Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Thrillers and Chillers - THE INNOCENTS (1961)

Deborah Kerr, gave a perfect performance as a spinster governess who must fight for the souls of two orphan children. A classic thriller from 1961 that uses beautiful black and white cinematography. One of the best ghost films of all time.



FACTS TRIVIA:

To create such sharp visuals, director of photography Freddie Francis used lots of huge bright lamps.

Deborah Kerr sometimes had to resort to wearing sunglasses between takes.

Deborah Kerr always regarded this as her finest performance.

When the governess first arrives at the house, it's a bright, sunny day. In fact, Freddie Francis had had some of the trees painted lighter to exaggerate this.

At one point when Deborah Kerr's character wanders around the house at night with only a candelabra for illumination, you might think you see something in the corner of your eye. You do. It's the clapperboard which had briefly wandered into shot. Jack Clayton decided to keep it in because he liked the idea of something almost subliminal being present to add to the air of unease.

The film opens with a creepy song written by Paul Dehn and Georges Auric sung over a black screen for about 45 seconds before the 20th Century Fox logo appears. In some cinemas, the projectionists assumed this was a mistake on the print and edited the film so it began with the appearance of the Fox logo.

1 comment:

  1. Monty, Thank you for your frightening and suspenseful post. This sounds like a Halloween movie I would like.

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