Creating the sound of The Innocents

Pigeon wrangling and prototype synths – designing discomfort for a very British chiller.

A late-flowering classic, The Innocents was scripted by Capote by way of Henry James. Peter Musgrave's role as sound editor was less celebrated but pivotal to the film's enduring appeal. He explains how two sequences of the 1961 production were crafted, demonstrating impressive ingenuity and an early use of electronic effects, anachronisms be damned. Contains spoilers.