The Anniversary (1968 film)

The Anniversary
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Roy Ward Baker
Produced by	Jimmy Sangster
Written by	Jimmy Sangster Based on a play by Bill MacIlwraith
Starring	Bette Davis Sheila Hancock
Music by	Philip Martell
Cinematography	Harry Waxman
Edited by	Peter Weatherley
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK) 20th Century Fox (USA)
Release date	7 February 1968 (USA) 18 February 1968 (UK)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$1,450,000 (estimated)
Box office	$1,352,000 (US)

The Anniversary is a 1968 British black comedy film directed by Roy Ward Baker for Hammer Films and Seven Arts. The screenplay, by Jimmy Sangster, was adapted from Bill MacIlwraith's 1966 play.

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; middle son Terry is planning to emigrate 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 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.

The play was first produced in the West End with Mona Washbourne as Mrs. Taggart. Bette Davis initially turned down the role in the screen adaptation, but after Jimmy Sangster, who had scripted her earlier film The Nanny (1965), rewrote the screenplay, she agreed to play the role. Sheila Hancock, 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 has 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."