Cast: Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Pamela Franklin, Clytie Jessop, Isla Cameron
Saturday Night Horror is on Friday night this week because some of us (hint hint) don't get Me-TV, therefore we can't join in with the gang for I SAW WHAT YOU DID, since pretty much none of us (hint hint) can find it online. So we all decided to meet up tonight for THE BLACK CAT, and I thought I would get here early to review this film, which comes before it.
PLOT: A governess (Deborah Kerr) takes charge of two children (Martin Stephens, Pamela Franklin), the niece and nephew of a wealthy man (Michael Redgrave). When Miss Giddens arrives at Bly, the boy, Miles, is away at boarding school, but his sister Flora says he's coming home soon. Flora instantly takes a liking to Miss Giddens and Miss Giddens takes a liking to Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins), the kind housekeeper.
While Miss Giddens is putting Flora to sleep, she hears a strange sound. She dismisses it as nothing, but that night, Flora gets up and spies on her sleeping. Going over to the window, Flora hums a strange melody.
The next day, Miss Giddens receives a letter from Miles' school telling her that he has been sent home. Miss Giddens remembers that Flora had said that Miles was coming home. Miles comes home and is very flirtatious. He wins over Miss Giddens easily.
The next day, Miss Giddens sees a flock of birds and a man standing on a balcony. She follows the birds and finds Miles, who says that he has no recollection of a man ("maybe it was me.") Later that night, Miss Giddens and the children play hide and seek. Miss Giddens goes looking for the kids and sees the figure of a woman walking slowly across the hallway. Ending up in a toy room, she discovers a locket with the previous owner of the house. Miles finds her and now she has to find Flora. She sees the figure of a man in a window who slowly fades away. Mrs. Grose catches up to her and she looks up and finds the children laughing maniacally at her.
One day, Miss Giddens is helping the children study. She decides to let them put away their books and pretend it's Flora's birthday so she can talk to Mrs. Grose alone. She reveals that it was Miles who found Peter Quint's (Peter Wyngarde) body and the power that Peter had over the boy. Miles performs a soliloquy for the ladies and his eyes bore straight into Miss Giddens', frightening her. Mrs. Grose assures her that both Mrs. Jessel (Clytie Jessop) and Peter are dead and gone and that it's all over with and that she is just hallucinating.
Miss Giddens watches Flora tend to the ducks when the girl begins to hum the song from the music box, ignoring her questions. She tells Mrs. Grose that she saw Mrs. Jessel at the lake, completely dressed in black. She insists that the children must be saved. She finally convinces Mrs. Grose to tell her the things she's seen. Miss Giddens decides that the vicar needs to be told all of this. Miss Giddens decides she can't take anymore and decides to take the next train back to London and see the children's uncle. Mrs. Grose refuses to tell her how Mrs. Jessel died.
Pulling out a book from the bookcase, Miss Giddens sees a young woman sobbing at the podium, but when she rushes over, she finds no one there, but a teardrop on the blackboard. Miss Giddens pulls a Ray Stantz and scientifically and astutely claims that Peter and Mrs. Jessel are possessing the children in order to find each other again.
That night, Miss Giddens investigates when she hears laughter. The laughter gets closer and closer but all the doors are locked and she can't find the source. Returning to her room, she finds Flora sitting at the window watching Miles walking in the garden, seemingly in a trance. She gathers up the boy, who claims that he was waiting for her. She puts him to bed and he kisses her in a very adult way. He too plays the song that Flora hums.
Flora goes missing and Miss Giddens and Mrs. Grose search by the lake. They find her in the gazebo dancing to that damn music box tune. Mrs. Jessel is across the lake again. Miss Giddens yells at the girl, telling her that she knows she can she can see Mrs. Jessel. The girl screams hysterically that she hates Miss Giddens, who can still see Mrs. Jessel. Miss Giddens demands that the next day she be alone with Miles. Is she stupid?
Finally alone with him, she tries to force the truth of why he got expelled out of him. While he yells at her, she sees Peter's maniacal face in the window, clearly possessing the boy. He hurls Flora's turtle through a window and runs away. He trips and when Miss Giddens tries to force it out of him again, he loses it again. Peter disappears and everything is back to normal. Miles dies in her arms. The film ends strangely as she kisses him erotically.
REVIEW: Probably the best British horror that isn't a Hammer film I've seen. From the music at the beginning, you know this is going to be scary. This film reeks of THE SHINING. Loved the idea of the children being hosts for the possessors. 4.5 out 5 stars.
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