Eric Red Recommends #11

Last Updated on July 28, 2021

By ERIC RED


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THE
INNOCENTS
(1961)


Director:
Jack Clayton.


Writers: Truman Capote, William
Archibald, John Mortimer.
Based on the novel “THE TURN OF THE SCREW” by Henry James.
Cast: Deborah Kerr.

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In 1800’s
England, an unmarried governess takes a job as caretaker of two small children
at an extravagant and remote country estate. The precocious kids are troubled
by the deaths of their former nanny and her lover, the master’s valet, whose
twisted sexual affair had a disturbing influence on the children before their
mysterious demise. To the new governess’ horror, the ghosts of the nanny and
the valet seem to be haunting the estate. Can she protect the children? Can
she protect herself? Or is it the children she needs protection from?

Every
horror fan suffers snob friends or family members who give us attitude for
watching “those kinds of films.” Well, “THE INNOCENTS” is the cure for those
subtitle squintin’ art house hypocrites. It’s a horror film to show anybody who
doesn’t like horror films.

 It’s got that PBS “ROOM WITH A VIEW” Merchant Ivory
period setting, costume dress and British accent thing happening to get the
snobs inside then…POW! It’ll have them shaking in their boots. This film has my
vote as one of the best ghost stories ever made, along with Kubrick’s “THE
SHINING” and the J-Film originals of “THE RING” and “JU ON.”

The film
begins as the attractive and spinsterish Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) accepts the
governess post from the children’s rich uncle, who wants nothing to do with the
kids and puts her completely in charge. Driven by carriage to the isolated
estate, she meets the two precocious and cheerful kids Miles and Flora, and the
friendly but guarded housekeeper Mrs. Gross. The governess enthusiastically
takes to being the kids’ guardian, but things quickly sour.

Miles is
expelled from boarding school and sent home for being injurious to the other
boys. Miss Giddens initially refuses to believe a child could be capable of
anything so harsh. She soon learns better, because before long the little boy
is making sexually advances to her! Mrs. Gross reluctantly informs the new
nanny that her predecessor Mrs. Jessel had a sadomasochistic affair with the
handsome and brutal valet Quint, before both of them died under strange
circumstances. The children idolized and emulated the adult pair, and their
behavior has been disturbingly affected. Innocents. Not.

Soon, the
governess begins seeing supernatural apparitions, beginning with a sighting of a
mysterious figure walking the turrets of the estate. When she investigates, it
is just the boy playing with pigeons. Later, while she plays hide and seek with
the children, a full-grown woman with long hair appears to pass by at the end of
the hall.

In
the movie’s scariest scene, effectively staged in sunny broad daylight, the
governess and little girl sit by the edge of the lake as the child starts to hum
a mysterious melody. A figure of a woman in black appears in the reeds across
the water. The child seems to be looking at the ghost, but when the Miss
Giddens asks Flora about it, the specter vanishes, sending chills up our spine.

Director
Jack Clayton’s film is a joy to behold. DP Freddie Francis’s sweeping,
widescreen camerawork features luxurious long takes and sumptuous tones of
shadow and light. Dynamic wide-angle deep focus compositions fill the screen
with extravagant visual detail. The cinematography is classic.

The
supernatural tale story is laden with fascinating psychological complexity. The
film’s protagonist Miss Giddens is a compelling character played with sympathy
and neurotic edge by the fine English actress Deborah Kerr. She loves children
and wants to be a caring and responsible guardian, but becomes fearful when she
realizes she is not in control…the children are.

The
sexually repressed governess’ conviction of the ghosts’ existence is tied to her
morbid fascination of the sadomasochistic erotic activities of Miss Jessel and
Quint. The film skillfully keeps you guessing. The children may be making it
all up, tormenting the governess and trying to drive her mad. The ghosts may
very real, and very dangerous. The whole thing may be in the governess’ mind,
the result of the sexual frustration the Victorians termed “female hysteria.”
You’ll have to see the film to draw your own conclusions. The ending is
ambiguous and the film leaves a lot up to the audience.

Recent
horror films, some good, some bad, rely on bloody splatter to scare the viewer.
But “THE INNOCENTS” comes out of a more elevated school of horror films that
doesn’t show but suggests and implies, a more challenging task for the
filmmakers and ultimately scarier for the audience.

For
example, the legendary shower scene in “PSYCHO” traumatized generations of
viewers as a naked woman is repeatedly stabbed to death in the tub…but there
isn’t one single frame of a knife going into flesh or graphic nudity in the
entire sequence. It was designed that way to leave it to your imagination and
make you think you saw something you didn’t, which ironically makes the scene
more scary and violent for viewers.

“PSYCHO” was a big influence on my script
for “THE HITCHER,” and not just because the heroine was unexpectedly and
horrifically killed off to shatter the equilibrium of the audience. That
sequence where Jennifer Jason Leigh is torn apart between two trucks was a transgressive scene of nightmare violence where like in “PSYCHO” we didn’t show
anything, either in the script or finished film.

Nowadays,
they’d hire KNB to rig a lifelike Special Makeup Effects dummy of her to be
drawn and quartered in explosions of guts, limbs popping out of their sockets
and spinal cord columns flying like poker chips. Probably film it in slow
motion. Maybe they’ll do that in the remake. But it won’t be anywhere near as
scary as the way we did it, with the close up of the wheels lurching forwards
fading to black with the nightmare sound effects rumble of the truck engine
drowning out victim’s screams. It made the audience use their imaginations,
which made them interface with the film, not just sit back have it wash over
them. Sometimes, it is not how you show it but how you don’t show it.

“THE
INNOCENTS” is a refined example of the power of classy and restrained genre
filmmaking, a subtle and spellbinding exercise in suggestion filmed with taste
and elegance. Gorehound alert: this film has absolutely no blood or nudity, and
don’t expect big jolts or shocks because the film pulls you in by sophisticated
craftsmanship. A class act from start to finish, this film is truly chilling
and rewarding viewing I highly recommend.

Your Mom
will like it, too.

BUY THE INNOCENTS DVD HERE

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