Just before THE GODFATHER/’72 ended a decade’s run of commercial decline, Marlon Brando capped his ‘60s free fall with this perverse period thriller. He’s rather good in it, if you can accommodate the Barry Fitzgerald Irish accent. But then, he was good in a number of indifferently received flops over the period. This one, coarsely directed by Michael Winner, purports to be a prequel to Henry James’s TURN OF THE SCREW*, though except for its risible climax, it’s more rehash than prequel. And more D. H. Lawrencean than Jamesian while also doing away with James’s note of ghostly uncertainty. Everything else is familiar as a wealthy uncle ignores his responsibility to his orphaned young niece & nephew, leaving them largely in the care of the housekeeper, governess & groundskeeper at their isolated, stately estate. Brando’s groundskeeper, unofficial mentor to the kids, is the whole show here, an amusingly corruptive influence on everything he touches: spurious wisdom, torture & sex something of a kinky specialty. But perhaps the children learn their lessons a bit too well. A good subject for a director who knew the difference between a glance and a blow. Which naturally makes Michael Winner exactly the wrong man for the job. But the tone is odd enough to keep you watching.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Excellent SCREW adaptation: THE INNOCENTS/’61 (Jack Clayton/Deborah Kerr). OR: Another literary prequel, this time to JANE EYRE, in WIDE SARGASSO SEA/’93.
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