DCSIMG
 
 

Isla Cameron Movies

1969  
PG  
Add The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to Queue Add The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to top of Queue  
Based on the novel by Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie stars Maggie Smith in the title role. Smith won an Academy Award for her delicately textured portrayal of an eccentric teacher at an exclusive Scottish girl's school. Miss Jean exhorts her "gels" to follow their hearts and never lose their youthful idealism. Unfortunately for her, she also stumps for her favorite political figures: Mussolini and Franco. In addition, she can't keep the innermost details of her private life a secret, and in fact boasts about her sex life to her students. Her prize pupil (Pamela Franklin) becomes so much a clone of Miss Jean that she ends up a threat to the teacher. Ultimately, Miss Jean loses her position, but not the hearts of her students. The box-office success of Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was due in great part to the popularity of the title song, as recorded by Rod McKuen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

 Read More

Starring:
Maggie SmithRobert Stephens, (more)
 
1963  
 
Legendary cinematographer (Freddie Francis) directed this Hammer horror film of madness and murder. The story concerns young Janet (Jennie Linden), a student at finishing school who is suffering from a series of recurring nightmares, having witnessed her mother stabbing her father to death. When her nightmares intensify, Janet is brought to the home of her guardian, Henry Baxter (David Knight). Henry is not home, but Janet is put into the care of his live-in nurse, Grace (Moira Redmond). Janet's nightmares continue, in which she sees a woman in white beckoning her into her parents' bedroom. Following the apparition, Janet sees the woman lying in bed, with a knife sticking from her chest. When Henry returns home, he is told by the doctors that Janet should be confined to a mental institution. Henry refuses, but the arrival of Henry's wife changes all that -- when Janet sees Henry's wife, who resembles the woman from her dreams, she grabs a knife and stabs her to death. Janet is committed to an institution for the criminally insane. However, it turns out that Grace had deliberately disguised herself as the woman in white to drive Janet over the brink and kill Henry's wife, so that they could be married. Henry and Grace get married, but Grace then receives reports that Janet has escaped from the institution and is returning to Henry's estate, bent on revenge. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

 Read More

Starring:
David KnightMoira Redmond, (more)
 
1961  
 
Add The Innocents to Queue Add The Innocents to top of Queue  
In this lugubrious but brilliantly realized adaptation of Henry James' classic novella The Turn of the Screw, 19th century British governess Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr) arrives at a bleak mansion to take care of Flora (Pamela Franklin) and Miles (Martin Stephens), the wealthy household's two children. Outwardly the children are little darlings, but the governess begins to feel that there's something unwholesome behind those beatific smiles. After several disturbing examples of the children's evil impulses, Miss Giddens gets information from the housekeeper (Megs Jenkins) that suggests that the children may be possessed by malign spirits -- or are all these events just the products of Miss Giddens's own imagination? The best and most frightening vignette in The Innocents occurs when the governess casually kisses young Miles, then recoils in horror when she realizes that someone other than Miles has kissed her back. Unlike many CinemaScope productions, The Innocents plays better in the claustrophobic confines of the TV screen. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

 Read More

Starring:
Deborah KerrMegs Jenkins, (more)