Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

ShangLuda Admirable film.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

TheLittleSongbird The Anniversary was made at a time where Hammer took a break from monsters and Gothic horrors, and a good example of Hammer excelling at doing something different from what they usually do.On the most part, it is a very good film, and at its best great. It occasionally gets a little too theatrical and stagy, and the ending makes most wish that such a monstrous character got what she deserved, it just felt too convenient.It is very well-made though, with Harry Waxman's excellent cinematography with lush use of colour being one of the best things about the film, and costumes and sets suitable for both stage and film and in a way that fit with the atmosphere well. The music refrains from being too melodramatic, and matches the fun and scary factors just fine. The Anniversary is very well scripted by Jimmy Sangster, with some bleakly funny moments and lots of chilling scares while not being afraid in giving the film some nuances, and expertly directed by Roy Ward Baker. The story is not always perfectly executed, but on the most part it is interesting and has some intelligently done conflicts and a good atmosphere. Plays don't always translate well into films, but The Anniversary does, even if you can tell where it came from.Bette Davis has never had a more monstrous character, and she sinks her teeth into the role and easily is the one that makes the film. Her performance is chillingly vicious and dominates the film brilliantly. She is well-supported by Sheila Hancock, Jack Hedley and particularly James Cossins, who while nowhere near in the same ball-park as Davis still more than hold their own against her.All in all, a very good and well done film, that is worth watching for the cinematography and especially Davis' performance. 8/10 Bethany Cox

mark.waltz From the moment she makes her entrance, twirling at the top of the stairs to a really bad recording of "The Anniversary Waltz", you know you're in for a campy treat. Complete with eye patch matching her wardrobe (with that uplift at the end of the patch to make it even more noticeable), Bette is the matriarch of a really troubled family who runs a construction business. "Make sure the floor squeaks", she tells her son in regards to an annoying client, then admitting that with the quality of her son's work, it probably would anyway. "Dear, would you mind sitting somewhere else? Body odor offends me!", she tells her youngest son's fiancée shortly before making sure that the girl comes upon her glass eye planted in her bed.Yes, this is a really whacked-out variation of the old play "The Silver Cord", a 1930's tearjerker where the mother kept her sons tied to her with honey for the offspring and vinegar for the women in their life. This is perhaps one of the most obvious "drag performances" of Bette's career, because when imitated, it is the voice you hear in this movie that mimics use. Davis is truly funny in her viciousness, laughing in delight at the little cupid who proceeds to squirt water out of a precarious place when she pulls a string, and warning her transvestite son to get out of his future sister-in-law's clothes because "nylon brings him out in a rash". She manages one compliment to the impending in-law by telling her that she should be flattered that he chose her wardrobe, because he only likes pretty things. When this transvestite son gets into trouble (using his brother's car), it becomes a ploy to dominate that son and keep him from moving out of her control.I could recite the entire script here and you would still laugh hysterically at the obvious hideousness of the script. I guess since Davis didn't get to play the lesbian character of "Sister George", she decided to go for something equally as wacky, and boy, did she get it. Her second Hammer film (following "The Nanny"), it is less known than all of her other camp classics, but worthy of a midnight showing for cinemaphiles to scream out the lines with her a la "Rocky Horror Picture Show". I wouldn't want her as a mother-in-law (what she does to her already long-suffering daughter-in-law as the result of a supposed phone call is one of the cruelest things I've ever seen on screen), but boy, would she be fun at a party. Auntie Mame she's not, and certainly even bitchier than Margo Channing was at her big party, but if you manage to stay out of the way of her verbal daggers, you can certainly enjoy the show!

dbdumonteil "Whatever happened to baby Jane" was a turning point in Bette Davis's career."Hush hush sweet Charlotte "was almost as good ,and she got first-class support from De Havilland,Cotten and Moorehead.With "the nanny" ,and without a Robert Aldrich to direct,the formula began to wear thin."The nanny" is an interesting work for fantasy and horror buffs though.I expected much of "the anniversary" probably too much.This movie comes one or two decades too late.All we see on the screen ,Tennessee Williams had invented it long before ,with his classy plays such as "the cat on the hot tin roof" and "suddenly last Summer" .Is there only a director here?It's so talky that it looks like a bad filmed stage production.One-eyed Davis overacts (why do you suppose she's like that?don't worry,you will find out) and as she has no Crawford or De Havilland to counterbalance ,she becomes a caricature of herself.There are so many films where Davis is brilliant! Why would you chose this one among all her awesome filmography?

theowinthrop It's my favorite Davis performance post-BABY JANE among her horror films. THE ANNIVERSARY, with Bette as the evil but grand Mrs. Taggert. From the moment the film begins she is constantly in control, even in those scenes where she is not physically appearing.It is her wedding anniversary, and her three sons and the wife of one and the current girlfriend of another are in attendance. And in the course of the ninety minutes of the film, no matter what attempts to put Mrs. Taggart into her place or at least into a more reasonable frame of mind, she comes up trumps in making them feel like garbage. To be fair Mrs. Taggart has some grounds to be so vile - her missing eye is due to the antics of her sons. But even so, she takes bad behavior to a new level.I have a sneaking suspicion, giving the devilish charm she brought to the role, Davis enjoyed this film. She was (despite her denials) a very difficult woman to get along with, and probably enjoyed how her character totally dominates this film. But it's done with such panache. Look at how she notes her youngest son's girlfriend (a cute looking blonde) has a secret physical defect that she uses her hair to hide. And she does so accidentally reveal it to the entire family.Nobody escapes her witchery. In the course of the film she is getting some tiresome phone calls from one of her tenants about the work she did in constructing his house. She is as sweet as molasses in calming him down, but once she has hung up she tells her oldest son that they use a third rate repairman to fix the tenant's problem. Indeed, the last sequence in the film, when Bette passes a fountain that is of a male figure who shoots out water in a "unique" manner shows Mrs. Taggert's view of how the world should be treated.