Set in Victorian England, Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) is a vibrant young woman; in order to earn a living as a governess she is forced by circumstance to suppress her thoughts and emotions. She arrives at a bleak country estate to take care of two wealthy orphans, Flora (Pamela Franklin) and Miles (Martin Stephens), in the guardianship of their charming Uncle (Michael Redgrave). Outwardly the children appear angelic little darlings, but the governess gradually begins to feel that there’s something more sinister to her charges.
When describing the apparitions she has been seeing and her fears for the children to the housekeeper (Meg Jenkins), she is told that the ethereal descriptions resemble those of the estate’s dead valet Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde), and previous governess Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop) – who were engaged in a sadomasochistic relationship together. When Miss Giddens allows herself to believe the malevolent spirits are beginning to possess the young children in her charge, it pushes her already fragile mind closer to the edge. Is it hysteria caused by repressed passions, or is it a true case of possession? Miss Giddens sets out to exorcise the malevolent spirits with tragic results. —Britmovie.co.uk
Jack Clayton (1 March 1921 – 26 February 1995) was a British film director who specialised in bringing literary works to the screen.
A native of East Sussex, Clayton started his career as a child actor on the 1929 film Dark Red Roses. He later worked for Alexander Korda’s Denham Film Studios and rose from tea boy to assistant director to film editor.
While in service with the Royal Air Force during World War II, Clayton shot his first film, the documentary Naples is a Battlefield (1944), representing the problems in the reconstruction of Naples, the first great city liberated in World War II, ruined after Allied bombing and destruction caused by the retreating Nazis. After the war Clayton became an associate producer on many of Korda’s films, then directed the Oscar-winning short The Bespoke Overcoat (1956) based on Wolf Mankowitz’s theatrical version (1953) of Nikolai Gogol’s short story The Overcoat (1842). In this film Gogol’s story is re-located to a clothing warehouse… read more
"It's hard for people our age to think about dying. Perhaps we should have got into the habit when we were young." A dissolve from the dial
Title: The Innocents
Year: 1961
Country: USA, UK
Language: English
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Director: Jack Clayton
Writers:
Henry James
John Mortimer
William Archibald… read review