In the thread "Revisiting movies that scared you as a kid" that I started last week, John McKelvey recommended the Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of TURN OF THE SCREW. I haven't seen it yet (I've Netflixed it - they need to add that term to the next slang dictionary) but here are my reactions to some other adaptations:

THE INNOCENTS - Certainly the best so far. Beautiful Cinemascope cinematography by Freddie Francis. Certainly gives THE HAUNTING a run for its money in atmosphere and scope compositions. The BFI DVD with commentary is a must. One question though, since this is a Cinemascope release, was it also a stereo film? The standard track seems to be mono though Fox's disc has a stereo mix as well (is this a remix? they've done stereo remix's for their non-Cinemascope films like LAURA as well)/

PRESENCE OF MIND - recent Spanish adaptation with lovely locations but rather uninteresting. Lauren Bacall plays the housekeeper and doesn't make much of an impression. Harvey Keitel plays the uncle and also seems to be slumming. Former Mrs. Jude Law Sadie Frost (Lucy in Coppola's DRACULA) plays the governess (Law has a small role as a secretary) and doesn't convince as a repressed parson's daughter. Euro-horror favorite Jack Taylor plays here dead father. IN A GLASS CAGE director Augustin Villaronga plays Quint. Nice-looking but boring.

THE HAUNTING OF HELEN WALKER - Valerie Bertinelli plays the governess but that's all I remember about this TV adaptation. According to imdb, Diana Rigg played Mrs. Grose and Michael Gough was also in it.

TURN OF THE SCREW (1994) - This one was new when I rented it. Shot in Luxembourg, it is one of the few where someone else other than the governess narrates so its faithful to the novel in that respect. Speaking of faithful, Marianne Faithful plays the narrator who is identified as Flora grown up. Patsy Kensit plays the governess and is quite good at hysterics. Julian Sands cameos as the uncle (a fashion editor, I guess since this is set in the sixties). Stephane Audran (a horror fan herself according to Jess Franco) plays Madame Grose. The two kids are charming. Director Rusty Lemorande (his only credit as a director) intersperses the traditional atmospherics with flashy music video cuts to more disturbing imagery and the erotic aspect is played up (a found key leads to the discovery of a cabinet in the floor containing black silk lingerie). Miss Jessel doesn't just appear by the lake in the torrential rain, she actually gets to walk on the water. Some probably don't like it but I found it enjoyable at the time. I've seen it again recently and it drags a bit but its still entertaining. Great score by Simon Boswell (in his pre-orchestral days) and photography by Witold Stok.

TURN OF THE SCREW (1990) - A one hour adaptation by Graeme Clifford as part of the "Nightmare Classics" series that included a nice adaptation of "Carmilla" with Meg Tilly and Roddy McDowall. Were there any others? Anyway, Amy Irving plays the governess and Balthazar Getty plays Miles. David Hemmings plays the uncle and shows up again at the end only to get killed. Miles doesn't just die, he takes a flying leap at Quint's ghost. I don't remember if I liked this one or not.

TURN OF THE SCREW (1974) - Dan Curtis' shot in England adaptation for TV. Here's what I said in the other thread:

Well, I watched the rest of the Curtis version. Lynn Redgrave is pretty bad but that may be because most of her reactions seem timed to her incessant recorded narration. She doesn't just wander the halls in an apprehensive manner, she actually seems to pause and time her reactions.

Flora is unmemorable. Miles is insufferable. He's older. He mutilates animals. He's just creepy. Another kid, the groomsman's son, is added for little reason. James Laurenson plays Quint and he might have been more effective if he wasn't being followed around by a blue-gelled spotlight all the time because he's got a creepy smile. Kathryn Leigh Scott (DARK SHADOWS) plays Miss Jessel but she's got little to do so I hope she enjoyed the London sights (she also did an episode of the "Hammer House of Horror" series in the eighties). The film seriously drags and the narration doesn't move things along, it just narrates the action rather than commenting on it. Curtis might have gotten a better result doing a radio play. Robert Cobert's music seems to be either recycled DARK SHADOWS cues or he just wasn't very inspired. Truly the worst adaptation though the death of Miles bit was handled well with an unexpected shock.

An interesting adaptation to see would be one along the lines of Guido Crepax's comic with its art deco clothes and architecture although it certainly would not be subtle.

Any good ones? There's an Eloy de la Iglesia adaptation that does not seem to be available in English that I'd like to see. There's an imdb listing for a version by Nick Phillips of SATAN'S BLACK WEDDING and various adult films. There's also a version with Leelee Sobieski on the new release wall with a different title that eludes me at the moment.

Just to add: THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1999) from Masterpiece Theater is available as an R1 dvd. It stars Jodhi May as the governess. Unfortunately, I was on the same path you've taken and watched this back to back with PRESENCE OF MIND, and now I've corrupted the two into one strange movie memory.

I know it's not an adaptation but surely, for completeness sake, we must mention THE NIGHTCOMERS.

There's a filmed version of the excellent opera by Benjamin Britten, with actors mouthing the pre-recorded opera singers - I still thought it wasn't that well-cast. Color doesn't help this story, I fear. I saw it on PBS some years ago.

There are two SCREWS loose in theaters in New York right now. The one at the Bank Theater is said to be superior.

Also worth mentioning Curtis' endless variations on the theme woven within all those "Dark Shadows"...

Hi Eric.

Dan Curtis's Turn of the Screw adaptation is a pretty lifeless enterprise, except for that little bit at the ending. I can't say I disagree with any of your observations. What's even stranger is that Curtis was so satisfied with how it turned out and forecefully said several times that he thinks it was the best adaptation ever. Even if you discard the technical issues (terrible, inadequte lighting and formats that don't match) it's just a poor piece of work. Things like the Dr. Jekyll he produced were also shot on videotape but have an energy and some excellent qualities that surpass the format. Not so with Turn of the screw.

On the music, you are correct, it's all music recycled from other Curtis productions, mostly The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Almost all of Curtis's 70's video productions use that music as well as music from his rejected 1968 Dead of Night Pilot and some Dark Shadows cues. Apart from Dracula, it's all the same music tracked in.

Originally Mark Lester was supposed to play Miles, but was dropped shortly after rehearsals started.

I think those variations were more effective than his actual adaptation.

I expected the mismatching formats but it does compare poorly to other filmed-exterior/video-interior TV productions.

The Masterpiece Theatre version is a little uneven but has its effective moments. Jodhi May is a little bland in the early passages (I think she might have made a more effective Miss Jessel) and the pacing is awkward. The governess is also rather cold and distant (which would work if the story was being told by someone else but the writers do away with the story within a story structure). She divines Quint's (not a very effective apparition) intentions long before seeing Miss Jessel and Mrs. Grose is quick to believe her. Photography and scoring are superior to the Dan Curtis TV version with some of the more convincing lighting by candles on a video production.

The DVD is rather disappointing however. The transfer looks good but its like watching a recording of a Masterpiece Theatre broadcast with MT credits and introduction (not a separate chapter or titleset from the feature and MT end credits) as well as contact information to buy the film on "videotape" (sure most of us are renting this but why would we want to order it on tape if we're watching a DVD). DVD-ROM features are simply a weblink. Accessibility Options are a text screen saying that there are closed captions. Eight chapters for the feature (the first includes the MT stuff). The "other products of interest" are thumbnail covers for other productions rather than actual promo trailers - even though those Masterpiece Theatre promos are all over PBS).

I'd like to see a DVD release of the Patsy Kensit version. Is this one out on DVD in non-R1 countries?

Yeah, all the Masterpiece Theatre DVDs are like that... I'm glad they include the Alistair Cooke intro and outros (they're like short extras), but the double sets of credits are annoying (not unlike the Masters of Horror DVDs... I wish they'd cut the goofy montage of "scary" images & accompanying song and just jump right to the show), and as you say, the sales pitch for the VHS and all at the end are especially ridiculous. At least they make it so you can skip or fast forward through them, though.

My recollections of the Shelley Duvall-produced TURN are fuzzy, even though I watched it only a few weeks ago. What I remember mostly is that Quint was a laughing longhaired guy, which didn't work for me, though the film's other interpolations on the James did make a certain sense, much as I resisted them. (The laserdisc's companion feature, CARMILLA, also reworked the source text, transposing it to an antebellum South; that, too, provided interest and a reason to revisit an overworked yarn.)

Seconds on the Rusty Lemorande TURN, which I liked reasonably well. Last time I watched THE INNOCENTS, though, I remember being irked at its literary tone. Literate film I can take, but literary pretensions distract me no end. Eventually I'll get around to giving it a second chance as an adult viewer, but it'll take special circumstances for me to want to make the time.

It's been a long time, but I remember that Patsy Kensit one as being a really hammy, Full Moon Productions-style version (I only saw it on television, though, so it would've been full screeen and possibly edited).

A few years ago at Halloween time, I was channel surfing late at night and saw the second half of a fuzzy, black & white kineoscope of the 1959 live TV version of TURN OF THE SCREW with Ingrid Bergman, directed by John Frankenheimer. I only saw the second half, but I enjoyed it and I stayed up to watch the end of it. Like everything by the director, it was visually-interesting and was far better than other live TV events of the era. Bergman was great as "The Governess," which was how the credits listed the character. She won an Emmy, Frankenheimer was nominated. The supernatural elements were presented as ambiguous. Fog machines were used and it looked like mirrors were used to show the ghosts. It was creepy. I wish I could see it again. A user comment on imdb claims that this version had a retrospective theatrical screening in 1999. The channel I saw it on was on a bizarre channel that showed reruns of utterly obscure, completely-forgotten family TV shows like JIMMY DURANTE PRESENTS THE LENNON SISTERS (one season 69-70).

Okay, I've started watching IN A DARK PLACE and I already see so many indications that the filmmakers just didn't get it that I'm hoping will be resolved later in the film.

The film starts off with art teacher Anna Veigh (Leelee Sobieski) getting reprimanded (and groped) for applying her art therapy training to her students despite parent complaints (and a watercolor rendition of "The Scream" on the wall). The headmaster, either to keep her quiet about the groping or to get rid of her, wrangles an interview for a nanny position. Anna gets the job on the basis of a look from her employer (she wears a tight, low-cut sweater - one of several - but there's little indication that she wore it for the purpose so she just comes across as naive and not very professional). She travels with her boss' private secretary Miss Grose (Tara Fitzgerald, no longer the housekeeper) to the very European-looking estate (the film was shot in Luxembourg but there's little indication as to whether this is supposed to be America or England - Miss Gorse and the headmaster are English but the uncle is American). While it looks like a country house on the outside, the inside is very modern (perhaps even out of date in its decor).

That's pretty much as far as I've gotten.

Sobieski compares poorly to the governesses in other adaptations (well, except for possibly Lynn Redgrave). She's nice to look at and that's part of the problem. The only direction she seems to have gotten is to wear tight sweaters and dresses and make sure she bounces when she walks. Its almost comical. She's quickly joining the ranks of foreign actors in American production (well, maybe not this case) whose accents are never justified like Jean-Claude Van Damme's hard-boiled New York or Chicago cops, Arnold's mercenaries, and Stallone's... well, too easy. She's uneven though perhaps they're going to explain that with some childhood trauma (Patsy Kensit's governess had issues but she was spot on from the start).

Flora's already more mature than her governess seemingly without supernatural influence. Miles is said to be coming home for the holidays before they even arrive at the house so there goes the surprise letter from school saying he's been expelled unless he delivers it himself.

Fitzgerald's Miss Grose kind of reminds me of the character in the Crepax adapation in look but doesn't make for a very sympathetic presence so far so whatever additional dimensions she reveals should be interesting.

I'll sit through the rest of this but I'm already thinking of chucking it and renting one of the other film previewed on the disc: ISOLATION. I could care less about Wes Craven's THE BREED.

So I've finished watching IN A DARK PLACE. I think Tara Fitzgerald would've made a more interesting governess. The film is at least well photographed and I really like the music score which once in a while has a seventies electronic feel to it. The children give far more consistent performances than Sobieski (who manages some effective moments and at times has that rather perverse smile she wore in EYES WIDE SHUT that could be put to some good use in a different film).

As it turns out, there is a traumatic childhood flashback for the governess and she gleans sexual abuse from the behavior of the children though we learn even less about Miles' behavior at school than in other adaptations and Flora just seems to be scared of storms. Come to think of it, we learn less than usual about Quint and Jessel's exploits than in other versions, too. There's no sense of complicity with the ghosts here and a revelation about Miss Grose's attraction to Miss Jessel adds little to the familiar story.



SPOILER:

The ending at least is a bit different. It looks like its going to end as usual with Anna hugging the stuffing out of little Miles but he only admits to seeing Peter Quint to get her to let go of him and he runs off. His dies by drowning while trying to get away from Anna whom the film first suggests is the real source of abuse before digitally superimposing Jessel's face over hers.