The Nightcomers

The Nightcomers is a 1971 film, directed by Michael Winner, that is a prequel to Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw. I'm not sure James would approve, but it's a mostly engaging film that features one of Marlon Brando's eccentric performances and some very kinky sex.

In The Turn Of The Screw a governess sees (or imagines) the ghosts of her predecessor, Miss Jessup, and a groomsmen, Peter Quint. The Nightcomers (not sure where the title comes from) posits just what happened to them. It turns out the children murdered them.

Brando, sounding like a leprechaun, is the valet of the late master of the house. He is kept on, expected to work on the grounds. He is a rake, but also charms the children, Miles and Flora, with his stories and tricks, such as inserting a cigarette into the mouth of a frog until it bursts.

He is also having a torrid, sado-masochistic affair with Miss Jessup (Stephanie Beacham), complete with ropes. I don't know that I've ever seen, in a nonpornographic movie, a woman hog-tied. The children spy on them, and imitate them. When the housekeeper finds them tying each other up and asks just what they are doing, Miles answers, "We're doing sex."

One thing that Brando impresses upon the kids is that lovers are reunited in death. When the housekeeper writes to their guardian to have Brando and Beacham sacked, the children don't want them to go, and figure the only way to make them stay is to kill them. So we get a little Children Of The Corn.

The film is most notable for its trying to clear up ambiguity in James' work, which some critics sniffed at, and Brando. This was just before his career was resurrected by The Godfather. His work from the late '50s, starting I think with Sayonara, was quirky, to say the least. But he's always interesting to watch, as he is here.