Director Jack (Something This Way Comes) Clayton's 1961, film adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw, relabeled The Innocents, may be the best, cinematic take of the fable. It undoubtedly influenced similar, plaintive tales, including Alejandro Amenabar's The Others and J.A. Boyona/Sergio G. Sanchez's The Orphanage. One can also find its frightful flavor in the spectral advent of Quentin Collins in Dark Shadows.
In honor of this magnificent production, Classic Monsters of the Movies' researchers/scribes, Nigel Burton and Jamie Jones, analyze the adaptation's construction, as rendered by writers Truman Capote, John Mortimer and William Archibald (whose play version acted as its foundation), as well as its excellent, aforementioned director, cinematographer Freddy (The Elephant Man) Francis, and its superlative cast, headlined by Deborah (Eye of the Devil) Kerr, Peter (Jason King/Flash Gordon 1980) Wyngarde (in what may be his most intense portrayal), Michael (Dead of Night 1945) Redgrave, Megs (The Turn of the Screw 1974) Jenkins (in her first portrayal of housekeeper Mrs. Grouse), Clytie (Nightmare/Torture Garden) Jessup; Pamela (The Legend of Hell House/The Prime of Miss Brodie) Franklin and coming straight off Village of the Damned, Martin Stephens, who had previously costarred with Kerr in the whimsical Count Your Blessings.
The Innocents wavers between reality and reverie, giving one cause to pause regarding whether its children are, in fact, in touch with spirits or if it's all a lavish ruse to beguile their fraught governess as she occupies their foreboding mansion. The results are ethereal and enthralling, as is every page of this refined periodical.
As a bonus to Burton and Jones' main content, quality stills, biographies, trivia and fun facts populate the deluxe volume, giving one an even further view of this benchmark of mystery thrillers.
Order Classic Monsters of the Movies: The Innocents at
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