The Innocents



The Innocents is a 1961 British horror film directed by Jack Clayton and starring Deborah Kerr. It is adapted from Henry James's novella The Turn of the Screw and tells the story of a young governess Miss Giddens (Kerr) in her first position, sent to look after two children at a country manor called Bly. At first Miss Giddens loves the house and gets along wonderfully with the two children, but she soon starts to see other people in the house. When she sees a man up close, she describes him to the housekeeper and is informed that the man in question died over a year ago. Miss Giddens then becomes convinced that the spirits of two dead servants are trying to possess the children.

The film is widely considered to be one of Kerr's best performances and is notable for It has also been the basis for other horror films such as The Others with Nicole Kidman.


 * Adaptation Dye Job: Peter Quint was red haired in the book but is dark haired in the film (it's in black and white but Miss Giddens says he has dark hair).
 * Big Fancy House
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Flora is a curious example. She's the only character always shown wearing white and, while she may or may not be evil, she is definitely mischievous and she does have a rather dark sense of humour.
 * Boarding School of Horrors: Inverted. The boy who got sent away to school was expelled because he was the one scaring all the students.
 * Casanova: The uncle is said to be this. Miles has elements of it as well.
 * Cerebus Callback: Flora's pet tortoise Rupert is the subject of some lighthearted moments early on in the film. He appears again near the end.
 * Creepy Child: Both of them. Flora has her humming of the song "Willow Waly" to herself and responding to questions she doesn't like with "I don't think I remember". Miles with giving Miss Giddens a long, lingering kiss and being played by Martin Stephens (from Village of the Damned).
 * Dark Reprise: The song "Willow Waly" is a little creepy at the start but gets even worse as it's discovered Miss Jessel used to sing it to Flora.
 * Dream Melody: Miss Giddens, as a result of hearing Flora humming "Willow Waly" at night.
 * Driven to Suicide: Miss Jessel drowned herself in the lake after Quint died.
 * Foreshadowing: "Sometimes waking a child from a bad dream is worse than the nightmare. It's the shock..."
 * Fridge Horror: Miss Giddens believes Peter Quint and Miss Jessel wish to relive their relationship by possessing Miles and Flora. Two 8-year-old children that are brother and sister.
 * Freudian Excuse: Whether or not the children are possessed, it's understandable they aren't the best behaved little people. First of all, they're orphans and can't be any older than eight years old. Secondly their only living relative couldn't care less about them and doesn't bother to take care of them. Third of all, they had to live in a house with an open abusive relationship going on in front of them (where they both looked up to both people). Fourth of all, Miles found Quint dead on the steps and Miss Jessel then killed herself. Fifth of all, Miles gets sent away to school and Flora is pretty much alone in the house with only the servants until Miss Giddens gets there. And if she wasn't messed up before she arrived...
 * Genre Savvy: Miss Giddens though it is suggested she is merely making the story up on her own.
 * Ghostly Goals: Miss Giddens believes that the two ghosts are trying to possess the children so they can continue their relationship.
 * Hair of Gold: Miss Giddens.
 * Harmful to Minors: Miss Jessel and Quint--on multiple levels.
 * Informed Attractiveness: Mrs Grose and Miles do make a big fuss of how pretty Miss Giddens is though in Miles's case he's probably trying to be flattering to distract her.
 * I See Dead People
 * Light Is Not Good: Flora and Miles appear to be two of the most angelic children around, Flora emphasizing this by wearing white all the time. Whether or not they are being possessed they are extremely manipulative and seem to enjoy terrorising Miss Giddens.
 * Mad Love: Miss Jessel for Quint.
 * Named by the Adaptation: The governess is unnamed in the book but called Miss Giddens in this. Miss Jessel is also given "Mary" as a first name.
 * Ominous Music Box Tune
 * One-Scene Wonder: Michael Redgrave and his five minutes on screen as the uncle.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Miss Giddens is convinced that getting the children to admit the ghosts are there will get rid of them.
 * Parental Abandonment: The children are orphans and their uncle refuses to be saddled with them.
 * Please Wake Up: Miles did this on discovering the dead Quint.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Both of the children flash these at points.
 * Sanity Slippage
 * Scenery Porn: Several long and lovely shots of the English countryside, as well as the grounds and gardens of the house itself. Miss Giddens loves it so much she gets out of the carriage at the gates and walks the rest of the way to the house.
 * Ship Tease: Some rather odd subtext going on between Miles and Miss Giddens. He asks her to kiss him goodnight and then gives her a rather passionate kiss on the lips..
 * Stepford Smiler: Miles is a bit of a type C.
 * The City vs. the Country: The uncle defies this, refusing to move to his country home to look after the children and instead hiring other people to look after them.
 * The Film of the Book
 * Title Drop
 * Woman in Black: Miss Jessel, although with the ghostly characteristics of a Woman in White.
 * Woman in White: Flora. She's the only character who wears all white.
 * Would Hit a Girl: Mrs Grose says she saw Quint strike Miss Jessel and knock her to the floor several times.