Innocents (DVD)

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Neither Henry James nor director Clayton reveal their hand, choosing to allow the audience to make up their own minds, instead, whether the house is haunted or whether Miss Giddens, whom we learn is a spinster, quite sheltered and sexually repressed, is losing her mind.

At forty, Deborah Kerr was a little old for the part of James's twenty-year-old governess, but Ms. Kerr is a beautiful woman, and her portrayal brings an added sense of isolation and frustration to the role, the development of yet another character dimension. Kerr commands our attention from beginning to end.

Megs Jenkins plays the patient and understanding housekeeper, and she becomes Miss Giddens' closest confidant. Yet even Mrs. Grose has difficulty accepting the governess's obsession with ghosts and demonic possession. Martin Stephens and Pamela Franklin play the children, and they, too, are ideal for their roles, part angels, part devils. This would not be the only time Ms. Franklin would enter the film world of the supernatural, by the way; she later appeared in "Necromancy," "Satan's School for Girls," and, most importantly, "The Legend of Hell House."

The others folks in the cast are of little consequence. Michael Redgrave plays the uncle in a purely perfunctory appearance, one far less important than it was in the James story, where the governess appears to fall in love with him. Peter Wyngarde and Clytie Jessop play Quint and Miss Jessel, but, understandably, their roles are brief and wordless.

The movie's success derives from its intelligent script; its fine acting; Jack Clayton's nuanced direction; Freddie Francis's superb black-and-white cinematography, with its imaginative camera angles and framing; and Georges Auric's eerie background music. In all, "The Innocents" provides an excellent evocation of time and place and creates an appropriately spooky tone that builds slowly, incrementally, until it reaches a shattering conclusion. The movie is not a shocker or even much of a thriller, but it will keep you on edge all the same.

Video:
Fox studios present the film in two screen formats, standard fullscreen and thearical-release CinemaScope. The fullscreen is a typical pan-and-scan affair that cuts out about 40% of the original image right and left. But it does fill up your standard-screen television, if that's your idea of a good time. I watched in anamorphic widescreen and found the results excellent. The black-and-white contrasts look quite pronounced, the deep blacks setting off the lighter shades nicely. The high bit-rate transfer assures sharp definition, and there are few, almost no, age marks, scratches, or smudges of any kind.

Audio:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound is not so good as the video. The first thing one notices is a small degree of background noise if the volume is too high; it's not bothersome, but turning it down is in order. Then, there's the stereo spread, which is notably narrow. However, the worst offender is the tonal balance, which favors the upper midrange to such an extent that the sonics often appear bright, hard, and edgy. Again, the easiest remedy is either to turn down the gain or adjust the treble control.

Extras:
There is not much among the extras, I'm afraid, that isn't purely promotional. There's a widescreen theatrical trailer; "Fox Flix" trailers for three other Fox horror titles; and text recommendations for other similar Fox movies. Lastly, there are twenty-eight scene selections, but no chapter insert; English and Spanish spoken languages; and English and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
So, when is a ghost story not a ghost story? When it's "The Turn of the Screw"; and "The Innocents" is by far the best movie adaptation of the celebrated story yet filmed. Just be prepared for something a lot more subtle than an old William Castle production; "The Innocents" would never be confused with "House on Haunted Hill."

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