FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

The Innocents is an adaptation of Henry James' classic (if unreadable) novella, The Turn of the Screw. Your choices, then, for what we'll be screening on Tuesday 27 Jan are out of three more Henry James adaptations. Up for the vote are:

The Bostonians (James Ivory, USA, 1984)

“The Bostonians is, from its opening shot to last, a rare delight, a high comedy with tragic undertones, acted to passionate perfection by a cast of the best actors ever assembled by the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala team.” Vincent Canby, New York Times

Vanessa Redgrave stars as Olive Chancellor, a 19th-century Bostonian dedicated to the Suffrage Movement who takes under her wing Verena Tarrant (Madeleine Potter), a radical young woman. But when her male chauvinist cousin, (Christopher Reeve) decides that he wants to marry and domesticate Verna, a battle of wills duly ensues over her future… Adapted from Henry James' novel of the same name and with a supporting cast that includes Wallace Shawn, Nancy Marchand and Jessica Tandy, The Bostonians is a classic from the Merchant-Ivory team, masters of literary adaptations.

Daisy Miller (Peter Bogdanovich, USA, 1974)

“[Daisy Miller is] Bogdanovich’s fifth nearly perfect film in a row and every bit the equal of the more widely beloved works that preceded it... Simultaneously Bogdanovich’s gentlest film and his most devastating.” Indiewire

Cybill Shepherd stars as the eponymous Daisy Miller, a beautiful, flirtatious, nouveau riche young American visiting a Swiss spa with her nervously timid, talkative mother (Cloris Leachman) and spoiled, xenophobic younger brother Randolph (James McMurtry). There she meets upper class expatriate American Frederick Winterbourne (Barry Brown), who decides not to heed the warnings about Daisy's reckless ways with men and duly embarks upon a wooing campaign... Unfairly derided upon its release, Daisy Miller has since enjoyed a critical reappraisal and deserves a wider audience.

The Heiress (William Wyler, USA, 1949)

“The Heiress... has a concentrated beauty and potency that has never been equaled by any other adaptation of James.” - Library of America

Olivia de Havilland stars as the titular Catherine Sloper, an unworldly young woman who falls in love with the handsome, charming and financially challenged Morris (Montgomery Clift). But Catherine's father (Ralph Richardson), believes that Morris is only after the money Catherine will inherit upon his death and so begins a battle of wills between the three protagonists... Adapted from Henry James' classic novel, Washington Square, The Heiress is an uncompromisingly bleak classic from Hollywood's Golden Age.