The Nightcomers

Dark and twisted but not in the good way. Heavy doses of female hysteria and misogyny. Just very mean spirited. Cruel treatment of animals as well. Supposedly about innocence lost. But only at the cost of the viewer.

Although the sets and cinematography are scrupulously suggestive of the early 20th century in the United Kingdom and the performances quite good, The Nightcomers never quite gels as a Gothic horror classic. 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. A cousin who is the closest relation to the father Harry Andrews is at the estate to tidy up affairs, but has no desire to stay there or act as a parent to these two. Never mind, they are amply provided for with cook and governess who are Thora Hird and Stephanie Beacham. The father had a valet played by Marlon Brando and since there is clearly no need for one now he's relegated to the gardener's duties.

Brando's delightful Irish gardener Quint bonds with the kids. He's full of blarney and charm, but that cheerful exterior hides a rather complex and sadistic being. The kids catch him and Beacham in some kind of bondage game as Brando initiates Beacham into the finer points sadomasochistic sex. Both children take careful notes. 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. That was brought to the screen ten years earlier as The Innocents which starred Deborah Kerr as the new governess for the kids. 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. Marlon Brando's fans will want to see it though.

As with many Winner films it is necessary to not make the mistake of expecting his film to be exactly as you expect, or very much like it at all actually. Forget Henry James, forget The Innocents and just enjoy Mr Winner's take on how the children lost their innocence. The SM and bondage scenes were more explicit than I remember on a previous viewing and it may be that the earlier video had been trimmed. 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. I suppose the pace is a little slow which is perhaps particularly noticeable because of how quickly does the effective ending unfold. Not for purists but if you are looking for that something just a little bit different……UPDATE 7.2.17 Just watched this again, on blu ray this time and enjoyed it even more. Once again I felt the bondage scenes more explicit than I remember from before! Funny thing memory.

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. The film packs evocative photography in a good restoring by Robert Paynter and sensational musical score by Jerry Fielding. The picture is acceptably directed by Michael Winner. He had important commercial success in the mid-70 with his fetish actor, Charles Bronson , achieving various box-office hits, as ¨Deathwish I and II, furthermore ¨The mechanics¨ and ¨The stone killer¨.

Other adaptations about ¨Henry James' The turn of the screw¨ are the followings : Turn of the Screw (1974) by Dan Curtis with Lynn Redgrave; (1989) by Graeme Clifford with Amy Irving and David Hemmings; (1992) by Rutsy Lemorande with Patsy Kensit, Julian Sands and Stephane Audran; (1999) by Ben Bolt with Jodhi May, Pam Ferris and Colin Firth. 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 .

In the Victorian England, the teenagers Flora (Verna Harvey) and her brother Miles (Christopher Ellis) have just lost their parents in a car accident in France. 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). Miles and Flore are very connected to Peter, who misleads their education with twisted concepts of love and death, but the orphans believe and are fascinated by his knowledge. Peter is the lover of Jessel, and they use to have sadomasochistic sex. When Peter sees their kink bondage night of sex, he has a corrupted and perverted sexual initiation. 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. It is impressive to see that Verna Harvey was twenty-years old in 1972. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Os Que Chegam Com a Noite" ("The Nightcomers")