Title: I have not brought my spectres with me...
Review: It helps if you forget that this is supposed to be a horror movie; the ghost-scenes are the least effective parts, and it's nowhere so scary as The Haunting(1963).Where it works is as a human-relations drama detailing the complex relationship between the governess and the children. She is shocked by Miles' overtures, but not altogether averse, seen most clearly in the bedtime kiss. Deborah Kerr is great at registering her ambivalence, something she also did well in Black Narcissus.In an art-book, I saw two paintings by Bronzino (c.1545): "Eleanora of Toledo" and "The Exposure of Luxury" - one depicting a sombre and sedate mother, the other a lascivious embrace. And these seem to be the contrary states of the governess' soul.Quint should have been reduced to an invisible hypothesis, as in the novel.This movie is useless in its present format; it demands widescreen presentation.
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