The Innocents (1961)

The Innocents (NR)

"Cold was the wind"

A grandiose mansion is in need of a Governess, and upon arrival she is filled with dread and suspicions regarding her new young wards, a brother and sister, and the horrific history of the house's former tenants in this creeky old 1960s ghost story filmed in a beautiful black and white.

Filled with paranoia and a psychological creep that pushed the envelope of it's time, The Innocents seen today is a gorgeous yet restrained fable about family secrets;  where the worst is often left unsaid, leading to them getting worse in the viewer's imagination.  So is the nanny seeing these things or is she crazy?  That really doesn't matter, as it is the crux of the tension.  The ambiguity may enrage, or creep out, most of the audience.  Yet those with short attention spans or those unable to span the generations of cinema to it's time of creation might be rather well off watching cement set.  Still the cinematic aptitude of the production and the influential nature of its legacy lead to it's relevancy today, and still an interesting watch even if it is mostly is hugely outdated and retains only a smidgen of it's creep factor due to it's derivative descendants.

5.5 Man that Lady Has To Be Crazy out of 10 (MEDIOCRE)