Spitball Army

Ugh.  Is Henry James unfilmable?  The only two things redeeming about this 1984 Merchant-Ivory production (and I am a fan of most Merchant-Ivory productions) are the period locations and the unnerving characterization by Vanessa Redgrave of possesive feminist Olive Chancellor.  Christopher Reeve’s inauthentic-sounding late-1800s Mississippi accent distracted me from practically everything his character had to say, and the actress playing Verena (Madeleine Potter), well, [CENSORED].  But, to the original question: have you seen any good Henry James film adaptations? The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady (the one with Nicole Kidman), The Wings of the Dove…some were okay, some execrable, none were outstanding.  This makes me sad, as I always thought James’ The American would make a terrific movie.  Oh, well.

Here are about ten minutes of The Bostonians, so you can decide for yourself: