Derek Winnert

The Bostonians **** (1984, Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Jessica Tandy, Madeleine Potter) – Classic Movie Review 1684

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Director James Ivory’s literate and civilised 1984 drama stars Vanessa Redgrave, who is ideally cast and on her best form as Henry James’s strong-willed Victorian heroine, Boston feminist Olive Chancellor. Everything runs perfectly smoothly in this excellently acted and deliciously languid Merchant-Ivory film.

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And, in between Superman II and IV, the 32-year-old Christopher Reeve finds one of his rare plum choices of a role as her cousin Basil Ransome, a conservative Southern lawyer who fights Redgrave for the soul, heart and mind of gifted, beautiful and bright young Verena Tarrant (Madeleine Potter), a girl unsure of her future.

It is greatly distinguished by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s finely honed and well-tuned screenplay, Walter Lassally’s lovely cinematography, Richard Robbins’s fine score and the immaculate playing from a strong cast, with Redgrave, Reeve and Jessica Tandy (as Miss Birdseye) outstanding, giving performances that are among their distinguished career bests.

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Arguably, The Bostonians is maybe just a fraction down in satisfying achievement from the same team’s earlier 1979 Henry James outing, The Europeans, but it is still absolutely first-class, lovingly produced period fare, a most handsome museum piece come to vibrant life.

Nancy Marchand, Linda Hunt, Wesley Addy, Barbara Byrne, Nancy New and Wallace Shawn co-star.

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How great were the Merchant-Ivory days, and how sorely missed they now are! Irreplaceable, they are best known for A Room with a View (1985) Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993). Producer Ismail Merchant died on , aged 68. Reeve is also sorely missed. He died on , aged just 52.

http://derekwinnert.com/a-room-with-a-view-classic-film-review-169/

http://derekwinnert.com/the-remains-of-the-day-classic-film-review-451/

http://derekwinnert.com/howards-end-classic-film-review-449/

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1684

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/

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