SATAN IN A MARY POPPINS HAT.
Another in the superb Brian Clemens THRILLER programme which, similar to THE NBC MYSTERY MOVIE, would bring us mini-movies weekly set in the thriller or horror genres (much like the eponymously-named early 60's BORIS KARLOFF'S THRILLER programme did). Brian Clemens' THRILLER for British TV began in the early 70's and was always very entertaining; occasionally producing a classic like the airing of SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS that I caught on late night cable in the mid-80's and was haunted by for 20 years because I missed the first 15 minutes of it and never knew what it was called. I previously wrote about that THRILLER movie here. But this time around, we have another supernatural THRILLER entitled NURSE WILL MAKE IT BETTER starring the incomparable Diana Dors whom I love in her 1970's horror output. The face and figure which has made her the British Marilyn Monroe had faded by then and Dors was finally in a place where she could take interesting character parts which showed her true range as an actor.
Our film finds diplomat Edgar Harrow's daughter Charley having a riding accident which breaks her back and leaves her paralyzed. Surly and self-pitying, Charley goes through half a dozen nurses before the family tries Bessie; a portly grey-haired woman with a wart on her chin. Bessie goes up to meet Charley, who is carrying on as usual. When the other family members leave and Charley keeps carrying on , Bessie clocks her with a solid right. Not the run of the mill nurse! She tells the family Charley's now sleeping soundly. Yeah, I'll bet she IS! Whatever strange influence Bessie has transforms Charley into an obedient, hopeful patient -- apparently by having Charley read a strange, old book. Before you know it, Charley is walking again against all odds. But something's odd about her now as she laughingly forces her boyfriend's car into almost running over a bicyclist and then scratching his face with her nails. Bessie then begins having an odd influence on the youngest Harrow daughter: 16 year old Susy. Turns out, good ole Bessie is a witch who is turning the Harrow women towards 'the collector of souls'. Elder sister Ruth is on to Bessie and tries to thwart her evil designs but Bessie might be more powerful than she can imagine.
Diana Dors is, needless to say, excellent as the demonic Bessie; a character very much like one she would play a few years later in the HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR episode THE CHILDREN OF THE FULL MOON. The almost impossibly beautiful Andrea Marcovicci (THE STUFF, VELVET BUZZSAW) is also quite good as the determined sister Ruth who will do anything to protect her family. The cast also features Cec Linder (LOLITA, GOLDFINGER) as the diplomat Edgar Harrow, Michael Culver (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE) as boyfriend Simon and Ed Bishop (Gerry Anderson's UFO, JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) as Harrow's bodyguard Carson.
Linda Liles makes her only screen appearance here as Charley and youngest daughter Susy is nicely played by Tiffany Kinney; whose only other film appearance was in THE EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. Ouch! Most notably to DOCTOR WHO fans is the small role of Patrick Troughton as the scruffy, alcoholic priest Lyall who is brought in to dispense with the satanic nurse. This is interesting because this was only a year before Troughton would appear as a priest in THE OMEN and here he looks exactly the same as he would in that film! Another DOCTOR WHO connection is the brief appearance of Wendy Williams (Vira in DOCTOR WHO: THE ARK IN SPACE) as the totally bonkers Mrs. Fuller, who is Bessie's previous patient. NURSE is directed by Shaun O'Riordan who helmed several other THRILLER episodes including SCREAMER, THE EYES HAVE IT and I'M THE GIRL HE WANTS TO KILL as well as the abyssmal return of CALLAN: WET JOB. All O'Riordan's THRILLER work is better than that awful return of CALLAN, sadly. This (and many other THRILLER episodes) makes some perfect October viewing.
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