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The Innocents (1961)
Film Process CinemaScope 2.35:1 Black and White
Directed by Jack Clayton
Cinematography by Freddie Francis
Screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote
Film Editing by James Clark
Based loosely on the 1898 classic novella, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The movie is inaccurately referred to as a horror film. It's a Gothic story, with either a psychological twist or a supernatural one. The film cleverly allows the viewer to ultimately decide if the ghost are real or a figment of the young governesses imagination. The Innocents has more in common with films like Rebecca (1940) or Wuthering Heights (1939) than it does with other early 1960s horror films.
Deborah Kerr is well suited to play the young governess hired to care for two young children at a 19th century British country estate. She seems like a proper British governess, cloistered and responsible, yet with a pensive more hidden side.
The cinematography of The Innocents is sublime. Each scene is composed like a work of art. The lighting is beautiful. The special effects and optical effects are remarkable. The story itself is intelligent and thought provoking, giving the viewer the chance to finalize the meaning of the story for themselves.
Film Process CinemaScope 2.35:1 Black and White
Directed by Jack Clayton
Cinematography by Freddie Francis
Screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote
Film Editing by James Clark
Based loosely on the 1898 classic novella, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. The movie is inaccurately referred to as a horror film. It's a Gothic story, with either a psychological twist or a supernatural one. The film cleverly allows the viewer to ultimately decide if the ghost are real or a figment of the young governesses imagination. The Innocents has more in common with films like Rebecca (1940) or Wuthering Heights (1939) than it does with other early 1960s horror films.
Deborah Kerr is well suited to play the young governess hired to care for two young children at a 19th century British country estate. She seems like a proper British governess, cloistered and responsible, yet with a pensive more hidden side.
The cinematography of The Innocents is sublime. Each scene is composed like a work of art. The lighting is beautiful. The special effects and optical effects are remarkable. The story itself is intelligent and thought provoking, giving the viewer the chance to finalize the meaning of the story for themselves.