The Innocents (1961)

Jack Clayton's The Innocents is a wonderful Gothic horror story, the likes of which we seldom see in our day of CGI ghosts and ghouls. Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) is hired by a wealthy gentleman (Michael Redgrave) to serve as the governess of his young niece Flora (Pamela Franklin) and nephew Miles (Martin Stephens). The uncle gives Miss Giddens complete authority to deal with any problem, telling her that she must never bother him under any circumstances. Miss Giddens arrives at the country estate where the children live and meets Flora, who appears to be a sweet little girl. Soon after her arrival, Miles arrives, having been expelled from boarding school. Seems he corrupted the other boys. Nothing more is said. The housekeeper, kindly old Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), can't believe it. She maintains that Miles and Flora are innocents. Miss Giddens isn't so sure. She becomes obsessed with the former governess, Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop). There's some dark secret surrounding her. Miss Giddens pries it out of Mrs. Grose. Seems there was a valet who ran the estate. Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde) was a cruel and domineering man. Miss Jessel was devoted to him. Turns out, so was Miles. Quint treated Miss Jessel like his slave. Used her for whatever he wanted. Wherever he wanted. No matter who was watching. Right in front of Miles and Flora. They got an early education in things they should never have known. Then Quint died in an accident. Miles was distraught. So was Miss Jessel. After pining away for several months she drowned herself in the lake. Trouble is, as in all good Gothic horror stories, the dead don't stay in their graves. Quint's and Miss Jessel's hunger and desire drive their spirits to use Flora and Miles to fulfill their beastly desires. Miss Giddens is determined to stop this, to save the children, at any cost. The price turns out to be higher than she imagined.

The Innocents is not just another ghost story though. It deals with some subjects that were simply not dealt with in movies in 1961. Sexual perversion. Domination and submission. Child abuse. These things aren't talked about outright. You couldn't do that in 1961. Instead, they're hinted at. Alluded to. Suggested. It's not hard to miss the implications and allusions. These children were enthralled to a man who abused them, who abused their governess, who still cannot let them go. His hold on their young minds extends beyond the grave. But is it a real ghost? Or is it all in the mind of Miss Giddens. Mrs. Grose claims she doesn't see the ghosts, even when Miss Giddens is looking straight at them. Flora and Miles deny the presence of ghosts too, but they would. This calls into question Miss Giddens' sanity. Has she taken the stories told to her by Mrs. Grose and created in her own mind something that did not exist? Has she summoned up the ghosts from her own self-conscience? Does her insistence that the children face their demons cause them more damage by forcing them to relive again the horrors they endured while Quint and Miss Jessel were alive and rampaging through the house? None of these questions are answered in the film. The audience is left to draw their own conclusions. Three possibilities exist: 1) the children were abused and there are ghosts trying to possess them; 2) the children were abused and Miss Giddins thinks the Quint's and Miss Jessel's influence over the children are ghosts trying to possess them; 3) the cheese done slipped off Miss Giddins' cracker. In any case, it all makes for one mighty good story, with a few hair raising moments.

The Innocents was adapted from William Archibald's 1950 Broadway play of the same title, which was in turn adapted from Henry James' novella, "The Turn of the Screw." The movie is filmed in starkly contrasted black and white, with plenty of deep, deep shadows where anything could be lurking. The country estate house is expansive, and the film is shot in wide screen, but Clayton fills the scenes with darkness, crowding the actors, hemming them in and creating that wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere that every good horror movie needs. Interestingly, most of the images of the "ghosts" appear not at night in darkened hallways, but in broad daylight, standing atop a tower, standing in the middle of a lake, sitting at a school desk. The juxtaposition of the dead under the bright sunlight lends a creepiness that would not exist had they appeared out of the shadows. Quint's ghost also appears at night in the window, leering, smirking, laughing, mocking Miss Giddens' attempts to pry the children out of his grasp. Then there are the voices and the laughing that Miss Giddens hears at night. Or does she hear them? No one else seems to. Not even Mrs. Grose. All of this combines to create a wonderful ghost story or a great psychological thriller, or both. It's hard to say. But I'll guarantee that it'll send a chill or two up your spine.

The Innocents is unrated, but I'd rate it PG on account of mature subject matter and disturbing scenes.

The Uninvited (1944)

Lewis Allen's The Uninvited is one of the best little horror stories ever filmed, and a movie that you'll be lucky if you ever get to see. Like Under the Tuscan Sun, it involves an old deserted estate, and the dream someone has of fixing it up and starting a new life in the country far from the strife of the city. There the similarity ends, however. Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald (Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey) discover Windwood Manor, a beautiful old mansion sitting empty on the sea coast. This brother and sister duo decide to purchase the home immediately and make it their own. Only one problem. The house isn't quite as deserted as they thought it was. Two women died there in less than fortunate circumstances. One is Mary Meredith, cold-hearted wife of the artist Llewellyn Meredith. The other is his model, Carmel Casada. As Roderick and Pamela try to unravel the mystery of these two ghosts - the former cold and threatening, the latter sad and weeping - Roderick falls in love with Stella Meredith (Gail Russell), the daughter of Llewellyn. Stella is also the granddaughter of the man who sold them the house, Commander Beech (Donald Crisp). He forbids Stella from seeing Roderick or going near Windwood Manor, much to the dismay of the young lovers. When Stella does finally show up there, she's at first filled with intense happiness as she smells the fragrance of mimosa. Later, she's scared out of her wits by the cold, angry spirit. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, Roderick, Pamela, and Dr. Scott (Allan Napier) go to see Miss Holloway (Cornelia Otis Skinner), who was a dear friend of Meredith's. Eventually, the trio solves the mystery and exorcises all of the spirits from Windwood Manor for good. Roderick and Stella will be married, as will Dr. Scott and Pamella.

The Uninvited is a wonderful old spine tingler, a tale of an angry presence that threatens the life of a sweet young woman and a beneficent presence that seeks to check the other. It's a story of love and revenge, of hatred and control, of repressed emotions and lesbianism. Yes, you read that correctly. Like Rebecca, there's a strongly hinted relationship between the cold Mary Meredith and the creepy Miss Holloway. Of course, such things could never be said outright back in the forties, so they had to be implied. This film implies quite a lot, enough to say that something more was going on between these two twisted women. I say "twisted," because that is the only was that homosexuality and lesbianism could be shown back in 1944. If a character's gender preference was called into question, they were by default evil. It's just the way it was. Like all of the really good suspense stories of the forties, it's shot in a deliciously moody style, with lots of deep shadows, even during the daylight hours. Windwood Manor is a creepy old pile of bricks, with its long, winding staircase and the reflections from the ocean cast onto the walls and ceiling, much like in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. There are some wonderfully funny scenes when Roderick takes Stella sailing and promptly gets sick, and when Roderick and Pamela visit the sanitarium of Miss Holloway. Like Cruella deVille, "if she doesn't scare you, no evil thing will." Finally, there's the ghost itself. Mary Meredith's disembodied presence was rendered with a wonderful special effect that revealed only enough of her spirit to scare you, but not enough of it to let you "see the strings." I've seen this movie a dozen times, and I still get shivers up and down my spine when that ghost appears on screen. That's how well it was done.

The Uninvited is rated G and is available in creepy black and white. It's only available in this country on VHS. This wonderful thriller has never been released on DVD in the United States. Why? I dunno. You'll have to ask Paramount about that one.