Welcome to Bly House, a lovely little estate out in the country. The perfect place to raise two children. The Uncle (Michael Redgrave) has been forced to take responsibility for his niece and nephew after their parents were killed. He has zero interest in raising them and has hired a new governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr).
Miss Giddens is taken total charge and care of the children who have been without a governess for over a year when the last one, Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop), died suddenly. Miles (Martin Stephens) is away at boarding school but Flora (Pamela Franklin) has been in the care of the housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins).
Miss Giddens finds Flora to be quite charming and befriends the housekeeper. Soon Miles has been sent home from school, apparently expelled for bad behaviour. Miss Giddens and Mrs. Grose can’t believe that Miles is capable of such behaviour.
Soon Miss Giddens starts to notice some strange things and the children seem very secretive about something. Mrs. Grose tells Miss Giddens of the last governess Miss Jessel who fell in love the another employee Mr. Quint (Peter Wyngarde) and carried on an affair until they both died tragically. Miss Giddens starts to believe that Jessel and Quint are ghosts and are possessing the children to continue their affair. Miss Giddens is soon forced to confront Miles and the ghosts.
This 1961 movie was an adaptation of Henry James’ novel The Turn of the Screw. Jack Clayton directed the movie and Freddie Francis was the cinematographer and did amazing work on this film. The dark foreboding shadows and lighting make up most of the tension in the film.
