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Post by Jen on Oct 2, 2011 12:25:15 GMT -5
 A young governess believes the house and the two children under her care are being haunted. ~~~~~~~ Rate this film on a scale of 0-5 Stars, 5 being the best. |
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Post by GL on Oct 3, 2011 9:46:08 GMT -5
I have long praised this one as the only time I've ever sat through a slow-burning horror film and not been bored with it, mainly because it focuses on hauntings, even if nothing happens from them, rather than people just yakking at each other that seems to be the common theme found in so many similar-feeling films. Way too classy-feeling for my tastes still so I'll drop it down to a 4, but I still give this one closer to a 4.5 had it gotten the hauntings in a little bit quicker so there could be more fun to be had at the end.
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Post by The Walking Dude on Oct 3, 2011 17:21:48 GMT -5
Never seen this one.I'm hoping that it will turn up on the local version of TCM sometime soon.
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Post by Jen on Oct 5, 2011 12:04:24 GMT -5
A 5 from me. I absolutely love the atmosphere of this one and the actor that played Miles was fantastic. He really managed to balance creepy and innocent well.
I also think it is a great one for discussion. Is this governess (who has issues and is very lonely) imagining the haunting so she can "save" a disturbed child she has become attached to in more than a little creepy way? Or are these children really being manipulated by the malicious ghosts of a deviant couple?
I actually think it is a bit of both. Funny that I never once questioned that this was a haunting, I do think the ghosts exist. But I also think Miss Giddens is clearly unstable and though she desperately wants to help these children, really just makes everything worse.
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Post by GL on Oct 6, 2011 9:47:08 GMT -5
I saw this one years ago and it was only the one time, so I never cared to notice stuff like that which went right over my head to the point of not even using that to hold against a film. I'll have to dig it out of my collection since I can't trust the annual TCM showing for Halloween this month will be brushed against something new that will have precedence over a repeat viewing of a film I've already seen.
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Post by GP on Oct 6, 2011 13:22:40 GMT -5
Have Blu ray en route, should be here any day now.  |
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Post by GP on Oct 16, 2011 5:30:44 GMT -5
Finally got round to watching our pristine new blu ray edition of this. I was under the impression that I'd seen it but, five or ten minutes in, I realised I hadn't so I experienced a real treat of a ride. It looks fantastic (I love old cinemascope movies and Freddie Francis's cinematography BURSTS with detail) and the blu ray restoration is first class.
Initially the melodramatic victorian dialogue felt very overworked but it turns out it was absolutely spot on as it thoroughly established and reinforced the utter stuffiness of the victorian upper class and their subsequent lack of capacity for healthy, measured emotional expression, instead they fight to maintain social niceties and poise whilst growing increasingly wild eyed before literally exploding in hysterics. This all supports perfectly the picture of the three main roles, the children and the governess, as royally f*cked up individuals, each feeding the emotional inadequacies of the others.
Regarding the ghosts I think there are enough indications that the governess is on the edge of madness herself to suggest the possibility of them being figments, but real or not, the true value of the phantoms (and Peter Wyngarde made a brilliantly sinister ghost) is as the 'elephants in the room', the wild emotions lurking just beneath the carefully maintained veneer of civilised behaviour. That said the film works equally well on the assumption that the ghosts are real, and that plurality adds bundles of value (I love films that give food for thought) and potential for regular rescreenings.
Last night after we'd finished it my instinct was to award a 4 as, although oppressive and unsettling, it wasn't as out and out spooky as I'd hoped BUT it is now almost noon the following day, I'm still thinking about it and its worth is growing as I do so. So I'll give it a handsome 5.
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Post by Jen on Oct 18, 2011 14:11:19 GMT -5
Glad you enjoyed it GP. There is a lot bubbling under the surface here. I have heard Kerr's performance criticized as being overly melodramatic, but I think she hit the mark. That really worked for a character that I think is surprisingly complex. She seems so desperate that she was bound to have a meltdown eventually, ghosts or no ghosts.
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Post by GP on Oct 18, 2011 15:30:52 GMT -5
That's my reading of it too Jen.
Great choice for MotM.
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