The Nightcomers (1971) - Blu-ray Forum

GlacierTuba · 05-09-2023, 08:53 AM

Thought to repost some thoughts on this film and the Network Blu Ray here as no one seems to be talking about Thora Hird's magnificent octopus. A shame.

Here's some mediocre mumblings from my Letterboxd diary regurgitated here for your discomfort and minimal enjoyment.

I saved the best(?) until last in the recent selection of Network blu's I ordered from them recently. Today was the turn of The Nightcomers, a film which I knew absolutely nothing about and only bought it blind because I couldn't get over the fact the headliners in this film are Marlon Brando and the stairlift LEGEND herself, Thora Hird in an 18 rated schlockfiesta! It just doesn't compute, and unless you are going in to this fully aware that it's a supposed prequel to The Turning Of The Screw, then you'd be forgiven for thinking The Nightcomers doesn't compute either.

This is one BIZARRE film. Make absolutely no mistake about it. I'd also point out that this is 110,000% NOT a film to watch with yer nan just because Thora Hird is in it. It's all well and good flipping through a stairlift brochure, watching re-runs of Harry Secombe on Songs Of Praise and getting all nostalgic just because Thora Hird is in it, but this isn't a film for the older generation because of it. In fact it'll be you who's responsible for offing your grandparents when they have a connery after watching this film!

For starters, I nearly had a connery myself tying to get over just how bloody shit Brando's accent is in this film. he talks like a leprachaun on a Lucky Charms advert. Child actors Verna Harney and Christopher Ellis aren't that stellar either. They get by, and in fairness there's some pretty tough stuff in this film for them to be dealing with at such young ages, but it probably shows when you look at their filmographies that they didn't do too much more work (or perhaps I shouldn't judge so harshly and that they just opted to change careers, I can't seem to dig up that information other than Verna Harney seems to have done some work as a casting agent in 1994).

It gets worse though, and I don't mean with wooden acting. I'll just put it this way, if you thought a knob (excuse pun) of butter in Last Tango In Paris was enough to ruffle your feathers, then you'll love The Nightcomers. Brando wastes no time in getting stuck in to Bly House nanny Mrs Jessel (played by Stephanie Beacham in her first film role) but we're not talking about a quick missionary and a cigarette. Oh no. Brando's got all the gear aside from a sex swing, and judging by the amount of rope he's carrying in to the bedroom with him (I'd say there were a few ships in the harbour freed from their moorings thanks to this dirty old sod!) he's about 2 churns short of a dairy farm with the sheer volume of BDSM and sodomy going on in Miss Jessel's bedroom. Michael Winner doesn't shy away from showing almost 'the lot' either, it makes the 50 Shades films look like an episode of The Wiggles!

It does all get a bit uncomfortable though for various reasons that I won't describe here so as not to give the game away. Though I did find myself genuinely scrunching my eyes up and saying "what the actual f**k?" out loud a few times. I mean, it's not every day you see a frog smoking a cigar at the start of a film, which in turn makes you begin questioning what you are about to see and really sets a low bar for just how much the weird factor escalates in this film up to it's climax (pun uninstended).

The thing is though, the ending is actually rather good. It's because of the fact that this is a prequel that I now want to see the follow on film that was made in 1951. The Nightcomers isn't just about Marlon Brando humping Stephanie Beacham for 97 minutes with a shipyard worth of rope, a churn of Lurpack and a trowel. It's actually a bit of a psychological horror (hence the dots all connect when you read the synopsis for the follow up film). The problem is it's had liberties taken with the books the film and it's 'sequel' are based on, it's a bit lethargic in it's pacing and is marred by some stilted acting at times.

SPOILER ALERT:

[Show spoiler]

There's some interesting historical stuff I found on The Nightcomers. First up I had a look in the New York Times archives and found this little entry from the Wedensday Feb 16th 1972 edition of the New York Times that describes the film as "a particularly listless and greedy parody, the sort that makes no coherent comment on the work it so freely exploits" and "the performance of Marlon Brando, which is, in a phrase James used, "a succession of flights and drops." Stark contrast to the trailer which uses quotes from the New York Times in it's marketing and selects quotes that are far less detrimental. There's even a UK version of the same trailer that replaces the USA press quotes with UK ones (see below). Oh and yes, the crop to show the advert for A Clockwork Orange was done on purpose. Why would I cut that out?

Fast forward to the January 7th 1973 edition of the New York Times and The Nightcomers gets a mention for a potential candidate of one of the ten worst films of 1972 (see below snippet) which i think is a little harsh as, granted, it's not a particularly good film, but it's not a totally terrible one either. I did have some trouble dealing with the fact Brando was filming 97 minutes of BDSM with a crap Irish accent when not long after (and in fact he landed the part while The Nightcomers was being edited) he was playing a role that would be a defining moment in his career with The Godfather.

Care for some titbits around the film? Well, in a scene near the end, there is a moment where Brando's character Quint is telling the children a story about selling a horse. Brando asked Michael Winner if he could be drunk telling the story for better effect. Winner agreed and they shot the scene near the end of shooting with Brando absolutely MULLERED.

According to Michael Winner he was worried the film would be cut to shreds for it's UK release. So he went and had a word with the UK film censor who was reviwing the film who told Winner that it would be nice to meet Marlon Brando in person (with a nudge and a wink). Winner organised a party in order for them to meet though it would then transpire that the film censor retired just before the film went up for certification!

One rather astonishing titbit relates to a sequence near the end of the film, so I'll be as spoiler-lite as I can. Stephanie Beacham was advised to wear a thick wetsuit for a specific scene but instead opted for the thinnest wetsuit she could so as to not alter her figure too much. She ended up turning blue with cold and had to be resuscitated on the river bank. The crew thought for a moment that they had lost her but thankfully she was able to be revived. There's an absolute wealth of interesting pieces surrounding this film, these are just a few but it's well worth you digging around to get an insight in to it, it's all quite bizarre.

I don't think I truly enjoyed The Nightcomers as such. I mean, I'm glad I watched it and I'll be a little hestitant to hand it over the counter at CEX to trade it in for something else (especially when the inner sleeve looks like the interior of a Soho telephone box), but it really isn't that good of a film. I can say for sure that I didn't like the film immediately after viewing, but as I found out more about it and the intricacies around the psychology of the film, and it's backstory for it's 'sequel', I grew fonder of The Nightcomers and am actually glad I watched it.

Certainly catch it if you can get the Blu cheap or find it on a legal streaming service, but don't go out of your way. As for me, I'll be looking to watch the sequel.

2023 Note Update: I thought at the time of viewing that Verna Harney was a child actor. She was actually 20 at the time of making The Nightcomers. She also appeared in whopper Ian Hendry hyperfilm, Assassin (part of the Pemini box set from Indicator). But more importantly, she was also in a brilliant 1970's poliziotteschi. The wonderfully titled 'Could You Be More Of A Bastard Than Inspector Cliff?' (released by Arrow in the UK under it's rebadged USA title, Superbi*ch). Side note for anyone wanting to watch that film, it's available on DVD in Italy for FAR cheaper than what the OOP Arrow disc goes for these days.

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