Today I have to recommend one of the best movies ever, The Innocents.

theinnocentsA governess, Miss Giddens, is hired by a socialite to care for his orphaned niece and nephew at Bly House, his country mansion.  They will be her sole responsibility while he will continue to reside in the city.  When Miss Giddens arrives, she finds the children in need of love and attention from other than just the wait staff.  There uncle has no interest in providing it, but Miss Giddens is more than pleased to fill the role.

As her time passes at the Gothic Bly House, Miss Giddens’ days are filled with looking after the children and providing them with an education.  It isn’t long until the secrets of Bly House begin to manifest themselves, and Miss Giddens begins to see apparitions.  She believes them to be the spirits of the previous governess, Miss Jessel, and Miss Jessel’s lover, the valet Quint.  As the ghostly sights and sounds continue, Miss Giddens comes to believe that the tragic souls of her predecessor and the valet, who both died under questionable circumstances, are trying to possess the children.

The Innocents brims with a certain eeriness.  Every time I watch it, the scene in which Miss Giddens believes she sees the apparition of Miss Jessel at the pond always gives me chills.  I say ”believes”, because it is left for us, the audience, to decide whether it’s a true haunting, or just a case of the governess going mad.


Released in 1961, the film is shot in beautiful black and white, and it creates its suspense from sounds and imagery.  This is the definitive psychological horror movie.  It is based on Henry James’  The Turn of the Screw, and its screenplay, co-written by Truman Capote, won an Edgar Award.  The Nicole Kidman chiller, The Others, gained inspiration from this movie, but Kidman can’t hold a candle to the late Deborah Kerr.

The Innocents is one of the great ones.

the_novacula