puzzling picture

[roberta]

To date, I have never seen "Daisy Miller" (a copy is in transit), so naturally I do not understand the significance of one of the stills from the movie.

However, I have read the novella, and this picture puzzles me, because there was no scene in the short book comparable to it, and I would appreciate it greatly if someone would enlighten me as to the rationale for it.

The one to which I refer is the scene in whiclh Barry is to the left
(the viewer's right) of Mildred Natwick, and drinking a cup of tea,
while resting his other hand on a tray containing a silver service.

The only problem is: the tray is floating in the water, and Barry, Mildred Natwick, and two other gentlemen are standing, chest
deep, in the water!

Now, all of the men have on what appear to be dark, crew neck
tops (and in the old days, men's bathing costumes consisted of
two pieces, not one, for modesty's sake.)

Mildred Natwick, however, is fully dressed, and not attired in a bathing costume, so what is going on in this bizarre scene, anyway?
There is absolutely nothing like it in "Daisy Miller", and I can't, for
the life of me, figure out what relevance it has to the action of the movie.

Is it something that Bogdanovich himself figured would be very "chic", languid, and "fin de siecle"?

If so, then HE, alone, is accountable for the failure of "Daisy Miller",
as well as miscasting his garrulous girlfriend for a part that should
have been played by an ingenue of 18 or 19.

Barry Brown, at least (as witness his carefully-detailed, five-page
analysis of the novella, sent to Bogdanovich) tried to breathe
some life into a work that was essentially weak on story line;
HE tried to invest his intellect into it. But, as we all know, the
terms "Hollywood" and "intellect" in these days are oxymorons,
or contradictions in terms.

Footnote: If Hollywood were still in the able hands of the incomparable genius, Irving Thalberg ("the Boy Wonder") who was responsible for producing such memorable classics as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame'" (1923, with Lon Chaney, Sr.), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "A Night at the Opera" (1935), and "San Francisco" (1936) - Barry Brown would have shone, because Thalberg (himself an intellectual) would have recognized - and appreciated - a kindred spirit.

[Fi]

Roberta,

The works of Henry James don't transfer well to the big screen and Peter Bogdanovich had to take a lot of license when filming it to develop a longer story. However this is a beautiful film. It's well-known that Barry had a pretty miserable time filming it, but he is in practically every scene and does a remarkable job, to me it's his best work and the one most likely to be broadcast in the UK. I'd like to say that one of Barry's friends wrote and told me the actress Eileen Brennan praised Barry's professionalism during the making of the film, which is why I chose that clip. I've always admired her work.

I'm able to fill you in on the trivia about that scene filmed in the steambath or spa. The idea was suggested by Frederic Raphael (who wrote the screenplay) Peter Bogdanovich was nervous about the idea and Mildred Natwick was against it as she felt she was being placed in a ridiculous position - pouring tea in a bath.

The idea behind it (where we are first introduced to Mrs Costello, Winterbourne's aunt) is Bogdanovich thought it would be more effective if she started out as a figure of fun, or at least a figure of more humour than she is in the original story, so that as the story got darker in Rome, there was a definite change. What I'm trying to get across is when we see Mrs Costello for the first time, the director was trying to create a relaxed atmosphere to introduce the character, than say in a hotel room.

When she says "You've lived too long out of the country. You'll be sure to make some great mistake" (an important moment in the film and the camera closes into Frederick) they are out of the bath by then, to which the camera leaves the close-in on Frederick and moves on to him meeting Daisy after dinner later that evening.

Fi

[RSC]

Dear Fiona:

Thanks for the explanation about that peculiar scene. Frederic Raphael certainly has an
INTERESTING notion of what constitutes "fun". I'm celebrated for my weird, off-the-wall sense of humour, but that still seems world-class bizarre to me.

I'm so glad to read that Eileen Brennan praised Barry Brown's work on the set of "Daisy Miller."
I've always regarded her as a comsummate professional, and she seems kind-hearted, as well.
(What a shame that she was cast in that cinematographic hallucination called "At Long Last Love" - she was the only performance with demonstrable talent; perhaps that nightmare
was Bogdanovich's penance for what he pulled on Barry Brown, because I understand that
HIS star was in the descendant after making that one, eminently forgettable film.)

Once again, thanks for explaining the reasoning behind a picture that had me thoroughly
baffled. (I hadn't lost sleep over it yet, but I was close...!)