The definitive screen adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, the 1961 production of The Innocents remains one of the most effective ghost stories ever filmed. Originally promoted as the first truly "adult" chiller of the big screen (a marginally valid claim considering the release of Psycho a year earlier), the film arrived at a time when the thematic depth of James's story could finally be addressed without the compromise of reductive discretion. And while the Freudian anxiety that fuels the story may seem tame by today's standards, the psychological horrors that comprise the story's "dark secret" are given full expression in a film that brilliantly clouds the boundary between tragic reality and frightful imagination.

In one of her finest performances, Deborah Kerr stars as Miss Giddons, a devout and somewhat repressed spinster who happily accepts the position of governess for two orphaned children whose uncle (Michael Redgrave) readily admits to having no interest in being tied down by two "brats." So Miss Giddons is dispatched to Bly House, the lavish, shadowy estate where young Flora (Pamela Franklin) and her brother Miles (Martin Stephens, so memorable in 1960's Village of the Damned) live with a good-natured housekeeper (Megs Jenkins). At first, life at Bly House seems splendidly idyllic, but as Miss Giddons learns the horrible truth about the estate's now-deceased groundskeeper and previous governess, she begins to suspect that her young charges are ensnared in a devious plot from beyond the grave.

Mysticism vs Reality

"The Innocents" is one of the world's finest films. The source is Henry James' "Turn of the Screw", a gothic ghost story depicting a conflict between mysticism and reality within the mind of a spinster governess in Victorian England. This theme is hinted at during the opening credits. What is to follow is 100 minutes of beautifully photographed incidents and scenes, facts and half-facts, distortions and gossip with no line between reality and delusion to ground us. As the confusion within our minds grows, shadows and distortions create shadows on the sides of the film, each and every frame of which is a black and white work of art with an accompanying soundtrack enhancing every frame. Orchestration, nature, voices, intonations, fragments of sentences, laughter, tears, screams, whispers all create an unsettling, atmospheric mood-character as haunting as any ghost. You sit and wonder if anything is really there or is it "only the wind, my dear"? Is she just "imaging things"? If there is no answer to that question, is it worth noticing? Is it worth making decisions about? The governess thinks so with disasterous results.

You will think about this movie for days after seeing it. Was Mrs. Grose telling the truth, or spreading lies? Does the governess have a loose screw? When was she sent over the edge? There is enough evidence to support any view you choose to take, the movie plays beautifully whichever way you choose to look at it. You'll benefit from the therapy of being forced to think, forced to choose, forced to contemplate reality confronted with mysticism. The movie starts at the end and ends at the beginning. If the governess isn't insane after the opening credits she is insane at the closing credits, trapped forever in a self-created hell, forced to remember and remember in an eternal, vicious circle which becomes the film "The Innocents". For us the film is over, but the governess is locked inside it for eternity. And that's when the horror takes us. This should be seen alone and in the dark and in letterbox/widescreen format. It is for intellectuals and classicists. There is yet no DVD available.

a must-see-on-DVD masterpiece

"THE INNOCENTS" is the most bone-chillingly creepy ghost story ever filmed. It is a perfectly realised visualisation of Henry James' timeless and enigmatic novella "The Turn OF The Screw" and a brilliant evocation of Victorian sexual repression, innocence (perhaps) destroyed by perversity, and the power of suggestion. The atmosphere of loneliness and dread that permeates "Bly", the remote country estate that is the setting for the story, is palpable, and gorgeously rendered in black-and-white Cinemascope that evokes the Eugene Atget photos of Versailles. This is a hauntingly beautiful film, with a sad and mournful quality that deepens its power to terrify. Literate, sensitively written, and superbly acted by the four principals, it also features a sophisticated and multi-layered soundtrack. The whispers, echoing footsteps and music-boxes, distant stirring of leaves and gusts of wind and hypnotic silences are extraordinarily effective at drawing the viewer inexorably into the dark and fearful world of the film, with the sinister spirits of its two dead servants beckoning to the children from the shadows and perhaps gradually possessing them... This movie scared the daylights outta me when I first saw it, and its power to terrify remains undiminished with subsequent viewings. However, having just once been lucky enough to see it on a movie screen in its proper aspect ratio, I gotta tell you, it MUST be seen in a widescreen format to be fully appreciated. So start writing those letters to 20th C Fox and beg them to RELEASE THIS PEERLESS MASTERPIECE ON DVD ALREADY! Hopefully the success of "THE OTHERS" (which I thought was superbly calibrated, quite clever and very effective, and is absolutely a direct descendant of "THE INNOCENTS") is some incentive. Let's hope so. As a fellow enthusiast suggested in his review, "THE INNOCENTS" must be seen, and preferably alone, in a darkened room. It will haunt your sleep for weeks, and you will love it. Guaranteed.

Scream if you want to see this on DVD ASAP!

Coming from a generation that considers the Scream movies to be pretty scary, I honestly think that this film should be essential viewing for all slasher movie fans. The high school horror crap so readily churned out appals me when I watch a film like The Innocents, and I'm reminded what a good scary movie is really like.

Although I'm not 100% sure about Deborah Kerr's performance in The Innocents, it certainly didn't tarnish my respect for this film. Miles and Flora are played by two outstanding children, who truly are stars. Miles' character was just the most eerie thing I've witnessed in a movie for a long time - he indeed had the air of an innocent, but there was definitely an adult, almost sexual side to the boy. Very creepy.

The lighting effects, multitude of mirrors and spooky Miss. Jessel filled me with fear from the moment I started watching this - and I was hooked until the closing credits. My favourite part of The Innocents was the governess's bizarre dream sequence - spinechilling stuff.

I'll be sure to recommend this film to all my friends in the hope that it'll get the recognition it deserves. More of this style of psychological horror please Hollywood - if I'm subjected to another bad teen horror movie I will not be responsible for my actions.