Clayton. Jack Clayton directed only seven films, and the one that was the most popular (The Great Gatsby)- isn’t remembered all that fondly (and certainly isn’t his best). The Innocents is the film everyone always forgets when listing the greatest horror films of all-time. Clayton is also an important figure in the British new wave, or the angry young man/men series of films in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Both Room at the Top– a remarkably assured debut- and The Pumpkin Eater land in that subgenre and he’s beside/behind only Tony Richardson here in that movement. Oddly enough, like Richardson (with Tom Jones), Clayton’s best work is outside that genre.
Best film: The Innocents. One of the great psychological and gothic horror films of all-time, and also a remarkable example of the artistic use of deep focus composition. It is the horror movie that Wyler/Welles/Kurosawa never made.
remarkable example of the artistic use of deep focus composition.
front-left foreground with subject in the deep background right again and again
One of the great psychological and gothic horror films of all-time
yet another example here- very strong
total archiveable films: 4
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 0
top 100 films of the decade: 1 (The Innocents)
most overrated: Nothing here for Clayton as far as overrated films. The Innocents is only TSPDT consensus top 1000 film—and Room at the Top isn’t doing too poorly either- it lands in the top 2000.
most underrated : The Pumpkin Eater
- A very solid entry in the British social realism movement/wave of the late 50’s and early 60’s – the Angry Young man/men subgenre– (Clayton’s own Room At the Top ) and others from Long Distance Runner and The Entertainer
- A well-deserved nomination for Anne Bancroft- her 2nd of 5 noms
- Influenced by Antonioni’s trilogy (l’avventura, la notte, l’eclisse)- blue, moody and depressing for sure— it’s easy to ridicule for being self-serious in retrospect— but there’s worthy narrative and thematic material here (meditation on marriage, alienation and disconnect) and technical style achievement (though not on the level of Antonioni or like a Cassavetes who would go down this road as well)
- Small role for Maggie Smith- great scene
- Fascinating and technically difficult flashback—editing dissolve keeping her sad face going from transition
- Freeze frame of holding hands holds over for flashback
- Window boards breaking the two (Finch and Bancroft)— shot of Bancroft behind bars of the stair case
- 45 minutes in at the salon we have a Bergman framing two faces shot
- Reoccurring close-ups rewards Bancroft’s gift as an actor
- James Mason shows up late- 55 minutes in- but it’s a key role and he’s excellent
- Thematic formal rigor with the biggest betrayal being Finch getting another woman pregnant after she got fixed because of his urging
- Does a reverse tracking shot in (not tracking reverse but film reverse speed) you can only tell by the cigarette if you look closely. It’s a great shot nonetheless
- Lots of dissolve edits to lend to the mood/pace
- Again, it’s complex thematically—it doesn’t simply treat her as the victim to a bastard of a husband (though Finch was a bastard)—she’s on her 3rd The obsession with having kids is never really fully explained
A very solid entry in the British social realism movement/wave of the late 50’s and early 60’s – the Angry Young man/men subgenre– (Clayton’s own Room At the Top ) and others from The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and The Entertainer
gem I want to spotlight : Room at the Top
- the film, and Clayton, are central figures in that social realism British new wave of the late 50’s and early 60’s that include the loneliness of the long distance runner (Tony Richardson’s work in general), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Pumpkin Eater (also from Clayton)—very anti-Hollywood and angry films—love them all
- Won the Oscar for writing and Simone Sigoret- she won best actress and she’s terrific here
- The first just outright reference to sex in British film and we also have the use of “bitch” in very harsh terms several times
- The nom for Hermione Baaddeley is 2 min and 19 seconds of screen time- the shortest ever
- A darkly funny but sexist scene where Harvey grades women—he’s quick-tempered and angry—the film borrow a lot from an American Tragedy and A Place in the Sun but Harvey isn’t half as likeable as Montgomery Clift (both in acting and character)
- Very strong debut for Clayton
- The war hovers on this film, the character, pessimism
- Class struggle story
- The scene where Harvey and Signoret park—we have a gorgeous tracking shot to them from the beginning of the car and then we have a close of their silent faces, in deep shadows, it’s a great sequence
- Signoret is incredibly sexy and beautiful but also has a pain in her eyes- again- an amazing performance- both strong and tender and vulnerable but only under the surface
- I wish Clayton had spent more time on Signoret and less on Harvey—the film drags a little without her and he’s not a great actor- though, like in Manchurian Candidate– he’s pretty well cast—he’s pretty cold and unsympathetic
- Clayton also frames and then reframes within the same shot several times—very well done
stylistic innovations/traits:
- deep focus brilliance— I’m not going to call him Welles or Kurosawa—but it is there- and quite spectacular, particularly in The Innocents
deep focus work here in The Pumpkin Eater
again in The Innocents
and a decade later, in color, in The Great Gatsby
- Freezes and dissolves in the editing of The Pumpkin Eater helps develop mood
freezes and dissolves throughout Clayton’s work- this beautiful one from The Innocents
- Acting nominations all over the place from Bancroft to Signoret, and it is right there with the best work of Kerr in her fantastic career
- A few times Clayton captures dialogue framing with faces just like Ingmar Bergman or La Pointe Courte from Varda
- Frames a shot, a long shot, then tracks the camera, and then reframes within the same shot- Renoir did this all the time
top 10
- The Innocents
- The Pumpkin Eater
- Room at the Top
- The Great Gatsby
a frame within a frame here in The Great Gatsby
By year and grades
| 1959- Room at the Top | R/HR |
| 1961- The Innocents | MS |
| 1964- The Pumpkin Eater | R/HR |
| 1974- The Great Gatsby | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
[Sorry for the double post below!]
Finally finished Jack Clayton’s filmography.
Not a top British director but I’m impressed with his style and variety. All seven of his films are archivable (decently long run for 1958 to 1987, starting and finishing strong) which is great to report. Clayton only made dark tragic films, but varied the mode (gothic horror, British Kitchen sink, period adaptation, Disney horror). At his best you feel like you’re watching a British Wyler or Welles, he’s also consistently great at framing many heads like Kurosawa. The interiors of his films are also beautiful arranged.
Ranking of films:
1. The Innocents – MP (top 150-250 range)
2. The Pumpkin Eater – HR/MS
3. Room At The Top – HR
4. The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne – HR
5. Our Mother’s House – R/HR
6. The Great Gatsby – R/HR
7. Something Wicked This Way Comes – R
Ranking of performances:
1. Deborah Kerr – The Innocents
2. Anne Bancroft – The Pumpkin Eater
3. Maggie Smith – The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
4. Simone Signoret – Room at the Top
5. James Mason – The Pumpkin Eater
6. Dirk Bogarde – Our Mother’s House
7. Bruce Dern – The Great Gatsby
8. Peter Wyngarde – The Innocents
9. Robert Redford – The Great Gatsby
10. Ian McNeice- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
Actually I would cut Redford and put Pryce instead
1. Deborah Kerr – The Innocents
2. Anne Bancroft – The Pumpkin Eater
3. Maggie Smith – The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
4. Simone Signoret – Room at the Top
5. James Mason – The Pumpkin Eater
6. Dirk Bogarde – Our Mother’s House
7. Jonathan Pryce – Something Wicked This Way Comes
8. Peter Wyngarde – The Innocents
9. Bruce Dern – The Great Gatsby
10. Ian McNeice- The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
@Harry- Pamela Franklin is more or less on the same level as Bogarde in Our Mother’s House. One of the great child/teenage actresses.
@Malith – any other of the child actors stand out to you as well? Would be good to keep an eye out if I revisit. What UK director should I go for next?
@Harry: Go for Greenaway. Him or Chaplin.
@AP – Already seen them…I was thinking of wrapping up/starting the filmographies of Lewis Gilbert, Joseph Losey (his UK films, he is an American) , Tony Scott, Tony Richardson, Basil Dearden , Carol Reed (since his big three but not the rest)
@Harry- Margaret Brooks
@ Harry- Tony Scott would be cool. Losey is the best of this list i think. Cannot go wrong with him.
I do not think Losey is the best of this list. Anthony Asquith, John Guillermin, John Schlesinger are some others.
@AP & @Malith – thanks for the suggestions.
I’ve already seen six (6) films from Schlesinger. The other two I wasn’t familiar with but they don’t seem to have the most acclaimed filmographies by people on here but I’ll put them on the long list thanks. I’ve been wanting to see The Blue Max for a while.
@Harry-
https://thecinemaarchives.com/2020/10/12/1938/
@Malith – I’ve had that on my list but the 2nd and 3rd best films are basic R grade right?
@Harry- You saw Death on the Nile, right? There is a great stylistic flourish here with the handheld camera used during the attempted murder scene. Apart from handsome production design and strong camerawork. It is better than the remake and much more leaner and efficient. There is a strong escape scene with great blocking in Guns at Batasi and great atmosphere throughout. Both has Mia Farrow in the cast among majority British cast here for some reason. Guillermin has some pretty infamous stinkers in his filmography. But he was talented.
@Malith – No I just caught the Branagh Poroit films but as his Death on The Nile wasn’t the most satisfying I might give the 70s one a look. Added Guns at Batasi to watchlist anyway, thanks.
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
A mixed bag for sure, the weakest Clayton film I’ve seen so far, but I think it just does enough to slip into the archives.
My main detraction of this film is the reliance on special effects, they look rubbish and are the main focus of some scenes here which is wasted screentime. When Clayton plays to his strengths and focus on mood and atmosphere through set pieces and cinematic style, the film works much better.
Jonathan Pryce is amazing here, excellent vocal delivery and physical acting as an evil mystical character.
The key setpiece in the finale of the house of mirrors is stunning, the mist and use of blue on-top make it an especially strong scene.
Some very eerie child acting, another Clayton trope.
Sadly James Horner’s score is laughably bad at times.
Recommended.
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
A mixed bag for sure, the weakest Clayton film I’ve seen so far, but I think it just does enough to slip into the archives.
My main detraction of this film is the reliance on special effects, they look rubbish and are the main focus of some scenes here which is wasted screentime. When Clayton plays to his strengths and focus on mood and atmosphere through set pieces and cinematic style, the film works much better.
Jonathan Pryce is amazing here, excellent vocal delivery and physical acting as an evil mystical character.
The key setpiece in the finale of the house of mirrors is stunning, the mist and use of blue on-top make it an especially strong scene.
Some very eerie child acting, another Clayton trope.
Recommended.
I would add to stylistic innovations/traits that children feature prominently in half of his filmography. In The Pumpkin Eater Anne Bancroft has seven kids, the house in Our Mother’s House is occupied by seven children, The Innocents is about an governess of two children and Something Wicked this Way Comes has two young boys as the main characters I believe. The pattern is there.
Have you seen Our Mother’s House (1967). I just watched and wrote some notes, I think it’s archivable.
An interesting premise of a house being run by seven children who conceal their mother’s death to live freely. That premise could be a whole runtime of its own by is shaken up by the arrival of their lost father who schemes to take over the household himself (not too unlike The Servant).
Bogarde is excellent in this, playing a more lower class and simpler version of his character in The Servant. He becomes an obvious villain but there’s still a lot of pain behind the character. His meltdown is brilliant acting.
Clayton maintains an atmosphere that oscillates between children’s film and eeriness. The film is a bit too much with the grating child actors (too much yelling at times). Some excellent Kurosawa like frames where he fits all seven children heads nicely into a shot.
Really cool setpiece with the boat ride through the dinosaur river/park.
@Harry- I thought the child acting from the two child leads were brilliant. Some of the best I have ever seen. Pamela Franklin and Margaret Brooks. My biggest gripe with this film is the totally ridiculous supplementary plot addition of one of the kids inviting a gay friend? into the house. It’s a terrible addition also given the context and atmosphere of the movie and awkward and a total mismatch. But this thing drops as soon as Bogarde arrives thankfully.
@Malith – there was some great child acting moments, the older kids were stronger than the whinner smaller children. But overall I think we could have cut the cast down by a few and made the film quieter as a result.
I don’t think that kind was gay, just had a rough home life and was happy to seek refuge in a stronghold of kids. I found the section funny with how awkward he looked coming in. But it does feel like he was there to force the teacher to come around to tease out a conflict, which is then conveniently resolved by Bogarde coming in that exact moment to unwind things.
@Harry- A bit naive to think he was just a poor kid looking for a home. There are overt references like the home kid wanting to have the poor one in the same room. It feels like the writers were trying to be taboo by adding this section. And in this period of British cinema in general a lot of taboo issues were getting addressed or referenced mainly considering homosexuals. I don’t think this was a good film to address that issue or be funny when there was a lot of tension that was built up. Also with the ongoing plot line of one of the kids being seriously ill. This actually gets forgotten as soon as the poor kid showed up and the seriously ill kid is suddenly doing very well. The film basically restarts when Bogarde’s character comes in because the previous section had completely gone off the rails and lost most of its built-up tension.
@Malith – The sole evidence was the most naive/innocent kid in the whole house saying he can stay in his room, but I thought he was more excited to have him as a friend. There were a few lines of a dialogue about how his mother beats/mistreats him so it’s more about being a refuge for him. But if it was intended like how you think, then it is a weakness to try and fit it in. I just disagree on the intention due to the limited/circumstantial evidence.
You’re also right about the tension being lost, it’s quite creepy when all the kids surround and trap the teacher saying to ‘get out’, I was wondering if something bad was going to happen. Agree the film restarts, it is basically changing the premise/dynamic of the whole film.
@Harry-I hadn’t thought about making this film only with the kids and without the Bogarde character coming in. But it could have been a stronger and more creepy film just by only focusing on that part. But the main weakness I saw was the supplementary gay friend storyline. Not to mention more or less dropping the ill kid subplot suddenly as well around the same time. Also the housekeeper woman comes again later in the film without any real built-up reason.
But anyway, maybe the point of the film is these kids learned a lesson through this experience and how easy it is for outsiders to manipulate kids by showing them sweets. It really feels like important subject matter that is relevant to this day and this film is a very unique piece of work from director Jack Clayton.
@Malith – I think that’s a good right on the point of the film. What other Jack Clayton films have you seen?
@Harry-“force the teacher to come around to tease out a conflict”
The teacher was coming around anyway to check out on the seriously ill child due to not attending school.
@Harry- I have not seen this one
Room at the Top was released in 1958.
I’m going to have to see the movies you mention, the images look amazing, more than deep focus, i was going to point to De Palma split-diopter or, for example, Varda, but it’s probably a combination of both, split-diopter and deep focus