The Nightcomers (1971)
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39% of users liked it
(229 ratings)
Marlon Brando delivers a respectably creepy performance in the Michael Winner directed The Nightcomers -- a film inspired by the characters in Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. On a British country estate, two recently-orphaned children, Miles (Christopher Ellis) and Flora (Verna Harvey), live… More Marlon Brando delivers a respectably creepy performance in the Michael Winner directed The Nightcomers -- a film inspired by the characters in Henry James' The Turn of the Screw. On a British country estate, two recently-orphaned children, Miles (Christopher Ellis) and Flora (Verna Harvey), live on their own with only a nurse, housekeeper, and gardener as companions. Miles and Flora are particularly fascinated by the gardener, Quint (Marlon Brando). In fact, fascinated to the point of obsession, the boy and girl model their young lives after him. When Quint becomes involved with the prim and proper nurse, Miles surreptitiously views their love-making and keeps it in mind for future reference. Gradually, Miles and Flora adopt the gardener and the nurse's love-hate relationship for their own, copying their adult behavior with child-like abandon. Finally, when the housekeeper finds out and decides to fire the gardener and the nurse, the children are thrown into a panic. Not wanting their two favorite subjects to be separated, the children decide to take things into their own hands. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Michael Winner
- Written By
- Michael Hastings
- Genres
- Drama, Classics
R,
- In Theaters
- Feb 15, 1972 Wide
- On DVD
- Jun 19, 2007
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Michael Winner's rare, ambitious film tries to reimagine the prequel to Henry James' famous novel and its characters, offering Marlon Brando one of his most malevolent and disturbing roles; a good companion piece to The Innocents.
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Brian Holcomb, PopMatters
Strips the artistry of the Henry James original and leaves us with a hairy, overweight, naked and sweating Brando brutally kneading Stephanie Beacham's breasts into new shapes
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Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
Michael Winner's film ends where James's tale begins, and it is a deflating attempt to flesh out that which was never meant to be fleshed out, describing in sordid detail the love affair between the mistress and the groundskeeper and how it affected the t
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Cast
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Marlon Brando
as Quint
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Stephanie Beacham
as Miss Margaret Jessel
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Thora Hird
as Mrs. Grose
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Verna Harvey
as Flora
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Christopher Ellis
as Miles
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Harry Andrews
as Master of the House
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Anna Palk
as Governess
