The Innocents – An Excellent Gothic, Psychological Ghost Story

 

Review by Steve D. Stones

This stylishly crafted, brilliant supernatural ghost story is based on the 1898 Henry James novella – The Turn of The Screw. Made at Shepperton Studios in England, The Innocents (1961) was directed and produced by Jack Clayton. Clayton manages to create a creepy atmosphere throughout the film while contrasting it with beautiful locations, stark black and white photography and oblique camera angles. The film gives an excellent perspective of life at the end of the 19^th century during the Victorian era.

A bachelor uncle, played by Michael Redgrave, wants to hire Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) as a governess to take care of his orphaned young nephew Miles (Martin Stephens) and niece Flora (Pamela Franklin) at his countryside estate at Bly Manor in England. When hired, Giddens is asked to never contact the uncle ever again with regard to the children. She is to take care of the children on her own, regardless of what problems she might encounter with them. Giddens accepts the job without question.

When arriving by carriage at Bly Manor, Giddens hears a voice crying out for Flora. As she is greeted by Flora in the garden, Flora tells Giddens that she did not hear any voice calling out for her. Flora shows Giddens her pet turtle Rupert and later informs her that Miles is to return home soon, although he was sent far away for a term of schooling. Giddens is puzzled by the thought of Miles returning home when his term of school will not end for a few months.

Giddens receives a forwarded letter from the children's uncle that was sent to him from Miles' school. The letter informs Giddens that Miles has been expelled from school because he has become a bad influence to other children at the school. When Giddens and Flora greet Miles at the train station on the day of his arrival, this is when things become really strange at Bly Manor. Miles refuses to answer any questions Giddens asks him about his schooling and why he was expelled.

While tending the garden one day, Giddens sees a tall shadowy figure standing at the top of the mansion tower. She is unsure of what she saw, so she climbs the stairs to the top of the tower to look for the man. The man is nowhere to be found on the tower, but Miles is there tending to a flock of pigeons. Miles denies seeing any man on the tower when Giddens asks him about the man. Giddens insists that he must have seen the man.

Giddens later finds an old photo in the mansion attic in a cracked frame of the man who appears to be the person she saw on the tower. She plays hide and seek with the children and takes her turn in hiding behind curtains in the dining room. Behind the curtains, she sees the man in the photo approach her on the other side of the window glass. This is one of many creepy sequences in the film that gives the viewer goosebumps. The expression on actress Deborah Kerr's face as she sees the man in the glass will send chills up your spine. Giddens describes the man to the housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins). Grose says the man is Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde) who died in an accident at Bly Manor. Miles found him just before he died. Apparently, the two were very close friends.

At a lake near Bly Manor, Flora hums a nursery rhyme while Giddens sees a strange, pale female figure dressed in dark clothing standing on the other side of the lake. This is another creepy sequence in the film that sends chills up the spine of the viewer. Flora and Grose claim to not have seen the figure. Grose mentions to Giddens that the figure may have been Mary Jessel (Clytie Jessop) – the former governess, who drowned herself in the lake soon after Quint's death. Quint and Jessel were a couple, although Grose mentions that they had a violent relationship.

Throughout the film, the viewer is not certain if Giddens' encounters with the ghosts of Quint and Jessel are real, or perhaps a delusion of her emotionally unstable mind. This is one of many effective and compelling aspects of the film. As the film progresses, the viewer begins to understand that the children Miles and Flora may be hiding a dark secret. We do not know whether to believe the children when they say they cannot see the ghosts of Quint and Jessel, but it becomes clear towards the end of the film that the children know of their presence. Are the children possessed by the ghosts of Quint and Jessel? This is the question the viewer asks as the film progresses.

The Innocents was selected by The Guardian as one of the 25 best horror films in cinema. Those of us who are big fans of The Innocents certainly agree with The Guardian's selection. Director Jack Clayton was displeased with screenwriter William Archibald's perspective that the paranormal events in The Turn of the Screw were legitimate, so he asked American writer Truman Capote to rework the script for The Innocents to suggest other alternatives to the plot.

Many horror film fans often compare and contrast The Innocents with director Robert Wise's 1963 psychological horror film – The Haunting, which is also an excellent film. Both films are greatly respected by film critics and fans of horror films and ghost stories. Both make for a great Halloween double feature. Happy viewing and Happy Halloween.

The Haunting - An Excellent Haunted House, Supernatural Thriller

Review by Steve D. Stones

 

Based on the 1959 novel – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting (1963) ranks as one of the best haunted house-ghost story films in the genre. The film really packs a punch of scares and will make you want to sleep with a light on after you see it. It's a perfect film for the Halloween season. 

Built in a remote area of New England by a man named Hugh Crane in the early 1870s, Hill House has a reputation for being evil and haunted because of a series of unfortunate accidents that took place there. Ninety years ago, the carriage of Crane's young wife crashes into a tree, killing her, before she even sets eyes on Hill House. 

After the accident, Crane stays in the house and remarries while raising his daughter Abigail. Shortly after the marriage, his second wife falls down stairs in the house and is killed instantly. Crane is accused by locals of killing his second wife, so he flees to England, leaving Abigail in the house with a maid servant. 

Abigail stays in the same nursery room of the house for her entire life until reaching old age as a bed ridden invalid. One night while calling for the maid, Abigail dies in the nursery room. The maid inherits the house, but years later goes insane and hangs herself at the top of a spiral staircase in the library. The spiral staircase proves to be one of the creepiest features of the house, as we see in two separate incidences later in the film. 

Being intrigued by all the stories and misery surrounding Hill House, Dr. John Markway, played by distinguished British actor Richard Johnson, decides to conduct a supernatural experiment in Hill House with carefully selected human subjects. 

A distant relative in Boston of the maid rents the house to Markway, but warns him that everyone who ever stayed in the house never stayed there more than a few days. Luke (Russ Tamblyn), whose aunt now owns Hill House, is one of the group of four staying in the house during Markway's experiment. He is a skeptic of Markway's investigations and beliefs in the supernatural. 

Eleanor (Julie Harris) and Theodora (Claire Bloom) arrive at the house as test subjects. Eleanor has spent the last eleven years taking care of her ailing mother, so she is anxious to be a part of the group. Theodora was selected by Markway because of her skill of extra sensory perception. Eleanor was selected for experiencing a poltergeist as a child. 

During the first night at Hill House, Eleanor and Theodora hear loud pounding sounds in the walls that get progressively louder. The pounding transitions into a loud laughter of a female voice. While passing Eleanor and Theodora's room that night, Luke and Markway claim they did not hear any pounding in the walls. The two women laugh off their experience as something unexplained. 

At breakfast the next morning, Luke is asked if there is anything that frightens him. He mentions something in the hallway leading to the dining room that frightened him, so he takes the group to the hallway. On the hall wall written in chalk it says: Help Eleanor Come Home. 

Already fragile, Eleanor has a complete breakdown after seeing her name written in chalk. Down the hall from the chalk writing, Dr. Markway discovers a “cold spot” in the hallway near the nursery where occupants standing in the spot can see their breath and feel cold chills. 

Markway's wife Grace (Lois Maxwell) arrives at Hill House to warn her husband that a reporter has learned of his investigations at Hill House despite his attempts to keep the investigations a secret. Markway asks his wife to leave immediately, but she insists that she stay in the house with the group, even though she is a skeptic of the supernatural, much like Luke. She wants to stay in the nursery where Abigail spent most of her life. 

Markway tells her the room is locked and he does not have a key, but the door is wide open as the group approaches the room. Loud banging in the walls and high-pitched wind sounds penetrate the halls of the house the night Grace arrives. Markway runs from the parlor to go check on Grace in the nursery. Grace has disappeared and cannot be found. 

While the group searches for Grace, Eleanor climbs the spiral staircase in the library and is frightened by Grace when she appears through a trap door at the top of the stairs. 

On the DVD audio commentary for The Haunting, actress Julie Harris, who plays Eleanor, mentions that she felt very isolated and distant from the other actors during the production of the film. Her feelings reflect and enhance the great performance she gives on screen because she is the outcast of the group who is always emotionally fragile and distant from all the other actors on screen. On the DVD audio commentary, Actor Russ Tamblyn confirms that Harris was very distant from the other actors during the entire production. 

 Perhaps the biggest star of the film is the richly ornate, Rococo interiors of the house. The richly detailed relief wall carvings and sculptures in the house are a visual treat. A close up shot of a wall relief in Eleanor's room gives the chilling appearance of the face of a monster. 

The stark black-and-white photography greatly enhances the scary and foreboding feeling of the film, which is one of many reasons why the 1999 color remake fails viewers. The 1963 film relies on the psychological impact of not showing any horror on the screen, but instead allowing the viewer to anticipate the horrors that might appear. 

This Halloween season, I highly recommend the original 1963 chiller – The Haunting, directed by Robert Wise. Happy viewing and Happy Halloween!