The Innocents (1961)

Directed by

Jack Clayton

Genre

horror film, ghost film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 40m

Rated

NR

Rating

7.5 of 10 from 674 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A governess is hired to care for two children at a remote country estate. She begins to suspect that the property is haunted and that the children are under a sinister influence.

slow-burntenseunsettlingatmosphericmelancholicambiguouscreepyeeriepsychological

What happens

The Innocents is a 1961 gothic psychological horror film directed and produced by Jack Clayton, and starring Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, and Megs Jenkins. Based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by the novelist Henry James, the screenplay was adapted by William Archibald and Truman Capote, who used Archibald's own 1950 stage play—also titled The Innocents—as a primary source text. Its plot follows a governess who watches over two children and comes to fear that their large estate is haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed. Archibald's original screenplay for The Innocents was based on the premise that the paranormal events depicted were legitimate. Displeased with Archibald's take on the material, director Jack Clayton appointed American writer Truman Capote to rework the script. Capote's rewrites incorporated psychological themes, resulting in a final work that suggests other alternatives to the plot. Filming took place partly on location at the Gothic mansion of Sheffield Park in Sussex, with additional shoots occurring at Shepperton Studios in Surrey. Shot in CinemaScope, The Innocents incorporated bold minimal lighting as well as deep focus, employed by cinematographer Freddie Francis to achieve a distinctive—and sometimes claustrophobic—atmosphere. The film also pioneered the use of synthesised electronic sound created by Daphne Oram. Clayton was dissatisfied with the original score of the movie by French composer Georges Auric and requested some alteration. However, because Auric was not available due to health problems, Clayton turned to W. Lambert Williamson. The Innocents received international distribution from the American film studio 20th Century Fox, and received its London premiere on 24 November 1961; all to positive critical reviews. It was released in the United States the following month on 15 December in Los Angeles and Christmas Day in New York City. The psychological underpinnings of the film's screenplay have resulted in it being the subject of numerous critical and scholarly essays, particularly in the area of film theory. It was selected by The Guardian as one of the 25 best horror films ever made. A prequel to the story, The Nightcomers, starring Marlon Brando and Stephanie Beacham, was released in 1971, though to commercial disappointment. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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