Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Davalon-Davalon I have been a huge Bette Davis fan for as long as I can remember. I had seen almost all of her films, but when this one popped up on a choice of possible rentals, I thought, "Oh, I must add this one to the list." Wrong. It is incomprehensible to me why Bette agreed to do this POS. It is beyond awful. Yes, there are funny lines throughout; it's what one might call a "black comedy." But from the beginning to end, the production values are so incredibly cheap that my main thought was "Bette must have been desperate." From the quality of the film, to the lighting, to the ghastly, hideous "locations," to the "story," everything was wrong. My husband and I decided that a baboon could have shot a better movie than this. Since this was originally a play, apparently the powers that be felt it should also be a play on screen. People stand in one place for a long time. The "shocking moments" (the older brother playing "dress up" and the young fiancée finding Bette's glass eye in bed) are not seen, only screamed at. For inexplicable reasons, there is a stuffed cockatoo in the garden... because...? Then... watch Bette as she sets off firecrackers!Watch people scream and shout at each other and walk from room to room!As others have pointed out, this film was surely a must-see for any budding female impersonator who wanted to hone his "Bette" skills. It's all there: the big eyes! (or in this case, "eye"), the grand, sweeping, over-the-top sashaying , the scenery chewing, the hard, staccato delivery, the hideous tight wigs! There is not one redeemable moment in this whole film. Not a single person is likable nor could you relate to any of them -- unless you are deficient in character. Watching this was like having an awful meal; you've paid for it, you suffer through it, you ask yourself why you did it, you are haunted by it, and for the rest of your life it will float to the top of your memory banks, jeering at you, reminding you of how stupid you were to participate in it. I am fairly certain this is the worst "film" I have ever seen. If you love Bette Davis, like I used to, do yourself a favor and do not ever, ever, ever watch this pathetic, horrible, insulting POS. You are missing nothing , unless you like watching garbage for two hours.

Leofwine_draca Trust Hammer to make one of their most ghastly movies a black comedy with not a trace of horror in sight. This entire production is centred around a ghoulish performance from a barnstorming Bette Davis as the matriarch of a rich family. The family are brought together to celebrate the wedding anniversary between Davis and her late husband, and as the night goes on everybody's dark secrets are gradually revealed with skeletons dropping out of closets all over the place.Roy Ward Baker's superior direction keeps what is in essence a single location film moving along nicely. This would have worked well as a stage play as for 90% of the running time we get Davis going around and dominating the screen in being absolutely horrible to everybody. As such, few of the other cast members get much of a look in, but nobody puts a foot wrong here. There are many genuinely funny moments throughout, particularly in Davis's put-downs, and a darkness of touch which is surprising given that this is a family friendly production.

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!

bensonmum2 Quite simply, Bette Davis dominates every scene and every aspect of The Anniversary. If you don't like Bette Davis, you'd be wise to skip this one altogether. Davis plays Mrs. Taggart, the overbearing mother to three sons. She controls every aspect of their lives. They cannot make a move without her approval. And if she doesn't approve, she's not above ruining one of her sons if it suits her selfish purposes. The Anniversary covers the events surrounding the annual celebration of Mrs. Taggart's wedding anniversary to the late Mr. Taggart. It's Mrs. Taggart's day and she lets everyone know it. She uses this event to cement her control over her sons by threatening financial ruin, jail, and/or public humiliation and by degrading them and their significant others.Bette Davis is in fine form in The Anniversary. She's evil, vindictive, manipulative, and a ton of fun. She chews scenery like nobody's business. The rest of the cast is good, but they are no match for Ms. Davis. Some of the comments she makes to her youngest son's new fiancé are unbelievable. One of the best is when she quite casually tells the girl, "My dear, would you mind sitting somewhere else? Body odor offends me." Another priceless example is Mrs. Taggart's reaction to the frightened fiancé when she discovers Mrs. Taggart's glass eye in her bed. I don't know of many actresses who could pull-off being so rude and just plain evil and still have the viewer rooting for them.Hammer Studios made this incredibly black comedy during the 60s when a lot of aging female stars were taking roles in horror movies. The Anniversary may not be a horror film, but it's certainly not the norm you would expect for someone like Bette Davis. I don't know how The Anniversary did financially upon release, but it's the kind of movie I would have liked to have seen Hammer making more of in the late 60, early 70s. Who knows? It might have saved the company.