Product Details

• Actors: Barry Morse, Jill Townsend, Daniel Massey, Gayle Hunnicutt, Cyril Cusack
• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: Acorn Media
• VHS Release Date: September 11, 1999
• Run Time: 270 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1569383251
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #136,013 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Adultery has rarely been discussed with as much propriety as in this BBC film adaptation of Henry James's 1904 novel. The Golden Bowl has a more staid, theatrical feel than the lavish film versions of James's The Bostonians, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Wings of the Dove. The film's mildly disinterested and far from omniscient narrator, gentleman Bob Assingham, relies on the limited information his wife, Fanny, is able to deduce through social observation. Viewers patient enough to tackle the film's almost impenetrable narrative will experience a subtle, psychological drama centering on two couples and the suspicion of adultery.

The two couples are peculiarly interchangeable. In many respects, wealthy American widower and art collector Adam Verver and his daughter, Maggie, prefer each other's company to that of London society or even their spouses. Maggie marries Amerigo, a penniless Italian prince, and her father marries her childhood friend, Charlotte Stant. Neither Maggie nor her father is aware that Amerigo and Charlotte were once lovers and have rekindled their affair. Once they begin to suspect this, Maggie and Adam choose not to confront the matter. The reappearance of a gilded crystal bowl from a Bloomsbury antique shop brings a final resolution to the characters' unarticulated anguish. --Tara Chace

Product Description

In his last great novel, Henry James crafted perhaps his richest study of manners and morals. A wealthy American collector and his daughter innocently marry a pair of former lovers who are disposed to continue their intrigue. The fate of the four turns on a beautiful but flawed object-the golden bowl.
This classic BBC adaptation takes viewers into the great dwellings of turn-of-the-century England and the lives of Henry James' richly drawn characters. Cyril Cusack (My Left Foot) performs the role of narrator to droll perfection. Also starring Daniel Massey (In the Name of the Father), Gayle Hunnicutt (A Woman of Substance), and Jill Townsend (Poldark).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intelligent dramatization of a complex novel, January 2, 2000

By 

F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Golden Bowl (1972) (3pc) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Henry James' last novel, "The Golden Bowl," is a long work in which very little overt action occurs. The plot is basically as follows. After a long and intense love affair is over between a penniless Prince Amerigo and the beautiful Charlotte, they meet again just as he is ready to marry the American millionairess Maggie Verver. Maggie and her father Adam are very close knit; and as marriage will not seem to separate them for long, Charlotte gets Adam to propose. And so begins one of the most interesting menage a quatre in fiction. Published in 1904, the theme of adultery had to be handled with kid gloves; and this is where James is a master. When in 1972 it was dramatized and taped for the BBC (and then over here as a "Masterpiece Theater" presentation), the subtlety and ambiguity of the original had to be retained. So now that it has been made available by Acorn Media as a boxed set, we do not get to see as much as bare leg, let alone what some of the recent film versions would have offered by way of nudity. Indeed by never showing any of the amorous goings on between Amerigo and Charlotte, one can even begin to wonder if Maggie's suspicions--so long in being aroused--are actually justified. To replace the omniscient narrator of the novel, this adaptation gives us the urbane Bob Assingham (Cyril Cusack) who starts and ends each episode looking into the camera and telling us the story as he knows it. But what he knows is only what his wife Fanny (Kathleen Byron) tells him has happened. Of course, one might wonder, then, how he could know every word of dialogue that took place in Fanny's absence--but let us not quibble over technicalities. As the narrator tells us right off, this is a story not of what was said but of what was not said. At no time in the 6 episodes that make up this taped version does any character say what is really important until Maggie (Jill Townsend) finally confronts her husband and winds up simply stalemated. "No one must know" is the motto of the times and of the class of people with whom we are dealing. The acting is superb. Barry Morse (whom you might remember was the remorseless policeman pursuing The Fugitive many years ago on television) is a sympathetic Mr. Verver, too good to suspect the truth or to show he knows it when he finally does. Daniel Massey's Prince shows just the right balance between continental mores and those of the uptight upperclasses of England and America. Jill Townsend looks just fragile enough while she suffers immensely without batting an eyelash except for two moments of release during the 270 minutes of this dramatization. Gayle Hunnicut gives us a Charlotte who is not evil, who suffers ultimately more than any of the others, but who is simply in love and will not compromise. Kathleen Byron's Fanny never is reduced to caricature. Feeling responsible for introducing Maggie to the Prince, she tries to make amends by interfering and then lying about what she thinks. I am sure many of us can relate to her motivation and she emerges as a more sympathetic character, in a way, than do any of the others. And Cyril Cusack is just a joy, both as narrator and as something of a Richard Bucket to his socially motivated wife. I have to leave to my betters to find how closely this follows the original novel; but on its own terms this Acorn Media release is compelling drama and quite a treat for those who would appreciate some intelligent "adult treatment of adult themes" without the adolescent soft porn which that phrase usually implies. The three tapes hold two episodes each and are neatly boxed. Just the sort of thing you will want to see once a year to clear the mind and perhaps see yourself more objectively afterward.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leaves Merchant Ivory Version in the Dust, April 15, 2002

By 

Richard C. Sears (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golden Bowl (1972) (3pc) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a riveting and brilliant production on all levels, for those who enjoy good drama, eloquent dialogue and the great acting skills found in British theater.

By contrast, the recent Merchant Ivory film is revealed as banal, vulgar, and dumbed down. The BBC's Charlotte is a great heroine. Uma Thurman's is a boring, neurotic wretch. She makes you wonder what all the fuss is about.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALLY GOOD BRITISH DRAMA FROM BBC, May 24, 2009

By 

Christine A. Cushman "ANONYMOUS" (TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Golden Bowl (1972) (3pc) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

THIS IS A GREAT BRITISH DRAMA

I WAS VERY HAPPY WITH MY SELLER'S QUICK ACTIONS IN GETTING IT TO ME ALSO.