IMDb RATING
5.8/10
2.9K
YOUR RATING
Prequel to Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", focusing on groundskeeper Peter Quint's slow corruption of the virtuous governess Miss Jessel and the children she looks after.Prequel to Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", focusing on groundskeeper Peter Quint's slow corruption of the virtuous governess Miss Jessel and the children she looks after.Prequel to Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", focusing on groundskeeper Peter Quint's slow corruption of the virtuous governess Miss Jessel and the children she looks after.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 nomination total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMarlon Brando once approached director Michael Winner on the set and requested that the script be rewritten, to which Winner responded: "Marlon, you've had the script for nine months, we haven't got time to redo the whole bloody thing now, thank you very much. It's a low budget film and you had a great deal of time to make this speech. It's no good making it standing in a country lane in Cambridgeshire with Francis Ford Coppola behind the barrier with the crowd watching. This is not the time dear - I'm terribly sorry".
- Quotes
Peter Quint: If you love someone, you want to kill them.
- Alternate versionsFor its original UK cinema release the film was heavily cut by the BBFC and removed most of the shots of the bound Miss Jessel during the sexual bondage scenes. Later video and DVD releases were fully uncut.
- ConnectionsFollowed by The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Featured review
The nightcomers should have gone....
Made at a time when Brando was doing very little on film (and when he did, could do no right, if one examines the reviews and box office returns of his films during this period), this prequel to "The Innocents" (which was based on Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw") has little going for it, but may still provide some interest to fans of his. Brando plays a valet whose employer and wife have died in India. The couple's two children come to live at their parents' estate and Brando stays on as a gardener/handyman. Also in residence is a persnickety maid (Hyrd) and a refined nanny/schoolteacher (Beacham.) These five form an uneasy existence with each other as the children hang on the earthy and repugnant Brando's every word and Brando repeatedly seduces Beacham with increasing sadomasochism. Hyrd tries to keep everyone in check to no avail. Finally, the machinations and misunderstandings culminate in a burst of violence, just in time for the story to peter out and set up for the beginning of the original. Brando is an acquired taste here. It's one of his performances in which it's the audience's duty (burden?) to figure out what he is doing and what he is saying. He's messy, flabby, often unintelligible and, naturally, self-indulgent. Nonetheless, fans of his may lap it up with relish. Beacham does a nice enough job, but can't hope to win any scenes up against the ACTING of Brando. The children (scarcely heard of again after this) are the typical bratty, snotty, unattractive, impossible kids that have been seen in countless British movies. The most interesting performance in the film is actually that of Hyrd. She brings a lot of variety and detail to her role of the housekeeper. Andrews pops up briefly and effectively as the children's' disinterested uncle. The film is stacked with unappetizing and repulsive scenes such as a frog being killed, a turtle being mistreated, chicken feathers being ripped out by hand and then, of course, the "arty" S&M sex scenes between Brando and Beacham. These tasteless (and rather boring) sequences don't illuminate the characters or entertain the audience and so are pretty pointless. There's a grain of interest in the material, but the sloppy direction and awkward script don't help keep it going. Stay awake for Beacham's hilarious final screen moment and for Brando's as well. Fortunately, for him, "The Godfather" was just around the corner.
helpful•1713
- Poseidon-3
- Mar 22, 2004
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Das Loch in der Tür
- Filming locations
- Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits, Fulbourn Rd, Cambridge CB1 9JL, UK(Chalk Pits/Quarry Kite Flying)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $440,654
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