WINGS OF THE DOVE [DVD]

This 1997 movie based on the Henry James novel from 1902, would confuse money-obsessed Americans today. Young Helena Bonham Carter plays Kate Croy, an emotionally intense impoverished woman whose wealthy Aunt Maud (Charlotte Rampling) keeps trying to marry her off. Kate is in love with a journalist, Morton Densher (Linus Roache). who is equally impoverished. Densher wants to marry Kate but she knows their marriage would never survive without money.

Kate meets an attractive American millionaire heiress Millie Theale (Alison Elliott). Millie has a secret that Kate decides is the answer to her and Densher’s happiness. Kate, Millie, and Densher travel to Venice and a romantic triangle fueled by money blossoms.

I would expect most young Americans today would find the conclusion of the movie and the novel to be inexplicable. Morality and ethics regarding money morphed over the past century. Honor sounds good, but money pays the bills. The title refers to the 55th Psalm, which records the deceit and guile of conspirators and exclaims, “Oh that I had wings like a dove!”

Wings of the Dove, with a strong cast–especially Helena Bonham Carter–provides a cautionary tale that would fall on deaf ears today. Still, this film moved me. GRADE: B+

22 thoughts on “WINGS OF THE DOVE [DVD]

  1. Deb

    Probably my favorite Henry James novel. I saw the movie around the time it was first released, but felt the tone (especially the sex scenes) was all wrong for the book. But you’re right about most people today: “marry someone for their money? What’s the big deal?”

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Deb, I’m with you on the sex scenes in this movie version of WINGS OF THE DOVE. Not the right tone for a Henry James movie. A little too blatant. Attitudes towards money and morality were different in James’s day.

      Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        I think y’all are judging by a fairly narrow slice of young people. Though NEARLY ALL young people today are less financially secure than folks at midcentury were, and marriage is more a contract than it’s been since before the turn of the 1900s, rather than the only way to express the highest form of love.

      2. george Post author

        Todd, that “morality” aspect of relationships that undergirds WINGS OF THE DOVE seems absent today. Money seems to trump everything.

  2. Michael Padgett

    I remember seeing this in a theater, so it was probably in ’97. Generally I have better luck with the movies based on James than with the actual novels, which I find really difficult to get through. My favorite adaptation is “The Innocents”, Jack Clayton’s near perfect 1961 version of “The Turn of the Screw”, which is miles better than the current Netflix version

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Michael, I haven’t seen THE INNOCENTS so I’ll have to track it down and watch it. Some critics consider “The Turn of the Screw” James’s best work.

      Reply
  3. Jeff Meyerson

    I remember it vaguely, mostly for Bonham-Carter. My favorite adaptation of James was probably THE GOLDEN BOWL on Masterpiece in the ’70s with Gayle Hunnicutt and Barry Morse as her father. We saw a musical version of THE AMBASSADORS (called AMBASSADOR) in London in the early ’70s, which starred Howard Keel. IN 1995 we saw THE HEIRESS (based, of course, on WASHINGTON SQUARE) on Broadway, starring Cherry Jones, Philip Bosco, and Jon Tenney. Of course, there was Peter Bogdanovich’s version of DAISY MILLER with Cybill Shepherd.

    But I am not as expert in James as George and Deb.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jeff, I had my students read WASHINGTON SQUARE. Many of my female students “got” its message clearly. I find it satisfying to lose myself in one of Henry James’s labyrinthine novels.

      Reply
  4. maggie mason

    my library has a copy of it, but I have a LOT here waiting for time to watch. I’ll put it on hold soon as I don’t remember seeing it

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Maggie, our DVR is up to 49% because we’ve been watching the Debates, other Presidential Campaign coverage, and some PBS news. We’ll get back to “normal” TV watching after November 3.

      Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        Mine sits at 95% on a low day, since I either don’t get around to all the films and episodes I record, or hang onto them indefinitely, or both. I think the HD recording of KLUTE is finally going to get a repeat viewing (from seeing it edited on broadcast and uncut on home video decades back) and banishment to the Outer Reaches of DVR erasure. Finally got around to looking at the CLASSIC ALBUMS episode devoted to ELECTRIC LADYLAND I recorded in February last night. Not bad, not superb, good to see, easy to erase. But a lot of my favorite JHE songs, as it turns out, are on EL, so I’ll finally pick it up. CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC alone might make it worth owning at long last.

      2. george Post author

        Todd, our DVR starts erasing programs when it hits 100%. We try to keep our DVR under 50% but now HALLMARK is presenting new movies every week so our number will climb.

      3. Todd Mason

        Yes, I think they all do start erasing…though it would be interesting to see if one saved Everything on a 100% full DVR Till Active Deletion, would it simply not allow any further recording to be preset/introduced? Probably.

    1. george Post author

      Prashant, give Henry James’s WASHINGTON SQUARE a try. Then, “Turn of the Screw.” After that, let your tastes control your choices.

      Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        I read “A Romance of Certain Old Clothes” (one of his most explicit horror stories) when I was 9yo, and picked up a discounted copy of THE TURN and DAISY MILLER not long after…

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