I watched the 1961 movie, The Innocents the other night. I chose it because I had seen it so prominently listed among several peoples all time favorite horror movies lists. It was adapted from a novella by Henry James, The Turn of the Screw (1898). It is very good and holds up well still today. The acting is superb and it is well shot. It is black and white but that did not detract from my enjoyment of it. Although, truth be told, haunted house tales are my favorite kind of story, so I have a weakness there. The screen play was adapted by legendary scribe, Truman Capote.
The story revolves around a woman, Miss. Giddons, who is hired to be the new governess at Bly House, owned by the uncle of two children who have lost there parents. The uncle does not live there and has no real interest in the children, thus he will leave all decisions as to the children’s well fare in the Governess’ care. When she arrives at the house she finds the children are precocious and seem to know things that they often keep to themselves. Miss Giddons begins to see the sad ghost of the previous Governess, as well as the menacing ghost of her lover who was the former valet. I won’t go into much more detail of the plot here as I don’t wish to ruin it for anyone who may want to rent it.
The strength of this film to me is in many of the cryptic things suggested in the dialog of the characters. For instance, when another Mrs. Grose, another servant of the house is asked by Miss Giddons about the deceased valet, Mrs. Grose says “He has the Devils own eye.”
Later on Flora, the young girl in Giddons charge, while saying her prayers at night begins to ask about what would happen if she were not a good girl and if God did not take her soul. She adds, “…wouldn’t the Lord just leave me here to walk around? Isn’t that what happens to some people?”
There are many more examples of the subtle nudges towards the supernatural in the movie, both with the dialog and in things that are seen. Such as, Miss Giddon seeing a statue of a young child, where a large ugly beetle crawls out of it’s mouth it was hidden in, just as Miss Giddon goes to look at it. This seems to symbolize Miss Giddons fear that the ghosts of Bly House are trying to possess the two children.
In the end, this movie can be frustrating if you want a definitive answer as to what is happening at the house, as it leaves that open to the viewers own interpretation. Enough evidence is presented for both sides as to whether Bly House is truly haunted or if it is all in the imagination of Miss Giddons.
For those interested, The Innocents movie is generally not hard to at most movie outlets.
