Welcome to the Movie Club! This week’s movie is Jack Clayton’s classic gothic horror film The Innocents, which very conveniently helped keep the spooky vibes going despite November not having a theme.
The Innocents is based on the classic Henry James novella, The Turn of the Screw, which follows a governess, Miss Giddens (played by Deborah Kerr), assigned to look after two children on an English manor estate. She slowly begins to believe that the manor is haunted, and that the children she is watching over are starting to become possessed by the spirits of their former governess and groundskeeper. Whether this is really happening or all in Miss Giddens head is kept ambiguous, a choice influenced by one of the film’s screenwriters: Truman Capote. He wrote the screenplay with William Archibald, using his stage play adaptation of the original novella as a source text.
The Innocents premiered first in London on November 24 1961, before its US premiere in LA on December 15, with a wider release on Christmas Day. Financial information is a bit scarce, but it earned $1.2 million in the US and Canada ($12,474,009 if you adjust for inflation) and was considered a “moneymaker” in the UK. Hard to figure out the budget as the only source lists it as “£430,000” which is not particularly helpful considering that Euros did not come into existence until 1999, but I think we can conclude that it was a financial success. Critics praised the film as well, and it went on to be nominated for two BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best British Film.
Trivia:
- The creepy song at the beginning was sometimes thought to be a mistake by projectionists, who then skipped ahead to the 20th Century Fox logo instead.
- Director Jack Clayton wanted to shoot using the standard academy ratio, but the studio insisted that it be shot in CinemaScope.
- Shooting required so many lights that Deborah Kerr would even wear sunglasses on set, and jokes were made about how the cinematographer, Freddie Francis, was trying to burn down Shepperton Studios (where it was filmed).
What did you think? Share your thoughts below!
Up Next: Our next film is Martin Scorcese’s satirical black comedy film, The King of Comedy (1982), and the discussion will be on November 15! This one is much more widely available, although I’m once again surprised to see that Canada has the most streaming options. Check out the trailer and where it’s playing below:
USA
- Stream: Prime Video, Plex
- Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Microsoft Store, Fandango At Home
Canada
- Stream: Crave, Disney +, Hollywood Suite On Demand (or via its Amazon Prime channel), Plex, Starz (Prime channel)
- Rent or Buy: Amazon, Apple TV, Microsoft Store
UK
- Stream: Disney+, Plex, Rakuten TV
- Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Microsoft Store, Google Play, YouTube, Rakuten TV, Sky Store