One of Marlon Brando's least-known films, 'The Nightcomers' is a prequel to 'The Turn of the Screw' and describes the events leading up to Henry James' famous ghost story.
Brando plays Peter Quint, the valet at the English country estate, Bly House, whose owners have recently died abroad in an automobile accident. Their children, Flora and Miles, see Quint as a fascinating source of knowledge and believe that everything he says to them is true. They are intrigued by his words and actions, often copying them with ultimately disastrous results. These re-enactments include acting out Quint and the governess, Miss Jessel's (Stephanie Beacham) bondage sessions.
The children all too literally accept Quint's claims that to hate is to love and that the dead remain where they are and meet as though still alive. They then attempt to apply their own logical conclusions to life at Bly House.
Brando gives a decent performance (with an Irish accent) in a role that, because of the dull script, is difficult to excel in and easy to mess up and he often resembles Richard Harris in 'This Sporting Life'. The success of the film is severely limited as it appears incomplete to those who haven't read the original story and it will disappoint those who have as the previously unexplained mystery that made 'The Turn of the Screw' so chilling has now been solved. This 'solution' is not helped by Michael Winner's rather bland direction and the wretched performance of Christopher Ellis as the young Miles.
It is difficult to see what attracted Brando to the idea of making a film that is often reminiscent of Hammer horror. Maybe it was the prospect of playing a character who causes a frog to explode by making it smoke a cigar.
Brando plays Peter Quint, the valet at the English country estate, Bly House, whose owners have recently died abroad in an automobile accident. Their children, Flora and Miles, see Quint as a fascinating source of knowledge and believe that everything he says to them is true. They are intrigued by his words and actions, often copying them with ultimately disastrous results. These re-enactments include acting out Quint and the governess, Miss Jessel's (Stephanie Beacham) bondage sessions.
The children all too literally accept Quint's claims that to hate is to love and that the dead remain where they are and meet as though still alive. They then attempt to apply their own logical conclusions to life at Bly House.
Brando gives a decent performance (with an Irish accent) in a role that, because of the dull script, is difficult to excel in and easy to mess up and he often resembles Richard Harris in 'This Sporting Life'. The success of the film is severely limited as it appears incomplete to those who haven't read the original story and it will disappoint those who have as the previously unexplained mystery that made 'The Turn of the Screw' so chilling has now been solved. This 'solution' is not helped by Michael Winner's rather bland direction and the wretched performance of Christopher Ellis as the young Miles.
It is difficult to see what attracted Brando to the idea of making a film that is often reminiscent of Hammer horror. Maybe it was the prospect of playing a character who causes a frog to explode by making it smoke a cigar.