Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten

As a filmed opera, I thought the choice correct to not attempt to "impose" cinema on the score, but rather to use the film as a sort of "slide show" accompaniment to the singing. This succeeded well, with the beautiful but haunting English countryside confirming the ambiguous atmosphere of the drama. Sadly, Benjamin Britten's score, while musically sophisticated, is just not "interesting": there are no melodies one is going to remember after the performance. This is especially unfortunate because the story itself, originally by Henry James, really is a classic thriller. Those who particularly enjoy children singing should be advised that the children's roles are small and unimpressive, and Nicolas Kirby Johnson was not up to even those modest vocal demands. There are so many truly outstanding trebles around, and many of them in U.K., that I'm not sure how he got the part.

Though this version of Britten's opera is musically impressive and has some fine performances and good photography, this TV. adaptation is bitterly disappointing, due entirely to some poor directorial decisions.

The chief of these is to make the ghosts appear far too early, in far too corporeal form. Henry James, the author of the novella on which the opera is based keeps the ghosts at a distance at first, seen fleetingly high in a tower, or across water or through glass until, as their sinister presence grows stronger, they approach nearer. Here, they are striding about in very fleshy form, right from the beginning. As a result, the most chilling scene in the opera, with Peter Quint appearing at the window, a terrifying moment in most opera or movie versions of the story, has no impact whatsoever. This is a fatal fault in a production of the most subtly frightening of all ghost stories.

The children also appear too old for their roles.

All in all, what is the point of a production of this work, now matter how well performed, if it delivers no chills