 but affected her equilibrium as well. Sheila Hancock knew Davis had wanted Jill Bennett to replace her, but Bennett wasn't available. The concept of the Hollywood

star system A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a '' star cluster'' or ''galaxy'', although, broadly speaking ...

was foreign to Hancock, a veteran of the English Stage Company at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

, and she resented the fawning attention paid to Davis based on her past successes. When everyone on the lot arrived to watch the star film her first scene, Hancock was "dumbfounded ... It took me a while to realize this was the way Bette Davis was used to operating. She was a queen, after all." The film was shot at the

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

in Hertfordshire. Its estimated budget was $1,450,000. It grossed $1,352,000 in the United States alone.

Reception

Critical reception

The British premiere was held at the Rialto cinema in London on the 11th of February 1968. In her review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Renata Adler said the film "is not a distinguished example of the Terrifying Older Actress Filicidal Mummy genre, but it isn't too heavy. And the genre isn't that distinguished after all." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...

'' rates the film three out of a possible four stars and comments, "Davis is great, but the film suffers from the staginess of the play on which it was based."

Box office

According to Fox records the film grossed $1,450,000 in U.S. box office sales.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anniversary, The 1968 films 1960s black comedy films 1968 LGBT-related films British black comedy films Films shot at Associated British Studios 1960s English-language films Films about dysfunctional families British films based on plays Films directed by Roy Ward Baker Films set in England Films shot at Pinewood Studios Hammer Film Productions films Films with screenplays by Jimmy Sangster Films produced by Jimmy Sangster 1968 comedy films 1968 drama films 1960s British films