History Trivia / TheInnocents

* FakeBrit: Clytie Jessop was Australian, playing the English governess Miss Jessell. Of course the fact that Miss Jessell is a ghost who never speaks makes this a mild example.

* RoleReprise: Megs Jenkins played Mrs Grose again in another adaptation ''The Turn of the Screw'' (1974) - where Lynn Redgrave played the governess.
* ShrugOfGod: Jack Clayton has said that it was intentional to make the film as ambiguous as possible. Creator/DeborahKerr was told to play Miss Giddens as however she saw fit - as long as she didn't forget to keep people guessing. The child actors likewise weren't told whether they were seeing ghosts, in order to keep their performances uninhibited.

* BillingDisplacement: Peter Wyngarde is billed second because of "contractual requirements" even though he doesn't speak any lines and only appears in short shots (which add up to barely a minute of screen time). The unknown child actress Pamela Franklin has far more prominence and is billed fifth! Flora appears first and has many scenes to herself before Miles arrives, and Martin Stephens is billed before her (though Flora is absent for the last few scenes, balancing out their screentime somewhat) - as he was known for ''Film/VillageOfTheDamned1960'' and ''The Hellfire Club''.

* ShrugOfGod: Jack Clayton has said that it was intentional to make the film as ambiguous as possible. Deborah Kerr was told to play Miss Giddens as however she saw fit - as long as she didn't forget to keep people guessing. The child actors likewise weren't told whether they were seeing ghosts, in order to keep their performances uninhibited.

** Cary Grant offered to play the uncle, but was turned down. It would have reunited him with Deborah Kerr after ''Film/AnAffairToRemember''.
** Jack Clayton initially considered using flashbacks to show the story of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. He was advised not to by Harold Pinter.

* ActorAllusion:
** Deborah Kerr had been a governess to misbehaved children [[Film/TheKingAndI before]].
** She had also shared a kiss with a younger boy in her care in ''Film/TeaAndSympathy''.
** And she had experienced SanitySlippage due to repressed sexuality in ''Film/BlackNarcissus''.
* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/GuillermoDelToro and singer Music/KateBush (her song "The Infant Kiss" is inspired by this film).

* CultClassic: It made its money back but didn't find much of an audience at the time. These days it's a very well respected film and it's highly praised in circles.
* TheDanza: Peter Wyngarde as Peter Quint.

* FollowTheLeader: 20th Century Fox was persuaded to put up $1 million after Roger Corman's ''Film/HouseOfUsher'' proved to be a SleeperHit. The film's poster also has an image of Deborah Kerr that evokes that of Janet Leigh on the ''{{Film/Psycho}}'' poster. They were also inspired by ''Film/HorrorOfDracula'', which led to Hammer buffs complaining that ''The Innocents'' wasn't gory enough.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: Deborah Kerr regarded this as her finest performance. It's not one of the films she was nominated for, nor is it as famous as ''Film/FromHereToEternity'', ''Film/AnAffairToRemember'' or ''Film/TheKingAndI''.

* PlayingWithCharacterType: Deborah Kerr plays a ProperLady governess...who's possibly going mad and having questionable thoughts towards a young boy.

* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese, Creator/GuillermoDelToro and singer Kate Bush (her song "The Infant Kiss" is inspired by this film).

* RoleReprisal: Megs Jenkins played Mrs Grose again in another adaptation ''The Turn of the Screw'' (1974) - where Lynn Redgrave played the governess.

* ActingInTheDark: WordOfGod is that director Jack Clayton didn't want the child actors to know about the darker themes of the story, so they were never shown the screenplay. They were only given their lines the day before they were to be filmed.

* ThrowItIn: When Miss Giddens is wandering around the house with a candelabra, a clapperboard is briefly visible in the corner of the frame. Jack Clayton chose to leave it in -- feeling it added to the unease in the scene.

** In the original draft of the script, which is adapted from a play, Miss Giddens's repressed sexuality was much more obvious. The final film relegates it to subtext, leaving it open whether Miss Giddens is repressed or actually seeing ghosts.

* ActorAllusion: Deborah Kerr had been a governess to misbehaved children [[Film/TheKingAndI before]].

* ActingInTheDark: WordOfGod is that he didn't want the child actors to know about the darker themes of the story, so they were never shown the screenplay. They were only given their lines the day before they were to be filmed.

* BigNameFan: Martin Scorcese, Guillermo del Toro and singer Kate Bush (her song "The Infant Kiss" is inspired by this film).

* DawsonCasting: Miss Giddens in the book is only nineteen or twenty. Her age in the film is not stated but she's said to be a governess on her first job, still placing her in early twenties - with a line from Mrs Grose calling her "young and pretty". Deborah Kerr was forty. The two child actors however matched the ages of their characters.

* ThrowItIn: When Miss Giddens is wandering around the house with a candelabra, a clapperboard is briefly visible in the corner of the frame. Jack Clayton chose to leave it in - feeling it added to the unease in the scene.

* HeyItsThatGuy:
** [[Film/TheKingAndI Mrs Anna]] prefers Bly to Siam.
** Miles spent some time in the ''Film/VillageOfTheDamned1960''.
** Flora would later become a student of [[Film/ThePrimeOfMissJeanBrodie Jean Brodie]].

** Miles spent some time in the ''Film/VillageOfTheDamned''.

* DawsonCasting: Miss Giddens in the book is only nineteen or twenty. Her age in the film is not stated but she's said to be a governess on her first job, still placing her in early twenties. Deborah Kerr was in her late thirties. The two child actors however matched the ages of their characters.