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
Brand: TCFHE
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 (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, NTSC, Widescreen
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: "What Shall I Say When His Feet Enter Softly ... Leaving The Marks Of His Grave On My Floor?"
Summary: 5 Stars
"There has never been a ghost story created especially for the adult movie-goer until 'The Innocents'." .... That's a direct quote from the Original Theatrical Trailer of "The Innocents", which is a black-and-white spook-fest from the year 1961 that ranks very high on my list of "Best Scary Movies Of All Time".
Deborah Kerr is simply magnificent as "Miss Giddens", the newly-hired governess who has been assigned the task of looking after two young orphaned children ("Flora" and "Miles") at a large, remote country estate in England.
Strange occurrences begin to manifest after Miss Giddens takes charge of young Flora and Miles, with the governess gradually beginning to sense that evil forces are surrounding the children.
"The Innocents" is filled with a level of eeriness and mystery that should satisfy any lover of horror flicks. It's an eeriness and creepiness that seeps in through the cracks, instead of having the viewer being hammered over the head with CGI-created shocks and overdone amounts of bloodshed. No gore is present here -- just a good old-fashioned type ghost/horror tale from the pre-CGI days.
The two children in the story are portrayed exquisitely by Pamela Franklin and Martin Stephens. Pamela was age 11 when she filmed "The Innocents". This was her very first motion-picture appearance. And quite an impressive debut it is.
The 13-year-old Martin Stephens had already been seen in several movies by the time he made "The Innocents" (a total of ten pre-1961 film roles dating back to his first, "The Divided Heart", in 1954).
Martin, as "Miles", fully embodies the part. During several of his scenes, it's fairly easy to believe that this young boy has been possessed by some evil outside force of some kind. I'm always quite amazed when I see young children playing very complicated characters in motion pictures. And it's all the more impressive when a child actor can give a performance that any Hollywood veteran could very easily be envious of (as Martin Stephens has done in this film).
How the movie's producers and writers are able to extract such a rich, multi-layered performance out of a 13-year-old or an 11-year-old is something I've always had quite a bit of admiration for.
At one point in the film, "Master Miles" recites several stanzas from a macabre poem. He speaks the following lines with a certain ominous quality that fits the film's underlying supernatural tone nicely. It's one of my favorite scenes in the film, and normally good for at least a replay or two when watching the DVD. I just love this poem:
"What shall I sing to my lord from my window?
What shall I sing, for my lord will not stay?
What shall I sing, for my lord will not listen?
Where shall I go, for my lord is away?
Whom shall I love when the moon is arisen?
Gone is my lord, and the grave is his prison.
What shall I say when my lord comes a-calling?
What shall I say when he knocks on my door?
What shall I say when his feet enter softly,
Leaving the marks of his grave on my floor?
Enter my lord, come from your prison.
Come from your grave, for the moon is arisen."
The final act of the movie is likely to take some first-time viewers of the film by surprise. In my opinion, it is the perfect dramatic ending to a very good motion picture.
"The Innocents" premiered in movie theaters on December 25th, 1961, and made its most-welcome debut on DVD-Video on September 6th, 2005. The DVD version from Fox Home Entertainment is a million times better than the VHS videotape variant that was issued by Fox several years earlier (mainly due to the fact that the VHS contained only a dreadful Pan-&-Scan print in Full-Frame 1.33:1). The DVD is two-sided, and also has a Full-Frame copy of the film on one side. But anyone wanting to see the whole, beautifully-photographed film in its intended Widescreen "CinemaScope" ratio of 2.35:1 will want to watch Side B, which contains a nice-looking Anamorphic Widescreen DVD print of "The Innocents".
(But just exactly why the far-superior Widescreen version has been relegated to the "B" side of the disc is, indeed, a bit of a mystery to me. The P&S edition should always rank second, IMO. But, I suppose it's not really a matter that's worth getting all bent out of shape over. At least there's Widescreen on the disc someplace.)
A few blemishes still occupy this disc's Widescreen print; but the video anomalies are kept to a minimum and are not a detriment to the overall viewing experience at all. I had never seen this film in its original Widescreen format before getting this disc. It's a genuine treat to be able to own it now via such a well-rendered Widescreen DVD version.
DVD-Video has been a godsend for so many motion pictures -- movies that had only been available on home video through inferior "modified aspect ratio" abominations for many years. But DVD has rescued a lot of old films from the dustbins of movie-studio vaults -- restoring many old-time favorites and making them look nearly brand-new once again (and in the proper Widescreen ratios where applicable).
I recently read where it could easily have cost the avid movie collector, in pre-DVD days, upwards of $20,000 to build a movie library consisting of just a handful of films by purchasing duplicate film prints of certain motion pictures. While today, thanks to these compact little devices called DVDs, the same film library can be obtained for a mere fraction of that exorbitant price tag -- and with the films looking just as good as they did when they debuted in theaters decades ago (sometimes even better). A remarkable Digital era we reside in currently....isn't it?
This DVD features two different soundtrack options -- an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track (which was re-mixed from the film's original Mono); plus a Spanish audio track as well (in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono).
It would have been an added plus if this disc could have also contained the original English Mono soundtrack as heard in theaters back in late 1961 and early 1962. Instead, a Stereo re-mix has been employed here as the only English audio track.
Optional subtitles can be shown on screen in either English or Spanish.
The DVD Menus are simple, easy, static, non-animated, and music-free. Perfect. .... Choices from the Main Menu screen (on both sides of the disc) offer up: "Play Feature", "Scene Selection" (28 Chapters), "Language Selection", and "Special Features".
Bonus supplements take the form of some Theatrical Trailers only. The trailer for "The Innocents" is along for this DVD ride (always a welcome addition to any movie release on Digital Disc). This trailer, which sports a run time of 2:50, has survived in excellent condition for its premiere on DVD. It is presented here in its original Widescreen ratio of 2.35:1 (Anamorphic too). The audio is a tad scratchy though (in DD 2.0 Mono).
Plus: Fox provides three Bonus Trailers as well (via a separate Menu selection from the "Special Features" Sub-Menu, marked "Fox Flix"). There are trailers for a trio of other spooky (and ultra-strange) pieces of cinema: "The Cabinet Of Caligari", "The Legend Of Hell House", and "Phantom Of The Paradise".
"Caligari" (a 1962 flick), which I had never heard of prior to seeing the trailer on this DVD, looks like a really bizarre film indeed. Off-the-wall antics abound, per this trailer. It was written by Robert Bloch, who wrote Alfred Hitchcock's masterwork, "Psycho", which was released two years previously. I can tell just from the 2-minute trailer, however, that some very nice B&W cinematography went into that movie (which was filmed in a 2.35:1 Widescreen format, with the trailer being shown in that ratio here as well). Darkness and shadowy images are abundant and readily-noticeable just by viewing the trailer. Whether or not the whole movie is worth sitting through, I cannot say. But the trailer is intriguing at any rate.
"Hell House" (from 1973) is a darn good film, though (written by horror master Richard Matheson). It stars, coincidentally, an all-grown-up Pamela Franklin (who plays little "Flora" in "The Innocents").
"Phantom Of The Paradise" (1974) takes first prize for "weirdness" among this batch of three movie trailers. If you like really strange stuff -- "Phantom" might be right up your alley. It stars songwriter Paul Williams, and was directed by Brian DePalma, who went on to direct two top-notch scare-fests in "Carrie" (1976) and "Dressed To Kill" (1980).
To tell the truth, after watching this trailer for "Phantom Of The Paradise", I still don't have a really good grasp of the plot of the movie. But there's some really freaky stuff going on in that picture, that's for sure. :-)
Fun bonus trailers, though -- all three of them. I like it when the studios decide to add a few extra theatrical trailers to their DVDs. They're usually pretty fun to watch, even if the films being advertised appear to be a tad bit on the 'subpar' side. Many times, however, some very good films are presented as "Bonus Trailers" on DVDs -- films that I might not otherwise have ever been exposed to.
A Final 'Innocent' Word........
"The Innocents" is likely to reel you in with its tale of ghostly images and otherworldly happenings -- not to mention the above-average cast as well. In the same grand "old school" tradition of spooky suspense-laden films like "The Uninvited" (1944), "The Spiral Staircase" (1946), and "The Haunting" (1963) -- "The Innocents" works hard at keeping the viewer firmly on a bed of pins and needles throughout its 100-minute duration. And, in my mind, it succeeds admirably in that endeavor.
Summary of The Innocents
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