Made just before "The Godfather" saved his career and changed his life, "The Nightcommers" shows just what a desperate state Brando's career was in. This deeply terrible film is awful in a lot of fairly interesting ways, however, and a curious movie hound will want to endure it's wretched 96 minutes.
It should be noted that this prequil violates both James's "The Turn Of The Screw" and "The Innocents" the great film of that novel. It comes off like many cheap brit or Italian horror films, with a clumsy and offensive sex scene thrown in. Michael Winner's reputation as a terrible director was well earned. Scene after awful scene is handled clumsily and the ending is really terrible.
Oddly, the film foreshadows both "Last Tango" and "The Missouri Breaks" where Brando once again used his Irish accent. If you, like me, respect the still controversial "Last Tango" as a classic, the movie will be even more painful. Brando, handsome but already gaining girth, was forced by Bertoluchi to drop twenty pounds, we can see why.
The whole point of The Novel is that we cannot be sure WHAT happened at Bly, and this film provides a most unwelcome explanation.
It should be noted that this prequil violates both James's "The Turn Of The Screw" and "The Innocents" the great film of that novel. It comes off like many cheap brit or Italian horror films, with a clumsy and offensive sex scene thrown in. Michael Winner's reputation as a terrible director was well earned. Scene after awful scene is handled clumsily and the ending is really terrible.
Oddly, the film foreshadows both "Last Tango" and "The Missouri Breaks" where Brando once again used his Irish accent. If you, like me, respect the still controversial "Last Tango" as a classic, the movie will be even more painful. Brando, handsome but already gaining girth, was forced by Bertoluchi to drop twenty pounds, we can see why.
The whole point of The Novel is that we cannot be sure WHAT happened at Bly, and this film provides a most unwelcome explanation.