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The Nightcomers (1971)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
6/17, 4/22
6/17:
Looking partly corpulent, Marlon Brando stars in The Nightcomers which can be safely described as a
questionable choice.
Who cares if it's based on Henry James' The Turn of the Screw? I don't know what Brando saw in the
script. Was he pressed for money? Or was he merely interested in doing the S&M scene? Or did he like the name
of his character: Peter Quint? At any rate, it's interesting how this is sort of the original before
Last Tango in Paris came out.
To be fair, it's hard to take eyes off Marlon Brando whenever he appears. The first hour goes well, and he's a
good raconteur. The actor has one nice scene when he's shown running out of the woods to catch up with the
carriage for small talk.
However, it's the last thirty minutes that dooms the picture when a loop is being played endlessly which goes
back and forth with the children while there's little of Brando. These kids are horrible actors, evincing no
talent to carry a film. No wonder why they barely worked afterwards.
All in all, as much of a jumbled mess as The Nightcomers is, Marlon Brando can thank his lucky stars
because The Godfather is just around the corner.
4/22:
My rating for The Nightcomers remains unchanged.
It's really bad because of Michael Winner who made a career out of directing crappy movies. I don't get Hollywood's
interest in him. In his lifetime, he had been nominated for exactly one award which was a shared screenplay
credit in The Sentinel. That's it despite having done thirtysomething
films. Sure, there's Death Wish, but the premise was so good that nobody
could've fucked it up.
Believe it or not, Marlon Brando is actually in top form as Peter Quint based on the way he moves and looks. Yet
there isn't much of screen time allocated for him. Reversing this trend and getting rid of the annoying kids
(they barely did much work thereafter which is no surprise), the movie would've played better. To
Marlon Brando's credit, he tried to have the whole script rewritten, but the request was made nine months too late
and thus denied. The best part is Quint telling a story about his father, a scene that Marlon Brando
did while getting drunk on purpose.
I don't get the weird sex scene. It serves exactly what purpose? Then, Winner shoots himself in the foot by having
the kids copy the same act. Why? If they liked Peter Quint but not the maid, then why kill him but not her? At
least, the photography, which was shot on location in Sawton, Cambridgeshire, England, is lovely. The 16th-century
Tudor manor house is Sawston Hall, and The Nightcomers remains the only film in existence to feature it.
All in all, save for Marlon Brando, The Nightcomers has absolutely nothing to offer, thanks to Michael
Winner's mediocre direction.