The Innocents
by Jack Clayton
List Price:
Our Price: $7.74
You Save: $7.24 (48%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Deborah Kerr, Martin Stephens, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave, Peter WyngardeDirector: Jack Clayton
Brand: TCFHE
Cinematographer: Freddie Francis
Producer: Jack Clayton
Editor: Jim Clark
Producer: Albert Fennell
Writer: Henry James
Writer: John Mortimer
Writer: Truman Capote
Writer: William Archibald
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-06
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of The Innocents
DVD Review: One of the best horror movies ever
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this movie about 6 years ago and wondered why I'd never heard of it before. This is one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. Based on "the turn of the screw" it's a story about a woman who becomes a governess to two children in an estate out in the country. She begins to believe that these children are possessed by the former governess and a man who both died on the estate, and were lovers. Questions remain as to whether or not they are really possessed or if it's just her overactive imagination. Either way, this movie is genuinely scary and all the actors, including the children, do a fine job of conveying a terrible sense of unease. Some truly shocking moments in this film, and quite a bit of underlying symbolism.DVD Review: AN OH-SO-YUMMY THRILLER
Summary: 5 Stars
Deborah Kerr was wonderful in this sumptuous creepfest, and the not-so-cuddly children as played by Pamela Franklin and Martin Stephens are far more frightening in their pseudo-precociousness than any of the ghouls, or slashers I've seen in the cinema in at least a few decades. Jack Clayton's direction was perfection, bringing James's delectible nightmare to tantalizing fruition on the big screen ( aided by the superb screenplay of William Archibald, and Truman Capote ). Truly the stuff of dreams ( very dark dreams... ).
DVD Review: One of the best horror movies ever made.
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Innocents" is one of the most atmospheric and creepy psychological horror movies ever made. The plot of the movie leads the viewer to believe that either the spinster nanny heroine of the movie, Miss Geddens, is having a nervous breakdown or the behavior of the two children she cares for is being psychically influenced by the murdered, low life, sadistic servant Quint and the masochistic, pathetically suicidal former nanny Miss Jessel. Apparently the deceased servant and the former nanny had a sado-masochistic relationship that was whispered about among the staff of the mansion. Quint and Miss Jessel "kindly" took the two children of the house, Miles and Flora, under their wings and acted as surrogate parents to the orphans, but it is rumored that Quint and Miss Jessel also had sex in the mansion with the doors wide open and possibly exposed the children to their kinky sexual encounters. The movie also implies that the one or both of the children may have been sexually molested by one or both of the deceased. Miss Geddens sees menacing apparitions of Quint and Miss Jessel in the presence of the children, but the children say that they don't see anything....or do they?? Were they so traumatized by the memory that can't see the apparitions, or, are the ghosts manipulating the children's behavior, or, is the Miss Geddens losing her mind?? This film doesn't reveal the answer, it's up to the viewer to figure it all out. Which is one of the reasons why the movie is so great. My personal opinion (SPOILER): the house is haunted by Quint and Miss Jessel, Miles is being controlled like a sock puppet by Quint, Miles and/or Miss Jessel killed Quint, and Miss Gedden is a freaking kook! And the kid that plays Miles deserves an Academy Award.DVD Review: Haunting 1961 haunted house classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This black and white 1961 haunted house classic is a winner all around. Set in 19th century England, The Innocents has a haunted atmosphere throughout the movie. This movie is based on the novel "The Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James.
This is a ghost story that stars Deborah Kerr, who plays a governess who is caring for two orphaned children in a huge Victorian mansion. Throughout the movie there are ghosts that appear once in a while, such as a ghost of a woman who walks through a wall and the ghost of a man who appears on the roof of the house and outside a glass door. As the movie progresses and the ghosts continue to appear, the childrens' behavior changes to the point of being strange and obnoxious. As a result, Deborah Kerr starts to wonder about what happened to the previous governess and her lover. Kerr feels that it's possible that the ghosts of these people are trying to destroy the childrens' innocence. On the other hand, the haunted happenings could be just her imagination. The children really get on Kerr's case when she insists she's seeing ghosts and wants the children to notice them, but the children don't see them. The only thing I didn't like about the movie was all the yelling and screaming by the children. It occurred a little too often.
One of my favorite scenes occurs when Kerr is walking through the house with a candle holder in hand, investigating strange things that are happening. It is such a spooky scene. There are some classic haunting situations throughout the movie that are eerie and will scare you, some familiar, some innovative.
Just like The Haunting (1963), this movie's atmosphere benefits from and is enhanced by the black and white filming because to me, black and white makes it darker and spookier. There's just something about black and white that works.
If you're up for a good ghost story, buy this movie. You won't be disappointed. It's one of the all-time great haunted house movies.
DVD Review: THE INNOCENTS - 1961 - DIR: JACK CLAYTON
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone who has read my review of 'Village of the Damned' on the MovieKids site, will have gathered that I do have a bit of a 'thing' about Martin Stephens, the young child star of this film. Hardly surprising, when having experienced that totally controlled, (for such a young actor), icy malevolence he brought to his role there, and then to discover that he is only just one year older (13) in 'The Innocents', I find that he is exhibiting a massive and almost adult, but certainly highly mature understanding of his role as the haunted boy, Miles, who is apparently possessed by the spirit of his dead mentor, (or tormentor!), Peter Quint, the former gamekeeper.
This man, according to Henry James, the author of the novel,'The Turn of the Screw', from which this story is taken, 'made free' with the boy! What are we to deduce? Is this the way things are or were? Who knows! Is Miles truly the 'wicked boy', sent home from his boarding school for 'being a bad influence' on the other boys, or is he just a sad, tormented youngster who is being led to believe, by his possibly misled and obsessive governess, that he is indeed evil? Are he and his sister even the victims of paedophilic abuse? Or - the willing partners in an adult game they are consciously embracing and desperately want to be a part of?
Whatever conclusion we come to, Martin Stephens, with his intelligent understanding of what he is portraying, coupled with huge acting skills gained from his previous, equally demanding two roles, provides us with a character of a boy who is both charming and extremely bright but who is also secretive and devious - and yes! - certainly highly sensual - and who is almost playfully leading the somewhat gullible Miss Giddins, (his Governess, played by the brilliant Deborah Kerr - watch out for one of the most famous - or infamous - screen kisses of all time between an adult and a child!!), a merry dance, along with his equally charming and seemingly guileless girl co-star, Pamela Franklin - young star of 'The Lion', - with his game of 'Am I - Aren't I?', `Will I - Won't I?', down the path of, for her, almost demented paranoia.
Have I whetted your appetite for this unique production? I hope so! Get it - see it - and you will almost certainly be beguiled by this, the first outing for its young Director, Jack Clayton - (very soon after to be showered with accolades for his subsequent oeuvres) - in a work of dark suspicion, adult moral dilemma - or - childhood fantasy games, playing up to the adult gallery? Or - is it? See for yourself!
The memory of my first viewing of this brilliant movie, in a darkened cinema of 1961, and presented by what was certainly a highly imaginative cinema projectionist, will never leave me. However, the very same haunting experience is still there on the smaller screen and I, for one, would most certainly not be without it in my vast collection of classic movies.
Description of The Innocents
Deborah Kerr stars in this "horrifying Gothic ghost tale" (Newsweek) based on Henry James' "The Turn Of The Screw,' a powerful psychological drama about innocence possessed by evil. Shortly after coming to live with orphans Flora and Miles in their dark, eerie mansion, the new governess (Kerr) mistakes their strange behavior for preciousness. But she soon comes to believe that the charming, beautiful children are possessed by evil, malicious spirits - the souls of their previous governess and estate manager who are now dead. With its shocking conclusion and sinister cinematic effects. The Innocents "catches an eerie, spine-chilling mood right from the start" (Variety) that never lets up.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.
Ghostly images are revealed in only the most fleeting glimpses, and the outstanding Cinemascope photography by Freddie Francis (who used special filters to subtly darken the edges of the screen) turns Bly House into a welcoming mansion by day, a maze of mystery and terror by night. Sound effects and music are used to bone-chilling effect, and director Jack Clayton, blessed with a script by William Archibald and Truman Capote, maintains a deliberate pace to emphasize the ambiguity of James's timeless novella. The result is a masterful film--comparable to the 1963 classic The Haunting--that uses subtlety and suggestion to reach the pinnacle of fear. --Jeff Shannon
Mystery & Suspense DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in Mystery & Suspense DVDs
The Haunted AirmanKoch International; Release date: 2009-10-13; DVD
Best price: $11.30
Price in other shops:
The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Amazing GraceGRUFFUDD,IOAN; Release date: 2007-11-13; DVD
Best price: $9.49
Price in other shops:
A Clockwork Orange (Two-Disc Special Edition)KUBRICK,STANLEY; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $9.94
Price in other shops:
V for Vendetta (Widescreen Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-08-01; DVD
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
Help!EMD; Release date: 2007-11-06; DVD
Best price: $20.66
Price in other shops:
Black BookUnknown; Release date: 2007-09-25; DVD
Best price: $6.88
Price in other shops:
![A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray] Image](/images/A-Clockwork-Orange-Blu-ray-B000Q678OO-X.jpg)
A Clockwork Orange [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $8.90
Price in other shops:
![Superman - The Movie [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Superman-The-Movie-Blu-ray-B000K4X5XA-X.jpg)
Superman - The Movie [Blu-ray]Warner Brothers; Release date: 2006-11-28; DVD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
![2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray] Image](/images/2001-A-Space-Odyssey-Blu-ray-B000Q66J1M-X.jpg)
2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray]KUBRICK,STANLEY; Release date: 2007-10-23; DVD
Best price: $9.18
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Ghost StoryImg; Release date: 2004-09-07; DVD
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops:
Don't Look NowCHRISTIE,JULIE; Release date: 2002-09-03; DVD
Best price: $7.55
Price in other shops:
The SentinelUNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2004-09-07; DVD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Let's Scare Jessica to DeathLAMPERT,ZOHRA; Release date: 2006-08-29; DVD
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops:
Burnt OfferingsBLACK,KAREN; Release date: 2003-08-26; DVD
Best price: $3.90
Price in other shops:
The Lady in WhiteHAAS,LUKAS; Release date: 2005-09-20; DVD
Best price: $7.30
Price in other shops:
The OtherTwentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2006-10-17; DVD
Best price: $8.20
Price in other shops:
The ChangelingHBO HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2000-09-12; DVD
Best price: $2.73
Price in other shops:
The Legend of Hell HouseRelease date: 2001-09-04; DVD
Best price: $5.40
Price in other shops:
The HauntingWarner Brothers; Release date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops: