The Innocents
by Jack Clayton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Deborah Kerr, Martin Stephens, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Peter WyngardeDirector: Jack Clayton
Cinematographer: Freddie Francis
Producer: Jack Clayton
Editor: Jim Clark
Producer: Albert Fennell
Writer: Henry James
Writer: John Mortimer
Writer: Truman Capote
Writer: William Archibald
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of The Innocents
Movie Review: THE INNOCENTS - 1961 - DIR: JACK CLAYTON
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone who has read my review of 'Village of the Damned' on the MovieKids site, will have gathered that I do have a bit of a 'thing' about Martin Stephens, the young child star of this film. Hardly surprising, when having experienced that totally controlled, (for such a young actor), icy malevolence he brought to his role there, and then to discover that he is only just one year older (13) in 'The Innocents', I find that he is exhibiting a massive and almost adult, but certainly highly mature understanding of his role as the haunted boy, Miles, who is apparently possessed by the spirit of his dead mentor, (or tormentor!), Peter Quint, the former gamekeeper.
This man, according to Henry James, the author of the novel,'The Turn of the Screw', from which this story is taken, 'made free' with the boy! What are we to deduce? Is this the way things are or were? Who knows! Is Miles truly the 'wicked boy', sent home from his boarding school for 'being a bad influence' on the other boys, or is he just a sad, tormented youngster who is being led to believe, by his possibly misled and obsessive governess, that he is indeed evil? Are he and his sister even the victims of paedophilic abuse? Or - the willing partners in an adult game they are consciously embracing and desperately want to be a part of?
Whatever conclusion we come to, Martin Stephens, with his intelligent understanding of what he is portraying, coupled with huge acting skills gained from his previous, equally demanding two roles, provides us with a character of a boy who is both charming and extremely bright but who is also secretive and devious - and yes! - certainly highly sensual - and who is almost playfully leading the somewhat gullible Miss Giddins, (his Governess, played by the brilliant Deborah Kerr - watch out for one of the most famous - or infamous - screen kisses of all time between an adult and a child!!), a merry dance, along with his equally charming and seemingly guileless girl co-star, Pamela Franklin - young star of 'The Lion', - with his game of 'Am I - Aren't I?', `Will I - Won't I?', down the path of, for her, almost demented paranoia.
Have I whetted your appetite for this unique production? I hope so! Get it - see it - and you will almost certainly be beguiled by this, the first outing for its young Director, Jack Clayton - (very soon after to be showered with accolades for his subsequent oeuvres) - in a work of dark suspicion, adult moral dilemma - or - childhood fantasy games, playing up to the adult gallery? Or - is it? See for yourself!
The memory of my first viewing of this brilliant movie, in a darkened cinema of 1961, and presented by what was certainly a highly imaginative cinema projectionist, will never leave me. However, the very same haunting experience is still there on the smaller screen and I, for one, would most certainly not be without it in my vast collection of classic movies.
Summary of The Innocents
Deborah Kerr stars in this "horrifying Gothic ghost tale" (Newsweek) based on Henry James' "The Turn Of The Screw,' a powerful psychological drama about innocence possessed by evil. Shortly after coming to live with orphans Flora and Miles in their dark, eerie mansion, the new governess (Kerr) mistakes their strange behavior for preciousness. But she soon comes to believe that the charming, beautiful children are possessed by evil, malicious spirits - the souls of their previous governess and estate manager who are now dead. With its shocking conclusion and sinister cinematic effects. The Innocents "catches an eerie, spine-chilling mood right from the start" (Variety) that never lets up.The definitive screen adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, the 1961 production of The Innocents remains one of the most effective ghost stories ever filmed. Originally promoted as the first truly "adult" chiller of the big screen (a marginally valid claim considering the release of Psycho a year earlier), the film arrived at a time when the thematic depth of James's story could finally be addressed without the compromise of reductive discretion. And while the Freudian anxiety that fuels the story may seem tame by today's standards, the psychological horrors that comprise the story's "dark secret" are given full expression in a film that brilliantly clouds the boundary between tragic reality and frightful imagination.
In one of her finest performances, Deborah Kerr stars as Miss Giddons, a devout and somewhat repressed spinster who happily accepts the position of governess for two orphaned children whose uncle (Michael Redgrave) readily admits to having no interest in being tied down by two "brats." So Miss Giddons is dispatched to Bly House, the lavish, shadowy estate where young Flora (Pamela Franklin) and her brother Miles (Martin Stephens, so memorable in 1960's Village of the Damned) live with a good-natured housekeeper (Megs Jenkins). At first, life at Bly House seems splendidly idyllic, but as Miss Giddons learns the horrible truth about the estate's now-deceased groundskeeper and previous governess, she begins to suspect that her young charges are ensnared in a devious plot from beyond the grave.
Ghostly images are revealed in only the most fleeting glimpses, and the outstanding Cinemascope photography by Freddie Francis (who used special filters to subtly darken the edges of the screen) turns Bly House into a welcoming mansion by day, a maze of mystery and terror by night. Sound effects and music are used to bone-chilling effect, and director Jack Clayton, blessed with a script by William Archibald and Truman Capote, maintains a deliberate pace to emphasize the ambiguity of James's timeless novella. The result is a masterful film--comparable to the 1963 classic The Haunting--that uses subtlety and suggestion to reach the pinnacle of fear. --Jeff Shannon
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