In this prequel to James's The Turn of the Screw, we see how Quint and Miss Jessel corrupt the children in their charge--and pave the way for what happens after the adult pair dies.
Subgenres: children/childhood, murder
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By 1972, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw had been turned, so to speak, into only one cinematic adaptation--the wonderful The Innocents. However, The Nightcomers--a prequel to that story--fails any adaptation of James's book for one simple reason: it totally misses the boat by making Quint and Miss Jessel less the corruptors of the children and more the children's victims. It seems almost incidental that the kids went bad; nowhere in The Nightcomers do we sense the moral rot that so characterizes Turn. The Nightcomers feels, and rightfully so, like a ghost story that has had the ghosts ripped from it. Still, the performances are good (with the exception of irritatingly dull Harry Andrews, who plays Miles), and it's fun to hear Marlon Brando with an Irish accent. (Mar 1, 1999) | ||||||
