The Turn of the Screw - Movies

Henry James The Turn of the Screw has been adapted into several movies. Part of the mystery is whether or not the governess is sane and whether or not the ghosts are real.The book ends ambiguously, which has left readers debating it since it was published 1898. The movies tend to take a position. Here are some I watched via NetFlix:

Spoiler Alert - Don't read if you plan to watch any of these!

The Innocents (1961)

IMDb Rating: 7.9. This adaptation, which stars Deborah Kerr as the governess, favors the governess as sane and ghosts as real. The governess starts out a little lacking in confidence but she's sane, the ghosts are really trying to get the children, Quint actually succeeds with Miles, and the governess is traumatized by the ordeal. It's notable that Mrs. Grose is more assertive than in the book and at times even argumentative. It's a very well done adaptation. Without having read the book, my wife picked up on some of the more subtle things, like the governess' love for the uncle. For me the "scary" climax was kind of silly--mostly 60's style of flashing lights and weird noises, but the rest of the acting, music, lighting, and script are excellent

The Turn of the Screw (1974)

IMDb Rating: 6.5 This is a 2-hour made-for-TV movie. The middle hour is quite slow but the ending is quite chilling. It also favors the governess being sane and the ghosts being real. Lynn Redgrade stars as the governess. (Incidentally her father was the uncle in The Innocents) She narrates much of the story, which she does very well, as if she's talking directly to you. Her sentences are long, too, like Henry James', though not quite as convoluted, but are a nice touch for readers of the book. You can see in her face a transition from naive delight playing with the children to suspicion and fear as she uncovers their conspiracy with the supernatural. There are moments where her sanity is questioned, but as viewers, we clearly see the ghosts, they're evil, and the children are collaborating with them. The house, the grounds, and the setting are well done. The acting, too, is well done, though the children are kind of creepy. If you slow yourself down, set aside a cozy 2 hours free from distractions, and give the children some slack, it will be worth it to watch it to the end.

The Turn of the Screw (1999)

 IMDb Rating: 5.9 This is a Masterpiece Theater production starring Jodhi May as the governess. The IMDb rating seems a bit low to me. It's very much like the book, ambiguous throughout, and ends like the book, with Miles dying in the governess' embrace. Whereas the ghosts seem pretty real in the other adaptations, they're less so here and the governess' sanity is more questionable. You can see it in her face throughout but there's still just enough clues to show that the ghosts might be real anyway. Maybe it's both: she's already insane and the the ghosts are real! Mrs. Grose is more like in the book, too, loving but simple and subservient. The production isn't quite as suspenseful (or maybe I've seen too many of these), but for readers of the book, it's fun seeing what you've read. Almost every scene, minus the wordiness, is straight from the book with very few deviations. 

References:
Henry James. The Turn of the Screw. [Kindle Edition]. 1898.
The Innocents. Dir. Jack Clayton. Perf Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave. 1961. Movie.
The Turn of the Screw. Dir. Dan Curtis. Perf. Lynn Redgrave. 1974. Movie.
The Turn of the Screw. Dir. Ben Bolt. Perf. Jodhi May. 1999. Movie.

The Lair of the White Worm

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in 1897 and The Lair of the White Worm 14 years later (1911). Dracula is a masterpiece. The Lair of the White Worm is decent--but not a masterpiece.

Page by page Stoker's style is unmistakable:

• A small group of people are faced with a supernatural problem
• An older, knowledgeable gentleman leads the investigation
• They conduct a series of quiet meetings to review the facts, make inferences, and decide on actions
• Geography, history, society, and biology are discussed and well described
• They can't take their problem to the authorities because no one will believe them

The approach is well thought out--like an engineering problem. If such a thing were to really happen, anybody with a scientific or engineering-oriented mind would handle it the same way. Bram Stoker strikes me as an early version of Tom Clancy. Both put a lot of research and logic into their work.

There are a number of strange and imaginative things going on simultaneously throughout the book. Unlike Dracula, however, they don't relate to each other very well, but they do make the book unique and interesting and give it a mysterious schizophrenic atmosphere. Among other things:

• A Roman goes mad in the top of a castle
• A giant hawk-shaped kite flies over the countryside
• Massive flocks of pigeons come and go
• Psychic battles take place during tea
• A giant snake prowls around at night and takes the form of a woman during the day

The book's shortcoming is its top level lack of organization--which is surprising given its logic at the detailed level. Dracula, by comparison, is so well organized, so cleverly continuous through its epistolary format, and so logically sequenced, it looks as if Lair was a crude predecessor that Stoker must have refined for years to make Dracula. The fact though is that Dracula came first! Perhaps Lair was more of a crude rehash written for a few bucks later in life. I don't know.

Because of the disorganization, The Lair of the White Worm proceeds like a Grade-B horror movie:

• People meet and struggle, separate, and meet again as if nothing happened
• Main characters disappear for no reason for several chapters at a time
• Time passes randomly--things that should take months might take just hours and vice versa
• People get murdered and no one reacts or follows up with the authorities
• Many strange but unrelated things are going on simultaneously

You shouldn't be surprised that it was actually made into a Grade-B horror movie, though you might be surprised that it starred a young Hugh Grant! 

Despite its shortcomings, I still liked the book. It was fun to read. I liked its logic and its unmistakable Stoker feel. I'm used to discontinuities from watching Grade-B movies. It certainly helps that it has all those strange and  imaginative things going on. 

References:
Bram Stoker. The Lair of the White Worm [Kindle Edition]. 1911.
Bram Stoker. Dracula [Kindle Edition]. 1897.
Tom Clancy. The Hunt for Red October. Berkley Books. 1984.
The Lair of the White Worm. Dir. Ken Russel. Perf. Amy Donohoe, Hugh Grant. 1988. Movie.

The Turn of the Screw - Additional Points

Spoiler Alert: Please do NOT read this if you have NOT read the book!!!
 

Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (1898) is an interesting story. The sentence structure makes it difficult to read, but the mystery keeps you going. While Cliff Notes and Spark Notes already provide extensive analyses--with Spark Notes inferring more sexuality--here are a few points I would add... 

Were both ghosts real or imagined?

We can't tell for sure if the governess is sane and if the ghosts are real or imagined, but what if 1 ghost, Quint, was real and the other, Miss Jessel, was imagined? The governess described Quint in sufficient detail before she knew who he was, so he may have been real. In contrast, she said she knew who Miss Jessel was, knew what she was thinking, and knew what she wanted without any evidence, so Miss Jessel, may have been hallucinated. Miss Jessel may even have been a reflection of the governess herself.

Was the sentence complexity a sign of insanity?

The writing, which is in first person, is so convoluted and so complicated, I thought for sure only an insane person would write like that--as if James intended that. If that was James' style, Daisy Miller wasn't so convoluted or if that was the style of the time, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes weren't so convoluted either. So maybe it really was supposed to be the language of an insane person. An added effect, perhaps also intentional, is that the complexity creates ambiguity which enhances the mystery.

How dumb was Mrs. Grose?

Mrs. Grose could neither read nor write, so she was obviously uneducated and apparently very naive. She seemed to believe everything the governess told her, but can you imagine what it would be like to be put under a supervisor who turns out to be insane? Eventually most people would figure it out, right? Mrs. Grose didn't seem to notice. So I think she was totally sane but either really simple-minded or just so used to being a servant that she couldn't think for herself. Maybe that's the way servants are supposed to be!

How did Miles die?

I believe the governess unwittingly murdered Miles. An autopsy would explain how it really happened. If it were a heart attack, then maybe it was the ghost. Otherwise, she must have suffocated him with her insane embrace. And if that were the case, his last words implicating the ghost may have been another hallucination. At any rate, this episode did not prevent her from continuing on as a governess for another family.  She apparently didn't go to prison. There must have been some kind of inquest and she must have been cleared. And she apparently regained her sanity, perhaps after leaving that environment and/or overcoming any sexual repressions. Otherwise Douglas, the reader, would have never met her.

On a  related note, I've often wondered what happens the day after a movie ends in one of those life or death struggles. The audience knows the protagonist is the good guy, but how will the cops know? Especially in one of those movies where the antagonist was some kind of supernatural serial killer, how would the good guy prove it was self defense???


References:
Henry James. The Turn of the Screw. [Kindle Edition]. 1898.
Henry James. Daisy Miller. 1878. Ed. Geoffrey Moore. Penguin Books. 1986.
Ted Bogart. "Daisy Miller by Henry James (1878)". Book Blog. 2011.
SparkNotes Editors. "SparkNotes: The Turn of the Screw". SparkNotes LLC. 2012. Web 2012.
Roberts, James L.. "The CliffNotes on The Turn of the Screw". John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2000-2012. Web 2012.