The Nightcomers is a 1971

1971 in film

The year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...

 British horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by Michael Winner

Michael Winner

Michael Robert Winner is a British film director and producer, active in both Europe and the United States, also known as a food critic for the Sunday Times.-Early life and early career :...

 and starring Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

, Stephanie Beacham

Stephanie Beacham

Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...

, Thora Hird

Thora Hird

Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...

, Harry Andrews

Harry Andrews

Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...

 and Anna Palk

Anna Palk

Anna Palk was an English actress.Palk was born in Looe, Cornwall, England and was educated at Rise Hall Convent in Yorkshire and trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She followed this with rep at Bristol, Leatherhead, Derby, Newcastle and Leeds before embarking on...

. It is a prequel to The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw

The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...

.

Plot

Recently orphaned, Flora and Miles are abandoned by their new guardian (Harry Andrews) and entrusted to the care of housekeeper Mrs. Grose (Thora Hird), governess Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham), and Peter Quint (Brando), the former valet and now gardener. With only these three adults for company, the children live an isolated life in the sprawling country manor estate. The children are particularly fascinated by Peter Quint due to his eclectic knowledge and engaging stories, and willingness to entertain them. With this captive audience, Quint doses out his strange philosophies on love and death. The governess, Miss Jessel, also falls under Peter's spell, and despite her repulsion the two embark on a sadomasochistic love affair. Flora and Miles become fascinated with this relationship, and help Quint and Jessel to escape the interference of disapproving Mrs. Grose. The children begin spying on Quint and Jessel's violent trysts and mimick what they see, including the bondage, culminating in Miles nearly pushing Flora off a building to her death. Mrs. Grose determines to write to the absent Master of the House in order to get both Quint and Jessel fired. The children are most distressed by this, and decide to take matters into their own hands to prevent the separation. Acting on Quint's assertions that love is hate and it is only in death that people can truly be united, the children murder Miss Jessel by knocking a hole in the boat she uses to wait for Quint (who never keeps the appointments), knowing that she cannot swim. Quint later finds Miss Jessel's rigid body in the water, but is given little time to mourn before Miles kills him with a bow and arrow. The film ends with the arrival of a new governess, presumably the one who features in The Turn of the Screw.

Cast

• Marlon Brando
  Marlon Brando
  Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
  
   - Peter Quint
• Stephanie Beacham
  Stephanie Beacham
  Stephanie Beacham is a British television, film and theatre actress. Making her film debut in 1971's The Nightcomers opposite Marlon Brando and becoming more well-known on British television in the BBC series Tenko and the ITV series Connie , her worldwide breakthrough came as a result of playing...
  
   - Miss Jessel
• Thora Hird
  Thora Hird
  Dame Thora Hird DBE was an English actress.-Early life and career:Hird was born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She first appeared on stage at the age of two months in a play her father was managing...
  
   - Mrs. Grose
• Harry Andrews
  Harry Andrews
  Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE was an English film actor known for his frequent portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Sergeant Major Wilson in The Hill alongside Sean Connery earned Andrews the 1965 National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor and a nomination for the...
  
   - Master of the House
• Verna Harvey - Flora
• Christopher Ellis - Miles
• Anna Palk
  Anna Palk
  Anna Palk was an English actress.Palk was born in Looe, Cornwall, England and was educated at Rise Hall Convent in Yorkshire and trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She followed this with rep at Bristol, Leatherhead, Derby, Newcastle and Leeds before embarking on...
  
   - New Governess

Differences from the book

The children in the film are portrayed as being a few years older than in the Henry James novel, probably due to the sexual nature of the film and their roles in it (Verna Harvey was in fact 19 at the time).

Reception and awards

The film has received mixed reviews. Brando's performance earned him a nomination for a Best Actor BAFTA, but recent audiences have criticised his cartoonish Irish accent. The film has an 75% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Some reviewers have objected to the film's premise of showing what happened before the novel, as this threatens the ambiguity the novel explores.
The manor house in the film is Sawston Hall, a 16th century Tudor manor house in Sawston, Cambridgeshire.