Daisy Miller (1974)

In this comedy of manners, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.

Director:

Peter Bogdanovich

Writers:

Henry James (story), Frederic Raphael

Stars:

Cybill Shepherd, Barry Brown, Cloris Leachman

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cybill Shepherd	...	Annie P. 'Daisy' Miller
Barry Brown	...	Frederick Winterbourne
Cloris Leachman	...	Mrs. Ezra Miller
Mildred Natwick	...	Mrs. Costello
Eileen Brennan	...	Mrs. Walker
Duilio Del Prete	...	Mr. Gionavelli
James McMurtry	...	Randolph C. Miller
Nicholas Jones	...	Charles
George Morfogen	...	Eugenio
Jean-Pascal Bongard	...	Hotel Receptionist Vevey
Albert Messmer	...	Tutor
Jacques Guhl	...	Polish Boy
Hubert Geoldun	...	Polish Boy
David Bush	...	Man at Chillon
Henri Hubinet	...	Chillon Guide

Storyline

In this version of Henry James' novella "Daisy Miller", a young, bright and bubbly 19th Century American girl on her Grand Tour of Europe meets a fellow American, Frederick Winterbourne. Winterbourne is shocked by Daisy's modern behavior toward life, and spends his time with her trying to figure out if she's having innocent fun or on the path to becoming a fallen woman. Along the way, Winterbourne's judgment is helped and hindered by the other people in Daisy's life. Is Daisy really naive or naughty?

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Plot Keywords:

19th century | nouveau riche | social climber | victorian era | class differences | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 January 1975 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Uma Mulher às Direitas

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Copa del Oro, Directors Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Peter Bogdanovich initially planned on playing the role of Winterbourne himself opposite his then-girlfriend Shepard, with Orson Welles taking on the duties of director. However, when Welles declined, Bogdanovich decided to direct the picture instead.

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Quotes

Annie P. 'Daisy' Miller: I'm a terrible, frightful flirt. Did you ever hear of a nice girl that wasn't? But now I guess you'll tell me I'm not a nice girl.

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Connections

Referenced in Rushmore (1998)

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Soundtracks

Music from:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Luigi Boccherini
Franz Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Franz Schubert
Johann Strauß
Giuseppe Verdi

User Reviews

Cybil sabotage

Daisy Miller became a sabotage job by the very inclusion and insistence of Cybil Shepard as Daisy. As maybe the choice of Cloris Leachman as her mother proves to be eccentric if not slightly erroneous, there is nothing more damning to what could have been a wonderful literary adaptation. Peter Bogdonavich often does not know how to do his job, that is direct. I offer the example of Cher's repeated refusal and head butting against his, to turn her tour-de-force as Rocky Denis' mother in "Mask", to a simpering, gutless wonder. Man was he wrong then as he was wrong with this picture in particular. The religious adherence to accuracy hampers the actors and the film's own creativity and prevents any beefing up where it would have greatly paid to do so. I ,in instance, refer to the brilliantly talented actor Barry Brown as Winterbourne. He's the romantic male lead but is practically made a eunuch in this film, no doubt because Pete was serenading the starlet with his camera all for himself, that no amount of screen ability could have facilitated Barry to have cut into what was obviously a three's a crowd. His scenes with REAL ACTRESSES, Eileen Brennan and Mildred Natwick, display different sides to his character's character and he does this beautifully; the sharp fine line of snobbery, dutiful nephew, and feckless Continental anti-hero. He is all the while completely believable and damned likable, practically the only heart in the whole cadre of performances. Eileen Brennan is wonderful as cold but not without caring as she fusses over Daisy's refusals at propriety and of course, Mildred Natwick is a feast to watch, as one flicker of her face is meant to speak volumes. I watch it for Barry who deserved a thousand times better than this and Ms. Brennan and Ms. Natwick and ignore Cybil as best I can. I recommend for anyone to do the same.