Ghost stories, when truly good, are ideal for heightening a character's emotions of fear and possible insanity, but few reach the heights to which "The Innocents" takes Deborah Kerr's character, Miss Gibbons. Yet director Jack Clayton does so in such an elegant, cinematic fashion (no gimmicky shockers here!), making it one of the best ghost movies of all time. Remarkably, Clayton transforms a literary masterpiece into a brilliant (as well as terrifying) film.
Right from the credits, "The Innocents" snares you into Miss Gibbons' world of possible madness and subtle, growing terror. "The Innocents" is filmed in an absolutely unique way, with sweeping camera moves and tight close-ups, that brings us closer and closer to the nature of corruption and evil. And all through two seemingly innocent and happy children, played to ominous perfection by young Stephens and Franklin.
Deborah Kerr also gives a fascinating performance. Like the other aspects of the film, she adopts an old-fashioned style of acting that starts out foreign and distant and eventually becomes terrifying.
There is little more that one can say about "The Innocents" without stating the obvious. I will say merely that this film is one of the best, scariest ghost stories ever, on a par with such modern classics as "The Sixth Sense".
Right from the credits, "The Innocents" snares you into Miss Gibbons' world of possible madness and subtle, growing terror. "The Innocents" is filmed in an absolutely unique way, with sweeping camera moves and tight close-ups, that brings us closer and closer to the nature of corruption and evil. And all through two seemingly innocent and happy children, played to ominous perfection by young Stephens and Franklin.
Deborah Kerr also gives a fascinating performance. Like the other aspects of the film, she adopts an old-fashioned style of acting that starts out foreign and distant and eventually becomes terrifying.
There is little more that one can say about "The Innocents" without stating the obvious. I will say merely that this film is one of the best, scariest ghost stories ever, on a par with such modern classics as "The Sixth Sense".