"The Innocents" is a beautifully shot film. Freddie Francis' work on this film is great throughout. As much as I enjoyed the film I must admit I had a few major problems, which I will go into later. Firstly the good points. Alongside the cinematography, the acting is very good. Deborah Kerr is excellent as you would expect, showing extreme paranoia and unease throughout. The two children (one of which, Pamela Franklin, would go on some years later to star in The Legend of Hell House) are fine, they are both very believable and do a great job. There are also loads of subtle references throughout the film, which are mentioned in other reviews. There are some "scares", mostly the two "ghosts", but as in most of these films it is the constant atmosphere of unease that should make it work. Now comes the hard part. To begin with I could not see beyond Deborah Kerrs' character as anything but crazy. She seems to add all the clues together far too easily regarding the link between the two dead servants and the children. Also, unless she had experience in such matters how she comes to the conclusion that if the children say the names of the "ghosts" they will be OK is very strange and a little abrupt. She is a ministers' daughter, but unless he was an exorcist I can't see it helping. This isn't a major problem but one sequence with a tear (or water droplet) later on seems to change the whole plot. Ambiguous plots and red herrings are great, but I found this a little hard to digest. The film seemed at times more of a melodrama than a spine tingler, and having watched it a second time I must admit I enjoyed it less. Excellent direction and cinematography are not enough I'm afraid. Once my mind was made up on the insane plot angle, the ghostly apparitions had little effect, and I felt anyway these were done without too much subtlety. In these films personally I feel that once the ghosts are shown I find much of the mystery is lost. A good film and recommended, but in my eyes nowhere near as sharp as "The Haunting" (1963), "The Changeling" or even "The Legend of Hell House".
Review of The Innocents
