English 101Bellah
The Innocents (1961)
Directed by Jack Clayton
Screenplay by William Archibald and Truman Capote
Starring Deborah Kerr, Megs Jenkins, Pamela Franklin, and Martin Stephens
“The Innocents” remains generally faithful to its source, Henry James’ The Turn of theScrew. Though it concentrates and rearranges the plot, it centers its conflict around the efforts of a governess trying to protect and save two children in her charge from the evil influence of ghosts. Moreover, like the James novella, it raises the question of whether the ghosts exist and seek to corrupt the children, or if they are a product of the governess’ fears and insecurities. Excellent performances and a highly evocative setting in addition to a sensitive script make this film a credible adaptation of a difficult literary text.
Some noticeable differences between the 1961 screenplay and the 1898 novella:
1) The governess in the film is older than the twenty-year old in the novella.
2) There’s no introduction involving the reading of a manuscript.
3) There are several “new” scenes in the film, and missing episodes from the novella.
4) Miles’ and Flora’s characters are filled in imaginatively.
Some provocative quotes about critical thinking and about themes raised by the texts:
“To evaluate eyewitness testimony, ask, what circumstances surrounding the event, including the eyewitness’s state of mind, could have distorted his or her perception?"
Vincent Ryan Ruggiero
“We have never read a more sickening, a more gratuitously melancholy tale.”
From an original review in “The Bookman”
“Mr. James’ tale has nothing in common with the ordinary ghost story; it is altogether on a higher plane both of conception and art. [But] the story itself is distinctly repulsive.”
From another early review in “The Outlook”
“No ghost was ever seen by two pair of eyes”
Thomas Carlyle, Historian (1791-1885)
“The thing is essentially a pot-boiler.”
Henry James to H.G. Wells
“It is a piece of ingenuity pure and simple, of cold artistic calculation, an ‘amusette’ to catch those not easily caught – the fun of the capture of the merely witless being ever but small.”
Henry James in The New York Preface
Some matters to consider while watching the film:
1) Does the film adopt the same point of view as the novella, limiting the account to the governess' perspective? (Are viewers ever privy to events where the governess is not present? If so, how do these scenes support an argument being developed?
2. What changes in the novella's plot does the film make? Again, how might these changes support the film's argument?
3. Is the children's behavior ambiguous? Does it prove them to be under the influence of the ghosts? Victims of the governess’ irrational behavior and beliefs?
4. How does the film represent the several "problematic" episodes in the novella: the identification scenes, the children's misbehavior, Flora's hysteria, Miles' death?
5. Does the characterization of Miss Giddens in the film imply her being insane or mentally unbalanced, or does it demonstrate her being sensible and heroic?
If you type answers to the above questions and participate in a discussion based on these questions, there will be some extra credit.