The Spoils of Poynton

I watched this series when it was first aired in the first season of Masterpiece Theatre back in the early seventies. It stayed in my memory as one of the best adaptations of Henry James I have ever seen. Now the BBC has made it available as a DVD part of the Henry James box set. I discovered it by accident trolling through Netflix one day. Try searching for "Masterpiece Theatre Seasons 1 & 2" or "Face of God Lists" I now have watched the first episode and still think this is marvelous after almost forty years. Although today's viewer may be put off by the primitive level of cinematography here, TV scripts never came up to this level of wit,sophistication and literate adaptation again. And of course it proves that James was a compelling dramatist who just needed some"help" adapting his work to another media.

(I don't know why the BBC or PBS Masterpiece Theatre do not make it easy to locate these items).