Monday, February 19, 2007
JAMESIAN
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was William Wyler's
This is an adaption of a play based on the Henry James novella Washington Square
Olivia de Havilland is the plain jane heiress in question and Montgomery Clift is the suitor who does/does not want her for her money.
Ralph Richardson is the critical father and Miriam Hopkins the adoring, complicit aunt.
Somehow the plot seems to write itself and then, before we know it, the film's plot is not what we had in mind at all!
I have a bit of an attitude about this type of film. I expect a film version of Classical Comics or Classics Illustrated. Watered down, popularized, bowdlerized, bland.
Not so in this case at all. Despite any effort to sit outside it, this movie grabbed me and held me down until it was through with me.
The acting is great, the story a surprise, the production is rich. What more could we want?
This is a 5 out of Netflix5. I started with a 4 and then decided that I was being unfair.
It is a great movie.
Labels: best films, films
