The Nightcomers

Plot synopsis:
Recently orphaned, Flora and Miles are abandoned by their new guardian (Harry Andrews) and entrusted to the care of housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Thora Hird), governess Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham), and Peter Quint (Brando), the former valet and now gardener. With only these three adults for company, the children live an isolated life in the sprawling country manor estate. The children are particularly fascinated by Peter Quint due to his eclectic knowledge and engaging stories, and willingness to entertain them. With this captive audience, Quint doses out his strange philosophies on love and death. The governess, Miss Jessel, also falls under Peter's spell, and despite her repulsion the two embark on a sadomasochistic love affair. Flora and Miles become fascinated with this relationship, and help Quint and Jessel to escape the interference of disapproving Mrs. Grose.
The children begin spying on Quint and Jessel's violent trysts and mimick what they see, including the bondage, culminating in Miles nearly pushing Flora off a building to her death. Mrs. Grose determines to write to the absent master of the house in order to get both Quint and Jessel sacked. The children are most distressed by this, and decide to take matters into their own hands to prevent the separation. Acting on Quint's assertions that love is hate and it is only in death that people can truly be united, the children murder Miss Jessel by knocking a hole in the boat she uses to wait for Quint (who never keeps the appointments), knowing that she cannot swim. Quint later finds Miss Jessel's rigid body in the water, but is given little time to mourn before Miles kills him with a bow and arrow. The film ends with the arrival of a new governess, presumably the one who features in The Turn of the Screw.

Tags: gothic, murder, haunting

Review:
Quint is a morally repugnant character, sadistic and controlling, but he's also darkly magnetic as the corrupter of the lovely young governess who submits to (and even embraces) his perverted ideas of sexuality.
Together they have inflicted unknowable damage to the psyches of the children.Brando is very good in the role of Quint.
Certainly here there is no mistaking the powerful relationship between Brando and Beacham and I for one found the playing out of these scenes by the children fairly powerful.
Conceived as a prequel to The Turn Of The Screw, Winner's film is a curious vehicle for Marlon Brando, as well as a example of a failed attempt to film gothic, period drama satisfactorily.
Brando plays Peter Quint, the sexually aggressive former valet, now locum gardener at Bly House, an English county estate.
Bly is run jointly by housekeeper,  Mrs Grose (Thora Hird), and a governess, the repressed Miss Jessell (Stephanie Beacham).
The only other inhabitants of this curious domicile are two children, Miles (Christopher Ellis) and Flora (Verna Harvey), nominally the wards of the absent Master of the House (a splendid Harry Andrews), obliged with their care after the death of their parents in an overseas automobile accident.
The children regard Quint as something of a surrogate father, and feel that they can ingratiate themselves by manipulating his private life, notably his intense relationship with Miss Jessell.
Jack Claytons The Innocents (1962) is the closest point of reference for Winner's effort, as the earlier film is the definitive telling of the Henry James tale, the events of which spring from this.
Presumably the appointment, and despatch to Bly of the (unnamed) new governess at the film's end is that of Miss Giddings, the character played by Deborah Kerr.
But where Clayton's film was completely successful in transmitting a feeling of supernatural unease and psychological dread, Winner's ham-fisted approach to his material comes across as almost entirely without atmosphere or charm.
Brando of course regularly exudes magnetism, even in his less successful films, and the animal sexuality of the gardener towards the governess is one of the most dynamic things about Winner's film.
Unfortunately such adult titillation also disrupts the progress of a film which required the screw turned of increasing tension and menace and proves a distraction from the growing relationship between Miles and Flora, the children at the centre of the film.As rounded dramatic characters, the youngsters have a hard job convincing the audience.
The gauche imitations by Miles and Flora of Quint's sexual performance, including a 'bondage' session of their own, and Miles' announcement to the shocked interrogation of Mrs Grose afterwards ("I'll tell you exactly what we have been doing.
The paramount influence of Quint of course goes some way to explaining the kids' increasingly odd behaviour, notably his announcement, taken on faith, that "if you love someone, sometimes you really want to kill them." But there is a world of difference between his power games with Miss Jessell and the children's attempts to retain them both in their service, as "the dead have nowhere to go." A handful more scenes of the children, talking through their convictions together, would have gone a long way.
Although the location filming at 'Bly' is effective enough, Winner's weakness for jerky zooms, for exploitation, his stiff direction of actors (only the method-trained Brando seems at ease, even with a faintly ludicrous Irish accent), as well as an over-insistent score, provided by the normally excellent Jerry Fielding, are distracting.
As it is the film remains an uneven oddity: explicitly sexual between consenting adults, and confused and coy when it comes to those far more interesting shadows of psychology..
A prequel to Henry James's ¨The turn of the screw¨ wherein a worker named Peter Quint (Marlon Brando) trysts with the governess Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham)of two malicious children named Miles and his younger sister Flora (Harvey and Chris Ellis) who are in her care and located at Bly manor.Yet another special version of the Henry James classic with drama, tension, sexual games and splendid exteriors.
Good performance from Marlon Brando as sadist Irish gardener and Stephanie Beacham as the young, too-impressionable governess and submitted to masochist relations with Quint, whom she thinks is corrupting the innocent kids .
Furthermore the watchful and voyeurs children possessed by evil who think which lovers unite in death , they are finely played by Ellis and Harvey.
And the housekeeper performed by Thora Hird who believes Peter Quint influence on the young children was thought to be malevolent.
And of course the classic and best version ,the incredibly eerie rendition titled ¨The innocents (61)¨ by Jack Clayton with Deborah Kerr, Pamela Franklin and Martin Stephens where the protagonist begins to see the specters of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint ..
Prequel to Henry James' "The Turn Of the Screw" attempts to show how the two young British children at the center of that story became so disturbed.
It turns out the creepy caretaker at their manor (Marlon Brando) seduced their passive nanny into an S&M relationship.
Interesting concept, yet director Michael Winner's ham-fisted execution of the material is surely not inviting for an audience (it plays like an R-rated version of "The Innocents").
Their tutor (Harry Andrews) decides to leave the children alone in their huge mansion under the care of the old housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Thora Hird), the governess Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham) and the gardener Peter Quint (Marlon Brando).
When Mrs. Grose writes to the master of the house to fire Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, Flora and Miles plot a dark scheme to keep them together in the property."The Nightcomers" is a very dark tale about finding sexuality and losing innocence in a very twisted way.
The performances of the cast are top-notch, but Marlon Brando leads the story with his usual competence.
I have never had the chance to read "Turn of the Screw" or see "The Innocents" to make any comparison, but I really liked this unknown and underrated movie.
The bondage scenes are very impressive, with Marlon Brando and Stephanie Beacham showing a great chemistry.
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.
The couple's two children come to live at their parents' estate and Brando stays on as a gardener/handyman.
Beacham does a nice enough job, but can't hope to win any scenes up against the ACTING of Brando.
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.
The Innocents implies, but Nightcomers delivers the rare emotional flesh of the under belly of Henry James story.It is appropriate to the tale for the audience to experience the sexual paradox of SM, to understand the true power of Quant over the children.What will these children be like when they mature into adults?
Done right before "Tango", and meant to be a prequel of sorts to The Turn of the Screw, this film is an oddity.
Marlon Brando is just amazing in this extraordinary film.Most people don't understand Brando's career choices .But I think that as years go by,they will.His ideas were way ahead of his time.His talent and range were unbelievable.Every actor tries to imitate his intensity (deniro,penn,nolte,.....) with no success.Definitely the king of acting..
However, each movie of his reveals more flaws than any perceived greatness.In this film, the Nightcomers, Brando is either overacting or not acting at all.
A very underrated, understated film of Marlon's which I found to be psychologically and sexually amazing, not to mention creepy!
I have to say it's Marlon at his most compelling except for The Godfather.Fantastic performances by the children, Stephanie Beacham as the governess and Marlon is "Peter Quint".
The Nightcomers is an odd, depressingly dull film from the director of many bad movies Michael Winner.
What distinguishes it from most other bad Michael Winner films is that it stars the great Marlon Brando, in one of the most curious roles of his career.
Brando is excellent in this, but in spite of his efforts the movie still fails to ignite.The story takes its inspiration (if that's the right word) from the Henry James classic The Turn of the Screw.
The action takes place at a Victorian mansion, where the two children finds themselves drawn to the gardener (Brando), a strange, philosophising peasant who casts an evil aura over the entire household.
In one particularly distasteful scene, Brando demonstrates his cruelty by showing the children how to explode a frog.
In another, he is seen performing sexual bondage upon the governess of the house Stephanie Beacham.There was probably a worthy film somewhere amidst this material.
This prequel to The Innocents (the film version of the Gothic Henry James novel, "The Turn of the Screw") brilliantly answers the question of how Flora and Miles came to be possessed by the spirits of the gardener and governess and it does so in a non-mystical way that sits side by side with the mystical notions of it, which it cleverly dismisses.
Maybe we see a bit too much of ourselves and don't like to think of the implications of what we're watching.The children of a wealthy British family are left orphaned by the deaths of their parents in a motor car crash.
The kids are played by Christopher Ellis and Verna Harvey.In the end what happens sets the stage for Henry James's classic Gothic horror tale The Turn Of The Screw.
According to The Nightcomers, The Innocents would be the last thing anyone would have entitled that film.Fine performances, wonderful sets and cinematography, yet the film just lacks a spark to consider it a classic.
It should be noted that this prequil violates both James's "The Turn Of The Screw" and "The Innocents" the great film of that novel.
It comes off like many cheap brit or Italian horror films, with a clumsy and offensive sex scene thrown in.
This one takes place before Turn Of The Screw, the novel by Henry James.
There is a groundskeeper as well played by Marlon Brando and yes he does use his Brand 'O style of acting.
The film then shows the relationship of Brando and the nanny which involves sado masochistic things.
The kids idolize Brando copying everything he does since he has been the only parent figure they have had, but Brando has several issues.This was a good slow burning film as it develops all the characters and then the build up for Turn Of The Screw.
One of Marlon Brando's least-known films, 'The Nightcomers' is a prequel to 'The Turn of the Screw' and describes the events leading up to Henry James' famous ghost story.Brando plays Peter Quint, the valet at the English country estate, Bly House, whose owners have recently died abroad in an automobile accident.
Their children, Flora and Miles, see Quint as a fascinating source of knowledge and believe that everything he says to them is true.
These re-enactments include acting out Quint and the governess, Miss Jessel's (Stephanie Beacham) bondage sessions.The children all too literally accept Quint's claims that to hate is to love and that the dead remain where they are and meet as though still alive.
They then attempt to apply their own logical conclusions to life at Bly House.Brando gives a decent performance (with an Irish accent) in a role that, because of the dull script, is difficult to excel in and easy to mess up and he often resembles Richard Harris in 'This Sporting Life'.
The success of the film is severely limited as it appears incomplete to those who haven't read the original story and it will disappoint those who have as the previously unexplained mystery that made 'The Turn of the Screw' so chilling has now been solved.
This 'solution' is not helped by Michael Winner's rather bland direction and the wretched performance of Christopher Ellis as the young Miles.It is difficult to see what attracted Brando to the idea of making a film that is often reminiscent of Hammer horror.
Easily the best movie ever directed by Michael Winner...due in large part to the stunning performance he coaxes out of Marlon Brando.
He plays Peter Quint, the surly British handyman-cum-deviant who destroys the children of Henry James' THE TURN OF THE SCREW while violently deflowering the children's tutor (a decidedly foxy Stephanie Beacham).
The year before that film, Brando came to England to make a totally forgettable film called "The Nightcomers." It was meant to be a prequel to the classic, "The Innocents." Unfortunately, the above film can never lay claim to coming close to equalling the overall effectiveness of the 1961 masterpiece.
Brando is OK as the Irish gardener Quint but he is mumbling more than ever..
Intended as a prequel of sorts to Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw", it is often said to be a follow-up film to Jack Clayton's mesmerizing adaptation of the latter, "The Innocents".
For starters, "The Nightcomers" is not even a ghost story to begin with, and can be described as being more of a dark drama with horror overtones, with the underlying theme of sexual-repression being one of the few things the two films share.
As it is often said, Brando's performance as Peter Quint is brilliant, and should be compared to his similar work in "Last Tango in Paris" the following year.
In fact, I wonder if Bertolucci ever saw this film before casting Brando as Paul in "Last Tango...".
Kinky prequel to James's Turn of the Screw from the one and only Michael Winner.
This is a loose prequel to the classic Henry James ghost story The Turn of the Screw, which itself was successfully filmed in 1961.
Of course, with Michael Winner at the helm of this film, it soon changes from a ghost story to something more exploitational, as the director deals with a sado-masochistic relationship between the gardener and the governess that certainly WASN'T on the mind of Henry James when he wrote his story!
Much of the screen time is given to the rather unsavoury character Quint, which is unsurprising considering that he's played by Marlon Brando.
Adopting a surprisingly good Irish accent, Brando boozes, sleeps, and acts odd throughout the film, most memorable in the opening scenes where he causes a frog to explode after making it smoke a cigarette!The film has some good turns from the adult performers, all of whom are to be seen in rather more genteel fare than what's on offer here.
Stephanie Beacham, who resolutely refused to disrobe in many of her other films, shows that she's not camera shy here, regularly stripping off for the torrid sex scenes.
Dear Michael Winner,I guess you were unable to control Marlon Brando on the sets because he was at his mumbling best in this film.
I had to use subtitles to figure out what he was saying most of the time.The film is a prequel to the Henry James novel "Turn of the Screw" (which I have not read).
It is set in a remote country house occupied by a couple of orphaned kids, their governess (Stephanie Beacham), a senior governess (Thora Hird) and the manor's caretaker (Brando).
The governess and the caretaker are locked in a sadistic love affair which soon begins to alter the behavior of the orphaned children who look up to them for guidance.I loved the setting and the characters.
Not just between Brando and Beacham but also between the two orphaned kids whose awakening sexuality leads to incestuous behavior.
Ten years after the masterpiece The Innocents debuted, The Nightcomers arrives as a prequel, exploring the characters of Quint and Jessel, who may or may not be ghosts in The Innocents and its source, The Turn of the Screw.
We learn Ms. Jessel's mother killed herself when she became widowed, which matches what we know is Ms. Jessel's fate.So, given the relative faithfulness to the original characters' psychology, it's surprising that the film tinkers with the end, turning Jessel and Quint's deaths into murder by the children.
We know Flora and Miles were never fully innocents, but turning them into full-fledged murderers before the new governess arrives on the scene seems to be a bit too much, too fast.
****SPOILERS*** In what seems like a rejuvenated Marlon Brando film career after a stings of bombs in the box office who seemed to have lost 20 pounds for the part is the drunk and sex crazed gardener and handyman Peter Quint who with his boss the master of the house Harry Andrews on a business trip to London has the complete run of the place.
Taking the two orphans Miles & Flora, Chris Ellis & Verna Harvey, under his wings who've been living there since their parents fatal car accident, that they weren't told about, Qunit teaches them the better things in life one to be a straight shooter with a bow and arrow that unfortunately for Qunit in the end does him in.Quint eye also catches the stately Miss.
Not because of what he did to Margaret but in feeling, like Quint treated Margaret, that the only way he can show his love for Qunit is by killing him!P.S "The Nightcombers" was to finally revive the great Marlon Brando's career as a serious actor.
It was right after that what turned out to be a disaster of a movie that Brando got a new start in life with two of his beat movies, "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Godfather", just on the horizon which made up for all the bombs of a movies, like "The Nightcombers", he's been in before.