"The Innocents" on Blu-Ray
Oh yes, it’s a great film, not only very beautiful but a fine example of psychological rather than gorefest horror
I agree. It’s a great film. Deborah Kerr really could play the sexually repressed English woman thing well, as shown in The Innocents and Black Narcissus.
By coincidence, those 2 films are the first images of my Best of British list. Clayton’s Room at the Top is quite well known but The Pumpkin Eater is a superb portrait of a marriage and a woman’s psychological frailty v an unfaithful husband
It’s also important to remind the excellent work that Truman Capote did with this film’s screenplay. He actually fleshed out the freudian elements of Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw”: the repressed sexuality, the children’s ambiguity and the possibility that it’s all happening in the protagonists mind. That ambivalence is truly engrossing.
i have always seen ‘’the turn of the screw’’ as representative of the Victorian fear and panic towards childhood sexuality and the subsequent need or desire to control and then redirect those nascent expressions of sexual identity. the fact that the protagonist is herself repressed heightens the sense of moral panic in film and book[this is possibly one the rare examples of a film equalling the psychological complexity of a novel]
From the introduction to William James’s Pragmatism by Bruce Kuklick, p.xiv.
James went on to apply the pragmatic method to the epistemological problem of truth. He would seek the meaning of ‘true’ by examining how the idea functioned in our lives. A belief was true, he said, if in the long run it worked for all of us, and guided us expeditiously through our semihospitable world. James was anxious to uncover what true beliefs amounted to in human life, what their “Cash Value” was, what consequences they led to. A belief was not a mental entity which somehow mysteriously corresponded to an external reality if the belief were true. Beliefs were ways of acting with reference to a precarious environment, and to say they were true was to say they guided us satisfactorily in this environment. In this sense the pragmatic theory of truth applied Darwinian ideas in philosophy; it made survival the test of intellectual as well as biological fitness. If what was true was what worked, we can scientifically investigate religion’s claim to truth in the same manner. The enduring quality of religious beliefs throughout recorded history and in all cultures gave indirect support for the view that such beliefs worked. James also argued directly that such beliefs were satisfying — they enabled us to lead fuller, richer lives and were more viable than their alternatives. Religious beliefs were expedient in human existence, just as scientific beliefs were.[this wikipedia extract in reference to the brother of henry james contains, in its initial stages, a possible explanation for the rigorous adherence to a seemingly irrational belief by the protagonist of both the turn of the screw and the innocents. she clearly finds her belief in a malevolent presence a way of coming to terms with a strange environment]
It’s interesting to see how “The Innocents” brought to the screen not just the story of Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw” but also the subjacent themes. The conjugation of artistic sensibilities between the writer of the original material, the screenwriter and the director is a thing that will always fascinate me. That articulation is frequently conflictive, for book adaptations frequently depart from the original material (which is good in most situations). In this case the screenwriter and the director actually managed to flesh out the many qualities of James’ book for the film’s benefit.
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anyone else manage to get hold of this bluray it really is exemplary in terms of what the technology can achieve! (the balance between visual authenticity and clarity.)
anyone?
When I bought the BFI blu-ray I was afraid that the picture quality wouldn’t be quite as I expected. After seeing it all my doubts disappeared. The restoration work is great (no significant spots or scratches), the original grain structure is all there (no excesses in DNR, a thing that I always applaud) and the contrast, so important in B&W films, is just excellent. I don’t think that they could have done a better job taking in consideration the age of the film. The sound is also good and the extras are nice, specially the 30 minute video intriduction by Christopher Frayling filmed in the house and gardens that3 feature in the film.
I just wish this blu-ray wasn’t Region B locked so us Yankees could get some of that sweet sweet hi-def picture/audio!
Aw c’mon Ryan. We don’t get to see ANY Criterion blu-rays over here in Region 2 land…
-We don’t get to see ANY Criterion blu-rays over here in Region 2 land-
Yeah, that’s true, but honestly, BD for BD, I’d take the BFI and Masters of Cinema Blu-ray releases than Criterion’s meager 60 or so releases.
I’ve wanted Criterion to release The Innocents for a loooooong time. This is a great start. Amazing film.
Neil, I’m with you! I wish Criterion would make their releases Region 0. Masters of Cinema is cool because a lot of their films are indeed Region 0, although some of them aren’t. But I’ve been wanting to see The Innocents for a while and if it was available on blu-ray in the states, I would snatch it up in a heartbeat
Carlos Figueiredo
I recently acquired Jack Clayton’s “The Innocents” on a British Film Institute Blu-Ray edition. It’s a very good release with a few extra contents. The film looks great on HD, showing a very good restoration work that removed all imperfections caused by aging whilst keeping the original grain structure. I think this would be a great work for a Criterion release. Personally I think it’s an excellent film, masterfuly directed and with a great performance by Deborah Kerr. What are your thoughts on “The Innocents”?