''The Anniversary'' is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by

Roy Ward Baker Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. He was known professionally as Roy Baker until 1967, when he adopted Roy Ward Baker as his screen credit. Early life Baker was born i ...

for Hammer Films and Seven Arts and starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

. The screenplay, by Jimmy Sangster, was adapted from Bill MacIlwraith'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 son Henry is a transvestite; middle son Terry is planning to emigrate to Canada with his shrewish wife Karen and their six 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 tow. 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 as Henry Taggart * Jack Hedley as Terry Taggart * Christian Roberts as Tom Taggart *

Sheila Hancock Dame Sheila Cameron Hancock (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress, singer, and author. She has performed on stage in both plays and musicals in London theatres, and is also known for her roles in films and on television. Her Broadway ...

as Karen Taggart * Elaine Taylor as Shirley Blair (Tom's fiancée) * Timothy Bateson as Mr. Bird * Arnold Diamond 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 people, English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film ''Stevie (1978 film), Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for ...

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 sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish wikt:fashionista, fashionista from Flushing, Queens, who becomes the nanny of three children ...

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

, Jack Hedley, and James Cossins were signed to reprise the roles they had played in the stage production. Original director Alvin Rakoff 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 gravity, gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally calle ...

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 West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

, 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 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 11 February 1968. In her review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', 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 In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' 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 1968 black comedy films 1968 LGBTQ-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 1960s British films Films about mother–son relationships Psycho-biddy films British LGBTQ-related films English-language black comedy films