There were worse directors in the 1970s than Michael Winner, but probably none with such a high profile who courted controversy so often and who frequently had major studio talent at his disposal. A typical Winner work from that period is THE NIGHTCOMERS, which Studio Canal are releasing in a new 4K restoration on UHD, Blu-ray and Digital as part of their cult classics line.
THE NIGHTCOMERS is a prequel to the Henry James story (actually more of a novella) The Turn of the Screw, which was filmed with great success as THE INNOCENTS in 1961 by Jack Clayton. Part of the reason both that film and the book it’s based on work so well is because so much of what happens is not explained and is, essentially, unknowable. What THE NIGHTCOMERS sets out to do is explain everything which, as well as being redundant, it doesn’t do half as well as it probably could.
When the parents of Flora (Verna Harvey) and Miles (Christopher Ellis) are killed in a car accident, they are left alone at remote Bly Manor with only the cook (Thora Hird), governess Miss Jessel (Stephanie Beacham) and handyman Peter Quint (Marlon Brando) for company. Jessel and Quint are engaged in a sado-masochistic relationship that’s witnessed by the children and which they then reproduce in their play, which is where everything starts to go really wrong.
Part of the problem with THE NIGHTCOMERS is that you know what’s going to happen, but that would still have left space for an interesting story that could have played with the ideas of 'were the children / weren’t they affected by the behaviour of Quint and Jessel' and indeed what exactly it was that the two adults got up to. The film might also have worked better had it been told more from the children's point of view. Unfortunately with the casting of Marlon Brando in the lead, THE NIGHTCOMERS instead veers dangerously into becoming The Peter Quint Show. There’s at least one lengthy sequence where the actor has obviously been allowed to go ‘full Marlon’ and while it is, as Kim Newman says in his extra on here, an acting masterclass, it doesn’t really belong in a film like this.
It’s also hard to accept why Stephanie Beacham’s Miss Jessel Hooks up with Quint or takes part in his bizarre sex games as she seems to reap little benefit from it. Beacham is far better in the scenes without Brando, where she delivers a more nuanced, sympathetic performance. The child actors are rather stilted and it’s obvious Winner’s forte was not in directing children.
Studio Canal’s 4K disc comes with a new 19 minute Kim Newman talking head piece which is very informative. Carried over from the Imprint release is a 29 minute featurette of interviews with surviving crew members (including SFX ace John Richardson and first assistant director Michael Dryhurst) and if you’re looking for on-set gossip about Mr Winner this is the place to go. You also get a video essay from Kat Ellinger on film interpretations of Turn of the Screw (19 minutes) and two commentary tracks. Contrary to what Kat Ellinger says in hers there is no Michael Winner commentary on this disc so hang on to your Kino region A Blu-ray if that’s a favourite (if nothing else Winner's commentaries do tend to be...er...winners). There’s also a very informative ‘nuts and bolts making of’ commentary from Alain Silver and Jim Ursini. Finally there are the usual trailers and the disc comes with four art cards.
Michael Winner’s THE NIGHTCOMERS is out in a new 4K restoration from Studio Canal on UHD, Blu-ray and Digital on Monday 27th April 2026
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