The Innocents... (4)
In Focus is a new collection of articles focussing on an important film appearing on Sky Movies Classics that month. In-depth, analytical and revealing, In Focus aims to shed new light on old films. To get a seat at the table, all we ask is the film be one of the finest examples of its genre.
Focus No.2 is Jack Clayton's peerless ghost story The Innocents.
"A rare breed of delicate horror" - Alan Jones
For a film so beautifully constructed, richly detailed and endlessly fascinating, The Innocents has had to watch its reputation build over time.
Original reactions ranged from disappointment from horror fans that it eschewed the lurid excesses of Hammer, to James connoisseurs complaining that the haunted house moments ruined a classic tale.
Pan and scan TV showings that butchered Clayton's compositions and Francis' cinematography did little to improve the film's standing, but since the mid-1990s (perhaps when it received a long overdue letterbox Laserdisc release) it has been reappraised and now stands as one of horror cinema's most cherished treasures.
The long shadow of influence it cast makes for fun in-joke spotting (Megs Jenkins was also cast as the housekeeper in the 1974 Redgrave version, TV's Lost referenced its ambiguity), and like all desert island movies The Innocents is a film that surrenders more secrets on successive viewings.
The Innocents is the perfect ghost story for Christmas. Tune in on Monday 24th December at 11.40pm on Sky Movies Classics.
Rob Daniel
