I've just received a used copy of the original book from the 1960s on which the movie was based.  Fairly easy to find inexpensive paperback versions; the title is "Day of the Arrow."

To my horror, the book seems to be marketed as a "lady's romance" novel -- complete with a reference on the back cover to the effect that it's "in the manner of Victoria Holt"!!     Also an intriguing reference on the back saying that the story deals with "witches and homosexuals"!! Umm, O.K. ...

I'm quite curious to see whether the book bears any relation to the movie that followed ...

I don't know if anyone gets the "FXM" network -- I know I don't.

If you do, you'll have the rare opportunity to view the 1961 classic "The Innocents" with Deborah Kerr.  For as long as I've had cable and learned about this movie via this forum, the movie has not aired on any station I get.  Fortunately, I purchased the video, but it is a pan and scan version which severely cuts off some of the scenes.  For example, in one scene, you see one person's nose on one side of the screen and the other person's nose on the other side of the screen.

If anyone watches the FXM showing, I would be interested to hear whether it was presented in wide-screen format.  If so, I envy you -- and advise you to tape it.  According to a multitude of comments on amazon and imdb.com, the widescreen version is practically mandatory for this movie.

Interesting that this should air just when a review of Dan Curtis's "The Turn of the Screw" has appeared on this forum (thanks, Midnite -- haven't had a chance to read it yet though).

"The Innocents" is a filmic "equivalent" of the Henry James ghost novella "The Turn of the Screw" which inspired a couple of the storylines on DS where the children are haunted by the ghosts of Quentin and Beth, for example (and I think a later storyline, too ... ).

I call the movie an "equivalent" or an interpretation since it follows the original rather loosely.  Much closer versions have been made that were also excellent, namely "The Haunting of Helen Walker" for NBC-TV and "The Turn of the Screw" for BBC - PBS.

The movie could be described, I think, as visual poetry with its wealth of nuance and visual symbolism.  The reading of the story is heavy on the psychological overtones but still leaves the essential ambiguity of the original novella.

Sadly, like "The Eye of the Devil" discussed recently, "The Innocents" is not available on DVD.

That was her voice.
...

She really was very good, and that wasn't dubbed.  It'd be a shame if you have to view the video without sound.

I was able to view most of the clip on another computer, although without sound, unfortunately.  So I appreciate your responding with this information! 

Tell me when RFTA airs on TMC and I'll tape it for you.

They seem to have removed "Return from the Ashes" from their database.      



Gothick wrote:

I used to have a tape of it (from an AMC showing of many years ago, back when they aired movies without commercial interruption)

I'm glad I was able to tape as many movies as I have before AMC changed their format.  Most of their movies now run well over two hours because of all the commercials, meaning that I can't tape something I really want in SP on a standard 2-hour video cassette.  (For some reason those 8-hr EP videocassettes don't seem to be sold much anymore -- that's what ALL of my DS is on!)


Gothick continued:

It is really a mood piece that evokes the inner power that lives within the Earth, and how people in traditional communities hold that power and the sacrifices they make to honor that strength and to allow their communities to survive.

Very interesting commentary.

I wasn't familiar with the announcement board until just recently, Cassandra Blair -- so I wonder what I may have missed out on this past year ...

 

If "Eye of the Devil" airs again, I'll post a notice (and try to remember you in particular!)    But I have been watching the TV listings for at least two years and this is the first it has aired in that time that I know of.

You're right -- many of the elements I mention are "stock" elements of the dark old house genre, so DC & Co. didn't necessarily borrow from this movie -- except for the final scene, which is too similar to the ending of "Night of Dark Shadows" to be coincidence.  While such borrowings and influences are often subconscious on the part of a writer, "Eye of the Devil" came out in 1967, which wasn't many years before "Night of Dark Shadows."

The novel on which it was based, "Day of the Arrow," was published in 1964, so I feel sure that "The Wicker Man" owes a major debt to it (either the novel or the movie).  (A blatant lifting was the brief image of an "all-seeing" eye.)

One other motif in common with DS was hypnotism -- there was an undercurrent of trancelike states in the movie, as well as narcotic-induced states from belladonna ...

If anyone reading this is more "pagan literate" than I am, I'd be curious to know if the ritual of this movie was based on anything historically accurate.  It involved 12 men dancing around a 13th man in the center of the circle -- the one who was marked for sacrifice.

I'm surprised by the rather lukewarm ratings many people (on the Internet) seem to give this film, but I also take exception to many of their comments.  For example, one reviewer says that "Satanism" and vineyards (the movie is set in the Bordeaux region of France) don't mix.  First off, the movie is NOT about Satanism, but paganism -- but even if it were, who's to say "they don't mix"?  Others criticize the film for having too much dialogue -- it's true, this is a movie that demands one's careful attention both visually and aurally ...

I would recommend it to those who liked "The Innocents."

I think the description of this section of the board means that we can post off-topic things (like our favorite recipes, poetry, etc. ??  ) -- as long as we think they're of interest to people who like Dark Shadows ...

I'm so excited about a movie that airs tomorrow at noon (Central Time) on TCM, "Eye of the Devil."  I saw the last 45 minutes of it a few years ago and have been anxious to catch the entire movie ever since.  Taping it while I'm at work will mean I'll have to sacrifice taping DS tomorrow morning (since I want the movie on a separate tape, in SP) ...

I hope imdb.com won't mind my copying this summary:

"Vineyard owner marquis Philippe de Montfaucon is called back to his castle Bellenac because of another dry season. He asks his wife and children to remain in London, but they still come after him. His wife Catherine de Montfaucon soon discovers that her husband is acting mysteriously and that his employees are following old pagan rituals that call for the life of the marquis himself to save the crops." -- imdb.com  Summary of "Eye of the Devil"

This sounds a little bit like "The Wicker Man," which was discussed on this forum not long ago, and one commentator on imdb.com felt that the film must have influenced Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby."

I didn't know until I checked imdb.com just a few minutes ago that the director, J. Lee Thompson, also directed what may be my favorite movie from the 1960s:  "Return from the Ashes" (which I would kill to have on videotape -- it has never aired on cable since I got cable -- except on The Movie Channel, I think it is, which I don't get!  )

The cast includes Deborah Kerr ("The Innocents"); also, I was excited to see listed in the cast Flora Robson (the elderly Miss Pross in my favorite version of "A Tale of Two Cities," with Chris Sarandon, Peter Cushing, Billie Whitelaw), and also the playwright and actor Emlyn Williams ("Night Must Fall" -- which I taped only yesterday, sacrificing another day of DS! -- and which I've been waiting to see ever since my old theater days some years ago!).

Luciaphil says it's good, too.   

But you have to remember, Vlad, that you came to DS in the days of VCRs - not in the days when on Friday afternoons, after you had to meet your mom when she got out of work so you could get a ride home from school, you had to constantly pester her to get the grocery shopping done quickly so you could get home to see DS. And more often than not, I ended up missing parts if not some entire episodes. I'm quite sure I was not alone in that - and the ONLY way for us to find out what had happened was if one of our friends had seen what we'd missed.

You have a good point.  We do have all the episodes available to us now, which wasn't the case then.  I hadn't considered how the luxury of VCRs has made this possible.

I seem to remember missing one or two episodes during these "fast-paced" sequences (of 1840, etc.) during SciFi's last airing (hopefully I have everything on tape  ) and really didn't feel lost; but perhaps there were a handful of particular episodes that, if missed, would have left the viewer in the dark.

 

The breakneck pacing, where if one missed even one episode, one might have missed a plot point that might never actually be explained again, didn't really take shape with a vengeance until the last year of DS - a point which will begin soon after the complete shift of focus to 1970PT.

Now you'll really think I'm the devil's advocate     ...

but to tell the truth, when I heard that this was the case during the last SciFi run, I thought that sounded (and was!) terribly exciting!  How rich and novel for a daily serial program to break with tradition -- break the mold -- and go its own way at breakneck speed.

(I don't really recall 1970PT having a breakneck pace, but I suppose the show might have during 1840.)

I found it exhilirating trying to keep up -- and the pace made sure I didn't miss an episode!