A Haunting Tale of Terror!The Innocents, a chilling adaptation of Henry James' novella "The Turn of the Screw," is one of the most frightening films ever made. Set in nineteenth-century England, this gothic ghost story centers around a governess (Deborah Kerr) taking care of two orphans in a foreboding Victorian mansion. As eerie apparitions appear and the children's behavior becomes strange, the governess begins to wonder about the fate of the previous governess and her sadistic lover. Could it be that their restless spirits are conspiring to corrupt the innocence of the children, or is this "haunting" a product of her own fears and imagination?
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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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Based on Henry James's TURN OF THE SCREW, THE INNOCENTS is a chilling psychological horror film about a woman, Miss Giddens (Kerr), who takes a position as governess for two orphans in a stately Victorian home. Alone with the children and only a few servants, Miss Giddens soon begins to see what she believes to be ghosts and begins to suspect that the children's increasingly bizarre behavior may be the result of some supernatural power. When she learns the fate of the house's previous governess and valet, Miss Giddens takes it upon herself to rescue the children from the supernatural being that seems to have them in its grips, all the while questioning her own sanity. Ms. Kerr's nuanced performance, possibly the best of her career, and Mr. Francis's atmospheric cinematography help make this a true horror classic.
(15 votes)
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