This entertaining story from a delicious early novel by Henry James takes place in a New England Arcadia that stands for everything beautiful, pure and good. Into this Eden come a sophisticated European brother and sister who turn up unexpectedly on the doorstep of their staid American cousins, the Wentworths. The fortune-hunting Eugenia (Lee Remick) and her high-spirited brother Felix (Tim Woodward) turn this Puritan world upside down. The film concludes with three betrothals, like a Mozart opera. But Eugenia has been too clever, and must return to Europe as empty-handed as she came.
The elegantly composed visuals, the stately progression of the scenes, the deliberate understatement of the dialogue, are all as “faithful” to James as a film can be. Everything is photographed by Larry Pizer in beautiful compositions of white frame houses, grassy meadows and autumn leaves. The movie is elegant. But nothing happens! – Roger Ebert