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Daisy MillerRating:
Release Date: 12 August, 2003 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $9.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (12 total) |
Daisy Miller Reviews
Daisy Miller
Based on a short story by Henry James, about an expatriate American living in Europe. Daisy Miller, her mother, and her little brother. All incurable chatterboxes. Their "liberated behavior," according to the cover, "scandalize the Victorian high society of 1878." Ooooo-kay...
Actually, the short story was quite probably very good. The wit, the banter, the skewering of stuffy European aristocracy. In the tradition of Jane Austen, William Makepeace Thackeray and Oscar Wilde, and I'm too lazy to see who did it first.
The movie is an accurate portrayal of the story, and a costumed period film that, according to the interview with Peter Bogdanovich, was ahead of its time that way. I believe him. I also think that such a story is damn hard to remain faithful to, and I'm impressed with the effort. Bogdanovich is himself an American of European upbringing, which helped him do the story justice.
I have one complaint. Daisy Miller was refreshingly honest and innocent. Fair enough. But I think Cybil Shepherd played it a bit too 20th century America and not enough 19th century America. I'd call her annoying. But it doesn't hurt the film as much as you might think it would.
Her costar, Barry Brown in the role of Frederick Winterborne, was flawless. In the film, he didn't know if he was American or European, and he never figured out Daisy. The tension between those two was done well. In real life, Brown read obits between takes and wound up killing himself. Sheez.
Bogdanovich brought most of his other cast members from THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, which I bashed mercilessly in an earlier issue of this rag. They did a damn fine job here, though, and I was glad to see it.
The boy was played by Jerry McMurtry, son of Larry McMurtry, author of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Guess what? I love this evil child, and I never say that about child actors. Keep an eye on this dude.
(Oops! 1974 movie. He might be dead by now.)
Bogdanovich Ahead of His Time
I came to this film not as a fan of costume drama but to examine all aspects of director Peter Bogdanovich's repertoire. I'm convinced that Bogdanovich was at least 15 or 20 years ahead of his time before this genre became vogue among cineastes. This filmization of Henry James' novella would make a terrific trifecta with Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence" and another adaptation of James, "The Wings of the Dove". I'm more than convinced that Bogdanovich's relationship with his star, Cybill Shepherd, soured critics and audiences into giving this film a fair shot. This is unfortunate because Shepherd is more than terrific as Daisy, perfectly capturing the impulsiveness and innocence of a young girl whose apparent actions flaunt the conventions of "proper society". Barry Brown as Winterbourne perfectly captures the stodginess of his character but does by no means deliver a stiff performance. The supporting cast(Cloris Leachman, Eileen Brennan, Mildred Natwick, James McMurtry) are impeccable. If ever a film deserves to be re-evaluated "Daisy Miller" is it. As an aside I wish they would release on DVD a couple of other alleged Bogdanovich bombs from the seventies, "At Long Last, Love" and "Nickelodeon"
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