Deborah Kerr @ 100: The legend, the legacy, "The Innocents"
Friday, October 1, 2021 at 11:55AM 
For decades she held the record of being the most Oscar-nominated actress never to have won the statuette, with six unsuccessful nominations. In a piteous gesture, the Academy granted her an honorary award in 1994. How fitting that Deborah Kerr received such tribute from the hands of Glenn Close, the current holder of the older actress' erstwhile record. Considering this trivia, it'd be easy to remember Kerr's legacy through the prism of Oscar history. That would be a mistake. I state it as someone who first encountered the British thespian through her nominated roles, constructing a mental image limited by AMPAS' taste. As it turns out, despite her numerous nods, the most outstanding Kerr performances weren't so highly celebrated by the Academy. Simply told, that Oscar-y sextet doesn't do her justice.
To celebrate Deborah Kerr's centennial, let's remember her range beyond golden laurels, her incandescent talent, the power she brought to her films. Let's honor her by reflecting on the actress' greatest work - the nightmare that is The Innocents…
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943)
Trained in classical ballet and stage acting, Deborah Kerr was touted as a movie star before her films ever made it to the screen. While she shot scenes for Powell and Pressburger's Contraband, they got deleted, making 1941's Major Barbara her debut. In that George Bernard Shaw adaptation, Kerr starred alongside Wendy Hiller, stealing the spotlight even in a small supporting role. That same year, she'd take over a part Hiller had originated on stage when she played a miner's daughter in Love on the Dole. Despite a dodgy accent and ungenerous comparisons to her predecessor, Kerr wowed audiences and critics alike. By the mid-40s, she was a sensation in Britain. Hollywood soon took notice.
It was with Powell and Pressburger that Kerr found her best early roles and films, among them The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, where she plays three different women. Seeing such range, the Technicolor beauty of her read-headed splendor, and growing popularity at home, MGM decided to pursue Kerr. 1947 saw the release of her last Powell and Pressburger masterpiece, Black Narcissus, and her first American movies, The Hucksters and If Winter Comes. Unfortunately, the latter disappointed in comparison to the British psychosexual drama, marking a lackluster beginning for Kerr's stateside career.
Indeed, constricted by a lady-like image that MGM actively cultivated with the press, Deborah Kerr found herself trapped in a star persona she didn't want. Sexless and terminally classy, her roles were limiting her craft, resulting in a series of performances that never reached the glory of her luminous British projects. Still, one can't say she wasn't successful. 1949's Edward, My Son resulted in a Best Actress Oscar nomination, after all, and many of her movies were box-office hits. Nevertheless, it took a break from MGM for Kerr to find her footing as a Hollywood-based acting powerhouse. Columbia's From Here to Eternity was the turning point.
FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
The role of Karen Holmes, an army wife who cheats on her husband with Burt Lancaster's hunky Sgt. Warden, proved to be an against-type triumph that showed Kerr could convince as more than a demure English rose. It also helped consolidate a model that would follow the actress to the end of her career. Henceforth, many of her best roles reflected a dichotomy between desire and repression, often bubbling with erotic yearnings that can never be fully realized due to oppressive forces. Even something as family-friendly as The King and I gave Kerr opportunities to suggest a carnality. Look at her chemistry with Brynner during the "Shall We Dance?" number if you need convincing.
And yet, the Academy kept rewarding her least daring works. While they did honor her turn in 1953's From Here to Eternity, 1956 saw a nomination for The King and I instead of the sexually charged Tea and Sympathy. In 1957, her passionate longing in An Affair to Remember got short thrift compared to the nun part in Heaven Knows, Mr. Alison. As for 1958, Kerr got nominated for one of her worst performances in Separate Tables while the devastating tragedy of Bonjour Tristesse was overlooked. At least her last nod, for 1960's The Sundowners, showcases a deviation from primness and arch mannerism in favor of a more realistic Australian Outback milieu.
Again, one despairs at AMPAS' middling decisions, how their selection obscures what makes Kerr an actress for the ages. Indeed, perhaps her most fabulous creation came in a genre the Academy seldom acknowledges – horror. Jack Clayton's The Innocents is a version of Henry James' ghost story The Turn of the Screw, taking cues from the original novellas and William Archibald's 1950 play adaptation. Truman Capote was one of the screenwriters, and he sussed out the psychological ambiguity of the earlier texts, finding new perversities in euphemism, evoking paralyzing fear through the possibility of madness.
That being said, The Innocents' most significant divergences from James' prose aren't so much a product of Capote's writing as they are a consequence of Kerr's casting. The 1898 novella doesn't specify much about its nameless protagonist, the new governess to the children of Bly manor. Nonetheless, there is the suggestion of her youth. Much of how one interprets the woman's paranoia comes from the awareness of her naivete, a fragile innocence more understandable in girlhood than in middle-age. At 39-years-old, Deborah Kerr was long past her virginal ingénue roles when she took on the part of the now-named Miss Giddens.
The casting isn't unprecedented in dramatizations of The Turn of the Screw. Beatrice Straight was in her 30s when she originated the role in Archibald's play, and Ingrid Bergman played a version of the character for a 1958 TV production. However, the image of Kerr in midcentury Victorian garb brings forward a multiplicity of ideas that transform the text. Furthermore, one must contend with the actress' evolving persona, once a paragon of proper Britishness who later tried to reimagine herself as the shattered vision of repressed sexuality given human form. The governess of the novella is starting to confront the corroding powers of 19th-century social mores. The one in the film has long been defeated by those same powers.
It's the difference between a ripe fruit sitting on the branch and a specimen fallen to the ground and irreparably bruised. Apologies for ageism, not to mention the sexism, but such readings spring forth from the period setting and its fractious relationship with Kerr's presence. In the society hinted at by the set design, lavish costumes, and dialogue, this Miss Giddens would be a spinster, looked down upon as one condemned to be perennially unmarried, childless, frigid, unfulfilled by the standards of antiquated gender norms. Her role as substitute mother to her parentless wards, even her dynamic with their uncaring uncle, is subtly twisted out of its usual shape, given a sharper edge than it might otherwise have had.
These details make James' nebulous protagonist a very concrete entity, one solid center for this storm of psychological horror. The Expressionism that Clayton's direction and Freddie Francis' cinematography conjure is built upon the foundations of a character study that Kerr delineates with shattering precision. It's as if she weaponizes the poised priggishness of her past MGM ladies when playing this pastor's daughter. The thespian deconstructs those past roles very being and exposes the neurosis that lay within, dormant, barely hidden. The Victorian mannerism is ever-present, but Kerr performs it as an unnatural social prison, a theatrical straight-jacket with which she bristles against it as the panic sets in and takes over.
The contrast between a rigid pose and wild eyes works in an almost elemental manner. The aesthetic disruptiveness of these combined motions defines the picture as an expression of marrow-deep distress. In other words, the relationship that Kerr's face has with her body is, in itself, an element of horror. It signals that something ineffable is very wrong, whether with Miss Giddens or the children or both. As the governess becomes sure that the ghosts of her predecessor and that late woman's violent lover possess the kids, panic evolves into mania. The illicit sex in the hauntings' backstory also spikes her interest. For one sickening instant, the spectator almost feels that Miss Giddens is titillated by the dead's transgressions, by her prepubescent pupils' wicked knowingness.
Rather than providing a definite answer to the question of whether the ghosts are real or just a product of Giddens' repressed psyche, Kerr offers a take on the character that's both unsettling and ambiguous to the end. It doesn't matter if the specters are the dead returned or trivial hallucinations. The governess has been driven to obsessive madness one way or the other. As The Innocents' final act manifests, sanity has slipped through her fingers, and Kerr seamlessly transitions from wide-eyed terror into a bug-eyed monstrosity. In her unraveling, the protagonist becomes the most frightening thing on screen, a more palpable terror than any phantasmagoria from the beyond.
Harnessing the power of suggestion so present in James' text and attuning herself to Clayton's formalistic conception of movie fear, Deborah Kerr delivers one of the most excellent performances in the history of horror cinema. It's an eerie tour de force and the crowning achievement of this actress' long career. As far as I'm concerned, Deborah Kerr was never better. What about you? What's your favorite performance in her filmography?
The Innocents is streaming on Fubo, DirecTV, the Criterion Channel, and Spectrum On Demand. Criterion also has a vast collection of other Kerr titles in celebration of the actress' centennial.
Reader Comments (12)
I watched this again last night in honor of her centennial and it really is so well put together with her a strong anchor to keep the film centered. I agree this is her best performance and that she wasn't nominated for it but was for something as puerile as Edward, My Son shows the many flaws in the Academy's process. I would have much rather seen her in the lineup for this than the hard to sit through Sundowners.
It's ridiculous that she never won an Oscar but as you pointed out the performances she was tapped for are by and large not her best. Of the six I would have only chosen From Here to Eternity as nomination worthy. I enjoy her in The King and I and she's a fine screen partner for Yul Brynner but he eclipses everyone else in that film.
I would have much rather seen her nominated for The Innocents, Black Narcissus, Colonel Blimp and Eternity. I also love The Chalk Garden and her in it but I'm not sure if there's enough in the role to rate a nomination.
There's no excuse for her not being nominated for The Innocents in 1961, where she should have won easily (sorry Sophia). The film itself should also have been nominated for 12 awards (Picture, Director, Supporting Actor - that Martin Stephens is something else!, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Editing, Score, Sound, Costumes, hell if there was a theme song, that should have been nominated, too!). Instead, not one single measly nomination.
As for Kerr, she definitely deserved her nominations for From Here to Eternity and The Sundowners, and definitely should have won for the latter. 1953 was a tough year, with her, Hepburn and Caron all deserving. Besides The Innocents, her most unforgivable omission is her non-nomination for Black Narcissus. I'd take away only Separate Tables - what a ghastly piece of trash, and she doesn't rise above it. Edward, My Son feels like a Supporting part (yet her screen time is considerably greater than From Here to Eternity! Go figure), and besides that was an extremely weak year. But who other rhan Olivia deHavilland does belong there? And just who deserved to be nominated instead? Pretty slim pickings all around. She's just right in The King and I - dubbed singing or no dubbed singing, but she's also a tad forgettable. I don't know what to make of grotesque flapdoodle like Heaven Knows Mr. Allison it's been so long since I've seen it, but she did win the NYFC Best Actress award, so there's some justification, I guess.
I love Deborah Kerr, including From Here to Eternity and An Affair To Remember. My filmgoing history is weak, but I'll certainly be watching some of the recommended movies, if I can ever forego either Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax or Amazon for a bit, and get a couple of months of Criterion. And just a note about Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, it was a real treat for a teenage, Catholic-indoctrinated me to see a nun portrayed as a woman.
Deborah Kerr... now that was a woman. I love her in Black Narcissus as she was just one of the highlights of the film of a woman with a past that seemed to have it all only to give it up to serve God and to try and create a sanctuary in India only to face these immense challenges. It's one of my all-time favorite films as I just love it as well as The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp as she just killed it. The Innocents, From Here to Eternity, and The King and I. Happy 100th Deborah.
Her win should have come in 53 or 56 perfect and both totally different star turns,I'd have liked to have seen her back in Oscars good graces for 85's The Assam Garden where she is quite lovely and if she'd been De Niro's mother in Awakenings but she didn't end up doing it.
She deserves more contemporary praise. Just watched Be Kind Rewind’s wonderful take on her career just now. Her role in Black Narcissus is just one of the best leading performances ever.
joel6 -- I don't share your love for Kerr's work in THE CHALK GARDEN but agree about your other favorites. Of her nominations, I'm not sure I'd have ever given her the win. Funnily enough, THE SUNDOWNERS is probably the closest she comes to a win from one of Oscar's lineups, for me. in terms of when she was closest, I actually think 1957 was her year. She had won at NYFCC as Amy Camus stated. According to Inside Oscar, some were predicting her victory over Woodward.
Amy Camus -- FROM HERE TO ETERNITY and THE SUNDOWNERS are also the nominations I'd let her keep in an ideal world. It's criminal that her turn in BLACK NARCISSUS was ignored. I wonder how some of that injustice might have stemmed from MGM pressure not to celebrate her British work too much now that they were reinventing her as a Hollywood star.
rrrich7 -- She certainly has great chemistry with Mitchum and, as you say, plays a nun as a woman rather than a religious symbol. Nevertheless, I much prefer her heartbreaking performance in AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER.
thevoid99 -- Sister Clodagh is one of the great characters in 1940s cinema, for sure. I especially love the glimpses we see of her past life and how that informs how we read the present-day scenes.
MrRipley79 -- Still need to watch THE ASSAM GARDEN. Thank you for the recommendation.
Fadhil -- I watched that video yesterday and, like all BKR works, it's amazing. Loved all the brief mentions of little-seen Kerr films. I really need to watch A VACATION FROM MARRIAGE and her take on THE END OF THE AFFAIR.
THE INNOCENTS is one of my favorite gothic horrors and it was also my introduction to Deborah Kerr. I've been a huge fan ever since. I go back and forth between it and BLACK NARCISSUS as her best performance, while TEA & SYMPATHY and BONJOUR TRISTESSE are two of her most underrated in my opinion. It's been a while since I've seen THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA, but I remember it being the one time I was underwhelmed by her, though that could have less to do with her and more to do with Ava Gardner being absolutely on fire in the film.
I love The innocents! When I discovered it years ago, I was shocked I had not heard of it before and that it was almost forgotten. Deborah Kerr is a favorite of mine, and I agree with many that her Oscar nominations didn't match up with her best performances. I love her in From Here to Eternity (but what a year with Hepburn and Caron there as well), and I would have given her the award for The King and I as a way of also honoring her work in Tea and Sympathy that same year. The Sundowners was also a strong nomination for her. Black Narcissus is an all-time favorite, and she is brilliant in it (don't get me started on Loretta Young winning for The Farmer's Daughter when Kerr should have been nominated and won). Also agree on Separate Tables -- it's an obvious performance, too overwrought, and she is outclassed in that film by Wendy Hiller and even Rita Hayworth, who is terrific. Need to see Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison again -- I mean, it has Robert Mitchum as her costar so I'm a sucker there. Claudio, I urge you to see Vacation From Marriage -- it's terrific. Considering that MGM put her under contract and then loaned her out for Vacation From Marriage and Black Narcissus, I'm surprised she wasn't nominated before Edward My Son. Regardless, I will always love Deborah Kerr.
A strange relationship: Deborah Kerr and the Oscars. Twice she was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, although she clearly had a supporting role: "Edward, my Son" (1949) and "From here to Eternity" (1953). Twice she was not awarded, although she was honored by the New York Film Critics and she clearly gave the best performance of the nominated actresses: "Heaven knows, Mr. Allison" (1957) and "The Sundowners" (1960). And then she was nominated for one of her worst performances - in "Separate Tables" (1958) - and an adequate but not really worthy of nomination - in "The King and I" (1956). Was the Academy really so blind as not to recognize what potential actually lay in Debroah Kerr. In 1943, she played three completely different characters in "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp." The best performance by a supporting actress of that year and of the 1940s. Overlooked. In 1947 she starred in a Powell/Pressburger masterpiece, "The black Narcissus." The desire and the oppression, the icy cool and the blazing flaming. Perfectly she showed these contrary feelings fighting inside her, manifesting in her look, her movement, her gestures. A grandiose performance. The best performance of the year. Overlooked - nominated mediocrity and routine. And then in 1961, Jack Clayton's "The Innocents", the perfect horror film, the film against which all previous and subsequent films of the genre must measure themselves. The set, the costumes masterful, the screenplay first-rate, the camera outstanding ... and whoever heard the music once will never forget it. And then the performances: Megs Jenkins was never better, Pamela Franklin was excellent, Martin Stephens terrifyingly haunting, vicious and mesmerizing, attracting and repelling in a deadly way, a terrific performance. And finally, Deborah Kerr. She was never better, more forceful, more convincing than in the role of the sexually repressed, in a way also obsessed Mrs. Giddens, her triumph and her breaking at the end of the film: unforgettable. That neither the film nor she were nominated is one of the great dark stains on the Academy's tapestry of history.
I know I'm 10 days late but betta late than never!!
I'm sooooo thrilled tt TFE did a tribute to Kerr on her centennial, by honoring her best work @The Innocents! I too agreed tt this & Black Narcissus are her two best performances. This, esp is such a multi-faceted, multi-layered performance tt I dun even kno where to begin! Thx to @Claudio for doing such a marvelous dissect!
Its really a travesty tt The Innocents rec'v zilch love from the Academy, when everyone involved from Kerr, to Jack Clayton, to Freddie Francis, to the two child actors are turning out their career best. Even the screenplay by Archibald & Capote cracks w so many innuendos!!
Its a shame tt the Academy bias towards honoring horror genres hampers its reputation, but The Innocents is more than just a cheap thrill horror, its such a deep and profound psychological study of many taboo issues and how a 19th century society demands & expects from a spinster/governess/woman.
If From Here to Eternity is her career breakthru', then The Innocents is absolutely the career peak for Kerr and she has often cited this as her favorite performance among her many stellar performances, She too was puzzled by the lack of recognition for Clayton and Francis.
Thank you once again for showcasing this wonderful actress (one of my absolute favs) & a superb classic.
Everyone, if you haven, please check out this fantastic centennial tribute video by Be Kind Rewind on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26kzCQ6SbxE&t=2207s
thefilmjunkie -- That's perfectly understandable. I too struggle to remember Kerr in IGUANA, but Gardner persists in my mind, a blazing star turn.
BGK -- Young is one of my least liked Best Actress winners, I share your outrage.
Thomas -- She really should have been nominated (and won) more in the 1940s, especially considering how lackluster some of the lineups were.
Claran912 -- Thank you for the kind words. Glad you liked to read this.