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The Innocents



Jack Clayton's celebrated screen adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw (1898) is a brilliant exercise in psychological horror. Impressionable and repressed governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) agrees to tutor two orphaned children, Miles and Flora. On arrival at Bly House, she becomes convinced that the children are possessed by the perverse spirits of former governess Miss Jessel and her Heathcliffe-like lover Quint (Peter Wyngarde), who both met with mysterious deaths.

The film's sinister atmosphere is carefully created - not through shock tactics, but through its cinematography, soundtrack, and decor: Freddie Francis' beautiful CinemaScope photography, with its eerily indistinct long shots and mysterious manifestations at the edges of the frame; an evocative and spooky soundtrack; and the grand yet decaying Bly House.

Deborah Kerr gives the performance of her career and makes The Innocents an intensely unsettling experience. Are the ghosts the products of Miss Giddens' fevered imagination and emotional immaturity, or a displacement of her shock at the sexually precocious behaviour of ten-year-old Miles? Is she the protector or the corrupter?

Now widely considered to be one of the greatest of all ghost stories on film, The Innocents continues to inspire today's 'haunted house' movies, most notably The Others (Alejandro Amenbar, 2001).

Extras:
- Filmed introduction and commentary with Professor Christopher Frayling
- Original trailer for The Innocents
- The Bespoke Overcoat (Jack Clayton, 1955, 33 mins) - Jack Clayton's first film as director - an Oscar and BAFTA award-winning short starring Alfie Bass and David Kossoff
- Stills gallery including original costume designs, publicity posters, press books and production pictures
- Booklet including film notes by Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen)

meanwhile wrote:Jack Clayton's The Innocents. Also down for November 27th release.

The Innocents specs:

- Making Of
- Voiceover Commentary
- Trailer
- Stills Gallery

Listed here at Play.com

I only found out today that John Frankenheimer directed a TV (live?) 60-minute version of The Turn of the Screw in 1959 with Ingrid Bergman, which was shot on video. I hope that the tape still exists and that we see it at some point. Anyway, this BFI edition sounds great; I sold my R4 edition last month, so bring it on.

No specs for Army of Shadows yet.

The bfi THE INNOCENTS is a fantastic looking disc, great extras. Saw it at the weekend.

How about the audio? The R1 version only had a stereo mix, and not the original mono track.

The Innocents is one of the top five black and white scope films ever shot - and one of the great pieces of monochrome cinematography, in general, so it needs an optimal transfer and BFI have excelled themselves here. The Fox is still a gorgeous transfer, but I too felt that it was a wee bit too grainy and scratchy. Look at that second-last capture in Gary's review! How the hell did they manage to achieve that shot? Is it a diopter or is it deep-focus? This films overflows with audacious shots like that and surely no one would diasgree that it is one of the monuments of Cinema. Freddie Francis gets massive respect from all who know his work, but credit must also be given to ace camera operator Ronnie Taylor and the great Bernie Ford who pulled focus - what a team! Jack Clayton had a strong visual sense, too and always picked great cinematographers to work with him and The Pumpkin Eater (1964, shot by Ossie Morris) and Our Mother's House (1967) are badly needed on DVD.

Steven H wrote:DVDBeaver has great things to say about the recently released The Innocents (Clayton, 1961).

I always feel a little bit better inside when I see truly great films get their just treatment on DVD. I have the Fox R1 but boy, am I buying that BFI!

As for Pumpkin Eater, I recently recorded it from a TV broadcast and the print they showed was from a remastered and restored transfer and it looked pristine! Beautiful cinematography and surely and arguably, Anne Bancroft's greatest role. A DVD is surely and sorely needed.

Our Mother's House seems to be a problematic title both for me and whoever owns it. I explain: I really like its first part with the children and I really felt chills down my spine in some very effective scenes but I think that it kind of lost some of its charm when Boggarde and the other adults entered the story. Might give it another try in the future, though.

TCM regularly runs it late nights but the print used is not in its correct AR. You can watch it and still get the feeling that it's a gorgeous looking film but sadly our digital-era eyes are much too distracted when presented with sub-par viewing conditions. I wish Warners would go to the rescue of this much loved title soon.

Let me tell you ... I've heard about THE INNOCENTS for yrs. Then I read a post by Gordo earlier this year (probably the spring) who described it inna way that really made me say to myself "I must see this film finally and for real.."

Seeing that the BFI came out with it recently I said to myself... "ah, the Fox is a beautiful release, all I really want to do is see the film-- I'll just go ahead right now and grab the Fox,"

For chrissakes this was one of the greatest cinematic revelations of the past ten years. I was completely and totally unprepared for Freddie's ghostly cinematography (gliding like a phantom through the most luminously burnished low key deep focus), the Olivier-like performance of the young boy (as well as everyone else, really).. and the everpresent mind of the director, effortlessly guiding the film to such relentlessly seamless perfection. I found my heart pounding in many parts-- and for a jaded coot like my, it's a miracle.

Total total masterpiece-- now I hafta buy the goddam BFI.

HerrSchreck wrote:Let me tell you ... I've heard about THE INNOCENTS for yrs. Then I read a post by Gordo earlier this year (probably the spring) who described it inna way that really made me say to myself "I must see this film finally and for real.." [...]

Total total masterpiece-- now I hafta buy the goddam BFI.

You so hafta! Here's yet more reasons. And here's the original thread for it.

I was expecting a keep case for The Innocents - but no! Gorgeous tri-fold digipack with an equally gorgeous booklet. Loathe am I to repeat myself, but this film is one of the truly great achievements in cinematography. Freddie Francis tried to scale the heights again with Paranoiac and Nightmare, and though those films have some fine shots, they fall considerably short of The Innocents.

Gordon wrote:I was expecting a keep case for The Innocents - but no! Gorgeous tri-fold digipack with an equally gorgeous booklet.

Can someone please post some pictures of the digipack. I would like to see what it looks like but can't find pictures anywhere. Thanks...

Daze73 wrote:

Gordon wrote:I was expecting a keep case for The Innocents - but no! Gorgeous tri-fold digipack with an equally gorgeous booklet.

Can someone please post some pictures of the digipack. I would like to see what it looks like but can't find pictures anywhere. Thanks...

I have the dvd, but no pictures available. Believe me though the whole package is fantastic: picture quality, commentary, intro, booklet... there's nothing more to say about the film itself I guess!

For more on Bistikas, this page at the Thessaloniki festival site details his 7 shorts and 1 feature. Does anyone know if any of these are on DVD anywhere?

As far as I know, probably only his feature film Dawn MAY exist on dvd (a greek edition I mean), but I doubt it will have any english or any other subtitles anyway.

I have to agree about the Painleve set...a hell of a release!

BFI's treatment of short films on DVD never ceases to amaze and delight me, and I'm always more excited about these releases than their releases of feature films (though I would never trade their Dreyer discs or The Innocents away).

There was some talk earlier about "The Bespoke Overcoat" on "The Innocents" disc. I've just watched it, and I thought it was a superb adaptation of Gogol's story. I wondered why I had never heard about it before, so I checked some old reviews. Pauline Kael called it one of the greatest short- story movies ever made. So, I'm not alone. Just another reason why it is madness not to have this disc.

tojoed wrote:There was some talk earlier about "The Bespoke Overcoat" on "The Innocents" disc. I've just watched it, and I thought it was a superb adaptation of Gogol's story. I wondered why I had never heard about it before, so I checked some old reviews. Pauline Kael called it one of the greatest short- story movies ever made. So, I'm not alone. Just another reason why it is madness not to have this disc.

Yup. One of my most beloved DVDs. As close to perfection as you can get with a set.

Gordon wrote:I only found out today that John Frankenheimer directed a TV (live?) 60-minute version of The Turn of the Screw in 1959 with Ingrid Bergman, which was shot on video. I hope that the tape still exists and that we see it at some point.

It exists. I taped it off a nostalgia channel about twenty years ago, in the USA. I still have the tape. The timer missed the first 5 minutes. I think it's longer than an hour, however. It's a good adaptation, intelligently told and neatly visualized. Ingrid Bergman is right for the part.

But Frankenheimer's live teleplay is not equal to the Clayton / Francis film, not by an means. Of the several different versions I've watched, only the Clayton / Francis film achieves greatness.

Thanks for the info, Richard! It would be nice to see Frankenheimer's version some day, even though it is no where near as brilliant as Clayton's.

tojoed wrote:There was some talk earlier about "The Bespoke Overcoat" on "The Innocents" disc. I've just watched it, and I thought it was a superb adaptation of Gogol's story. I wondered why I had never heard about it before, so I checked some old reviews. Pauline Kael called it one of the greatest short- story movies ever made. So, I'm not alone. Just another reason why it is madness not to have this disc.

Finally got around to watching "The Bespoke Overcoat" last night. Wow, what a film. One of the rare instances where one of the extras on the DVD made an even bigger impression on me than the main feature (Blood of the Beasts on the Criterion Franju disc also comes to mind). Not to detract from the worth of The Innocents itself which is an excellent piece of work - but this just made a very special impression on me. Alfie Bass' performance had me riveted, while David Kossoff also did great work IMHO. A sublime ghost story - and one of the most memorable and yes, haunting films I have seen this year.

Yes, it's nice when you buy a top notch DVD of a film you love and find that one of the extras is also pure gold.

Any chance BFI will be revisiting this one for a Bluray release Michael? This is one film that would definitely benefit from a Hi-def treatment, with its gorgeous black and white cinematography, one of my favorites.

There's an interview in Issue 73 of DVD World - a British magazine for sex & horror DVDs - with Sam Dunn, head of video at the BFI in which he states that a Blu-Ray of this should be out later in the year.

Thanks for the info, Doc. If anyone needed a compelling reason to get a Blu-Ray player, then this is it.

This has appeared on pre-order for November 2 release at several etailers including Play.com. However, it's now disappeared from Play, and pre-orders appear to have been cancelled.

According to MovieMail The Innocents BD is now set for March 22, 2010.

Michael_B, is the current release date (May) on Amazon correct or does the Blu require more work still?

Is the Innocents blu-ray postponed? The only source saying it's still coming out in March is Amazon.