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GRIFFIN, SUSAN M., ed. Henry James Goes to the Movies. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2002. 386 pp. $27.50.
Henry James's works have served as the basis of a number of critically acclaimed films, including Frank Lloyd's Berkeley Square (1933, based on The Sense of the Past), William Wyler's The Heiress (1949, based on Washington Square), Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961, based on "The Turn of the Screw"), Peter Bogdanovich's Daisy Miller (1974), and James Ivory's The Europeans (1979) and The Bostonians (1984).1 In addition, a spate of new James films has recently appeared, notably Jean Campion's The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Agnieszka Holland's Washington Square (1997), Iain Softley's The Wings of the Dove (1997), and Ivory's The Golden Bowl (2000). Although none of the newer offerings has been particularly favored by the organs of approbation, collectively they serve as the principal raison d'etre for this notable collection of essays on the curious and peril-ridden phenomenon of James adaptations for the screen.
The perils, however, have certainly not dissuaded the adapters. According to J. Sarah Koch's useful and fascinating filmography, included in the final section of Henry James Goes to the Movies, there have been no fewer than 125 film and television adaptations of James's works. The filmography, sensibly organized alphabetically by the original titles, reveals that the most frequently adapted of James's works is "The Turn of the Screw," with sixteen versions, followed by Washington Square with thirteen, "The Aspern Papers" with twelve, The Wings of the Dove with ten, and, surprisingly, The Sense of the Past with seven. (All the adaptations of the latter are actually based on William Balderston's stage version, Berkeley Square.) There are other surprises, as well. Two of James's most popular works, "Daisy Miller" and The Portrait of a Lady, have only been adapted twice. Several important James novels-Roderick Hudson, The Princess Casamassima, The Tragic Muse, The Awkward Age, The Sacred Fount, and The Ivory Tower-have not yet found their way to the screen, whereas a number of minor works, including "De Grey: A Romance," "Glasses," "Lord Beaupre," and Watch and Ward, already have. Perhaps the filmography might have been usefully divided into two sections, one for films and one for television shows. The majority of...