The Turn of the Screw

The 1961 Deborah Kerr vehicle, "The Innocents" went for the

supernatural chills and is likely the best adaptation ever (at least

it's likely the most popular), but this straight-forward rendition of

Henry James' best known short novel is probably the closest to the

author's intentions to date. By sticking with psychological terror

rather than creepy SFX, this production succeeds in portraying a

young woman's descent into madness that too often takes a

backseat to the realm of ghost story in lesser productions. Jodhi

May's wide-eyed performance is nothing short of brilliant. Pam

Ferris and Colin Firth round out the strong supporting cast

(although Mr. Firth is seen only in the first five minutes of film and

nothing more, so you Pride & Prejudice fans beware!).

The most important thing in here it's that The turn of the screw works as an adaptation rather than anything else. That's why I think the comparison between this TV movie with The innocents (Jack Clayton; 1961) is unfair. Although both films comes from the Henry James novella, Clayton's emphasizes in the ghosts story while one this focus on corruption and evil and character development; it´s a straightforward story but doesn't looses the strength included in the written words. It´s based on a slow pace, but never falls into boredom. And my guess is that, for a proper enjoy of this film, it's a basic thing is to have read the novel first.

First of all, I must point out that I've never seen other versions of Henry James' novel and neither have I read the book itself. Judged on its own merit, however, this film is 100 minutes of your life ill-spent.

Sometime in the mid-19th century, a governess goes to a country mansion to look after a boy and a girl, but begins to have sightings or visions of 2 dead people who are seemingly possessing the children, and gradually driving her mad with fear and anxiety,

I'm one who delights in all psychological thrillers (Sleuth is one of my favourites) but this lacks in any real horror or tension. "Horror" scenes involve the appearances of a mysterious but passive man and a woman, both thought to be dead. Ooh. Somehow there is never a sense of motivation for the heroine's behaviour, most of the time she comes across as an overreacting, hysterical fool. The children's "evilness" is also ridiculously innocent. I suppose in Victorian England you would be branded morally corrupted if your shoelaces got untied . For example: Niles goes out into the garden at night. "Miss" goes after him, and he tells her that he could have done this any night. The next day she rants to the housekeeper about him being given over to evil. What, I mean WHAT? The whole ghostliness and evilness element is handled with decided incompetence.

The script also contains a lot of very stilted lines, seemingly out of character, a lot of serious material sounds somehow ludicrous. This is only aggravated by bad acting. Jodhi May (the governess) seems to spend about 80% of her onscreen time with her eyes bulging and her mouth agape in disbelief. There are about 10 scenes where she is trying to convince the housekeeper about her visions, and all of them seem alike. Niles and Flora are also very badly portrayed. I know they are only around 10 in the story, but just about any other child actor (Haley Joel Osment, Nadia Mikhalkova) would have appeared less self-conscious and less reliant on the same facial expressions for their acting. And if you're a Colin Firth fan, don't bother. He only appears for the first 5 minutes or so.

4 out of 10.

Henry James wrote, perhaps the most famous ghost story in the world: The Turn of the Screw.

The suggestion in the book is that the governess might be having hallucinations brought on by sexual hysteria, OR she might, indeed be caught between the living children under her care, and the dead lovers who communicate with each other through the children.

Benjamin Britten wrote an opera that is absolutely bone-chilling called The Turn of the Screw. Many films have also been made either called The Turn of the Screw or, in a brilliant adaptation, The Innocence.

In The Innocence, Sir Michael Redgrave is the owner of Blye and the person who hires Deborah Kerr to be in complete charge of his niece and nephew.

In this new Masterpiece Theater adaptation, called The Turn of the Screw, Colin Firth plays The Master of Blye who hires Jodi May as governess.

Redgrave is older, detached and uninterested in the workings and daily problems of Blye and simply wants someone to run things for him.

Firth is young and VERY sexy. So much so, that he uses his sexuality to convince a naive and hesitant May to take the position.

This sexual attraction, on May's part, is underlined with a scene where she enters The Master's bedroom at Blye, and touches his clothes.

But the haunting of Peter Quint and Miss Jessel are presented as VERY real, and very threatening.

What is merely suggested in the older Kerr version, is played out with more emphasis in this Masterpiece Theater version.

The sets are lush. The setting beautiful. The children too perfect. Flora is smug and deceptive. Niles is heart-breaking in his corruption.

The question remains. Was the governess mad or was she overwhelmed by the evil of Peter Quint? Were the children possessed or was the governess?

An excellent version, although there are scenes in the Kerr version that are truly jolting.

This is a solid adaptation of a novella often used in highschools and colleges. Like James's book, this version uses point of view masterfully.

A note for teachers: This adaptation is an excellent way to teach interpretation, especially when it is compared to the 1961 Jack Clayton production "The Innocents."