THE INNOCENTS (1961): The Greatest Ghost Story Ever Filmed?

THE INNOCENTS (1961) d. Jack Clayton (UK)

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The Innocents, the spellbinding 1961 screen version of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. Producer/director Jack Clayton and cinematographer Freddie Francis conjure a haunting onscreen atmosphere with an eye for hypnotic, symbolic imagery, where the sunlit scenes are frequently more chilling than those set at night.

THE INNOCENTS (1961) Blu-ray Review

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The Innocents (1961) d. Jack Clayton (UK) (100 min) (4th viewing)

In Victorian England, prim governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) is assigned to a country estate to care for two orphaned children, Miles (Martin Stephens) and Flora (Pamela Franklin). Upon her arrival, in addition to being occupied with her new duties, she slowly begins to suspect that the spirits of the former valet Peter Quint (Peter Wyngarde) and governess Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop) have begun to influence – or even possess – her youthful charges. With increasingly supernatural occurrences at odds with her own pragmatic worldview, Giddens risks both life and sanity in a battle for the children’s souls, a battle that climaxes in unforgettable and devastating fashion.

BURN WITCH BURN (1962) movie review

Burn, Witch, Burn (aka Night of the Eagle) (1962) d. Sidney Hayers (UK)

Terrific screen version of Fritz Lieber’s novel Conjure Wife (first seen as the 1944 Lon Chaney vehicle Weird Woman and then remade in 1980 as the little-seen Witches’ Brew), adapted with verve by the dream team of Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont. Peter Wyngarde stars as a professor who seems to lead a charmed life, only to find out that he does . . . literally. Seems his beautiful bride (Janet Blair) does a little dabbling in the magical arts, and when practical hubby finds out and demands she dispense with her tools of hoodoo, his luck changes and not for the good.