The Innocents

Buy This Item The Innocents by 20th Century Fox  Available from Amazon  $6.98  on 10-31-2008     Deborah Kerr stars in this "horrifying Gothic ghost tale" (Newsweek) based on Henry James' "The Turn Of The Screw,' a powerful psychological drama about innocence possessed by evil. Shortly after coming to live with orphans Flora and Miles in their dark, eerie mansion, the new governess (Kerr) mistakes their strange behavior for preciousness. But she soon comes to believe that the charming, beautiful children are possessed by evil, malicious spirits - the souls of their previous governess and estate manager who are now dead. With its shocking conclusion and sinister cinematic effects. The Innocents "catches an eerie, spine-chilling mood right from the start" (Variety) that never lets up. Reader Reviews The Turn of the Screw The brilliant, blind woman Described for me her dreams: "They are transactional," she said. This meant moving, listening, sex, eating, But above all, conversation--talking With someone, or listening to others talk. She was an oxygen baby--born at the time When giving oxygen to the newborn Often resulted in blindness. Her parents were asked: do you want a dead baby, Or a blind one? A psychologist, she worked Sixty to eighty hours a week, With the lives of others. "But once," she said, with animation, "I had a seeing dream." "What was it?" I asked. "I dreamed I was looking up at a tall tower, and the sun was in my eyes, so it was Difficult to see the top. It was flat on top." "A battlement," I said, astonished. The sun was in my eyes! How could she see the sun in her eyes! Yet this sounded familiar to me. "Have you read `The Turn of the Screw?' I asked . How would she ever have had time To read such a thing? "No...I don't think so," She answered. "Why do you ask?" "In the story, a governess of two small children, A boy and a girl, encounters--or perhaps she doesn't-- The ghosts of their former caretakers: An evil man, who died when he fell In a drunken stupor, and a woman, Who loved and mourned him till she killed herself. The governess tries to decide: what did these two Do to the children, and how Do their ghosts use them now?" "Oh my, "said my friend, appreciatively. "The first time she `sees' him--or doesn't-- She is looking up at a tall tower, With the sun in her eyes, and sees a strange man standing there, On the battlements, who, When she looks again, Has disappeared." Quickly, she asked, "Did she know of him? Had she seen His picture?" "In the book, no; in the film, yes," I answered. "That is interesting," she said. "Was there anyone standing on your tower?" I asked, thinking perhaps she had read the story, After all. But, in the spirit of the book, she answered: "No. No one at all."

The Innocents Available from Amazon Price: $6.98 Updated on 10-31-2008.

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