The Innocents

Black & white, 35 mm
United Kingdom, 1961, 100 min
Section: Midnight Screenings

About the film

An impressionable woman becomes governess to two seemingly innocent children at a sprawling gothic mansion. Gradually convinced that her charges are possessed by perverse spirits of the dead, she is increasingly disturbed by strange apparitions. A splendidly subtle and genuinely eerie adaptation of Henry James’ famous ghost story, The Turn of the Screw (1898), The Innocents is instilled with many haunting moments that stretch the expressive potential of the filmic palate to the utmost. Assisted by Francis’ beautiful photography, Clayton’s assured direction combines strange sounds and striking imagery – from the opening credits onwards - to chill the viewer in unexpected ways that defy easy description. Equally affecting is the odd relationship depicted between the naive governess and the strangely knowing children she attends. As the boundaries between their separate worlds of adulthood and childhood are jarringly blurred, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern where true innocence lies.

About the director

Jack Clayton (b.1921, Brighton, E. Sussex; d. 1995) took a job as ‘third assistant director’ at Korda’s London Films, aged fourteen. Many film jobs followed. Receiving his first sole directorial credit for the short ghost story The Bespoke Overcoat (1955), he found acclaim with Room at the Top (1959), the realist film that launched the British New Wave. Elements of The Innocents seemed to reappear in later work: The Pumpkin Eater (1964) featured another complex, troubled heroine; Our Mother’s House (1967) was a further eerie excursion into the hidden world of childhood. Fiercely independent, his work was well respected but commercial success often eluded him. He worked in Britain and America, directing eight feature films in total, the last of which, Memento Mori (1992), was made for the BBC.