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

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.

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.

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.

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 May 25 2005, aged 68. Reeve is also sorely missed. He died on October 10 2004, aged just 52.

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1684

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