Those with low attention spans, patience and no sympathy for the 'suggest but don't show' school of ghost stories and horror films would be well advised to wander away. 'The Innocents' is a highly intelligent ghost story and adaptation of the Henry James novella 'The Turn of the Screw.'I'll not spoil anything but, to set up the plot, a young governess is hired on and given total independence and authority to care for two young children in an isolated estate. As she arrives and begins her duties she becomes convinced that ghostly presences are on the estate and hungering for the souls of the children. 'The Innocents' succeeds by being subtle. Filmed in Black and White and being minimal in special effects, 'The Innocents' relies on chilling atmosphere heightened by the Governess' morality and sense of isolation. Throw in an excellent musical score that wants only to supplement the movie and not overshadow the film and you have a first rate picture.
The film works brilliantly on two levels. As a ghost story it is superlative and very well done. Chilling special effects with great usage of reflections and windows. Deborah Kerr turns in what must rank as an astonishing performance. The complexity of her role and the skillfully nuanced performance that she delivers rank her, in my mind, as one of the top-tiered actresses. The supporting cast is excellent. I'm often a bit suspicious about whether little children will be watchable or not. They are here, and they show wonderful depth and range of emotion -- especially in the final ten minutes. That said, you may find yourself wanting to bash your head repeatedly in the final scenes of the little girl; she's a bit much. Over all though, no problems and mostly plaudits for all of the actors and actresses. Michael Redgrave, incidentally, has a wonderful bit part as the children's legal guardian.
The second level where the film works brilliantly is of a psychological study. There is the very real possibility that the governess is mentally ill. She doesn't understand why she can't convince any of the other characters about the ghosts that she is seeing and as her anxiety begins to increase, so does the tension and over all effect of the film. As to which theory is the truth? It is left less ambiguous than it is in the source material but as for the answer of the film-makers, I'll never tell! Are the ghosts real or is she mad? Yes. You'll have to watch the film to see which question I answered.
The film works brilliantly on two levels. As a ghost story it is superlative and very well done. Chilling special effects with great usage of reflections and windows. Deborah Kerr turns in what must rank as an astonishing performance. The complexity of her role and the skillfully nuanced performance that she delivers rank her, in my mind, as one of the top-tiered actresses. The supporting cast is excellent. I'm often a bit suspicious about whether little children will be watchable or not. They are here, and they show wonderful depth and range of emotion -- especially in the final ten minutes. That said, you may find yourself wanting to bash your head repeatedly in the final scenes of the little girl; she's a bit much. Over all though, no problems and mostly plaudits for all of the actors and actresses. Michael Redgrave, incidentally, has a wonderful bit part as the children's legal guardian.
The second level where the film works brilliantly is of a psychological study. There is the very real possibility that the governess is mentally ill. She doesn't understand why she can't convince any of the other characters about the ghosts that she is seeing and as her anxiety begins to increase, so does the tension and over all effect of the film. As to which theory is the truth? It is left less ambiguous than it is in the source material but as for the answer of the film-makers, I'll never tell! Are the ghosts real or is she mad? Yes. You'll have to watch the film to see which question I answered.