The Innocents, Based on the Novel 'Turn of the Screw', is Generally Torturous to Watch

The Innocents is rescued from oblivion by an incredible performance by child prodigy Martin Stephens as the eerie Miles.

Written by BHM Contributor Dr. Chills
May 12, 2009


Release: 1961
Directed by: Jack Clayton
Written by: Henry James (Novel) and John Mortimer (Screenplay)

Starring:
Deborah Kerr as Ms. Giddens
Peter Wyngarde as Peter Quint
Martin Stephens as Miles
Pamela Franklin as Flora
Megs Jenkins as Ms. Grose

I first fell in love with The Turn of the Screw, the Henry James novel that inspired the film The Innocents, when I was a senior in High School. We were assigned to read the story as part of an honors English class and as we were not being tested on it, I didn’t bother to read it. Well, Mrs. Weisberg, or whatever her name was, spun such a delicious lesson that day as the class discussed the novel! She outlined eight possible, equally plausible, yet totally different interpretations of the book and found evidence in the book to back up each increasingly absurd assertion. I couldn’t believe it. I was hooked. I cursed myself for having cheated myself out of the opportunity to have participated in the scintillating discussion and regretted not having the experience of being brought to the edge of my seat in anticipation of the next “turn of the screw” or the next sojourn deeper down the rabbit hole.

I vowed that I would one day read the book, and one day I did. Reading the novel as an adult did not have the same allure as it would have had I read it that fateful day in 12th grade English, but it was a good read none the less. I was curious to see how all the strange twists in the novel would be adapted to film. In hindsight, I now realize that The Turn of the Screw has been redone several times on film, the best being done perhaps by Ingrid Bergman, but I can’t really speak about that one since I haven’t seen it yet. I did however see one adaptation called, The Innocents, which was directed by Jack Clayton.

The Innocents was at most a big disappointment from the novel and would have been a total flop were it not for the brilliant and eerily good acting of the child actor, Martin Stephens who plays Miles. I found myself wondering as I was watching the film how such a small boy could possess such a wonderful vocabulary and such incredible acting skills. I can only imagine that viewers in 1961 had a similar ‘Oh My God’ Moment when they saw this young prodigy, as many of us modern day viewers did in the 1990’s when we first saw Haley Joel Osmet in the films A.I. - Artificial Intelligence or The Sixth Sense.

Martin Stephens makes watching the film worth while, but other than his brilliant acting, there is little saving grace. It was really tortuous to get through. I did enjoy seeing the landscaping at the manor. Watching the film did make me want to investigate the prospect of buying an old castle in Europe, but not much else grabbed me. Deborah Kerr as Ms. Giddens was desperate, crazy as a loon and way too intense and serious to be so stupid about executing her plans. Pamela Franklin as Flora was bratty and creepy and Megs Jenkins as Mrs. Grose was just plain silly.

With everything in me, I want to tell you not to watch this film, but I hearken back to the splendid acting of our little Martin Stephens as Miles, which makes the whole painful experience, worth it in the end. Questions or comments about The Innocents? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!

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