My mother had nothing on Bette's character when it came to guilt-tripping, though she was good; VERY good at it. As in, "Oh, I forgot. I'm ONLY the mother." Can't come close to the cyclops of a passive-aggressive madre in this film. Sorry, Mom.
We can all relate to Davis' extreme monster mom but that's the point of this whole exercise, it would seem.
"Could you sit over there?" Davis asks her youngest son's fiancee. "Body odor offends me." Our favorite line!
Sturdy direction by Roy Ward Baker throughout. My close friend, Tracey, commented on how the avant-garde Brit humor still seemed fresh today. Indeed.
Daring for the time, especially regarding tranvestism, Oedipal obsessions and pedophilia, The Anniversary still rocks today as black comedy.
"Putting me in a fruit cellar? Do you think I'm fruity, boy?" Norman Bates' mother asked. None of the characters in this outrageous film can put Bette anywhere. She's an immovable -- and seemingly indestructible -- object. Hammer horror monsters are like that.
Based on a very successful West End hit in London.
"Could you sit over there?" Davis asks her youngest son's fiancee. "Body odor offends me." [MY favorite line, too!]
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