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Poll: Pride & Prejudice Film Awards, "I'd like to thank my friends, my family, my dog" *sob* |
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 Apr 7 2008, 05:25 PM
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A 'Sirius' Veil Whisperer
Posts: 6,362
Joined: 5:31pm August 30, 2006
Location: Siriusly Dreaming Somewhere
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Pride and Prejudice has been adapted for the movies and TV more times than can possibly be listed here so I've chosen three of the best known and, I have to admit, my favourites.
The earliest of the three was made in 1940 in black & white. Lizzie and Darcy were beautifully played by Greer Garson and Sir Laurence Olivier
and while it wasn't the closest adaptation ever (the main screenwriter was Aldous Huxley) it did have a certain magic to it, and Edna May Oliver's portrayl of Lady Catherine de Bourgh was wonderful (she reminds me so much of Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell).
A more recent version for TV in 1995 starred Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth with the screenplay by Andrew Davies who has a long list of classic novel adaptations to his name, including Sense and Sensibility, Emma and Northanger Abbey, and, apart from one memorable lake scene, did follow the book very closely. David Bamber played the ridiculous sycophant Mr Collins perfectly, skin-crawlingly creepy, with Julia Sawalha and Adrian Lukis playing the flighty Lydia and Mr Wickham.
Lastly, in 2005, in a screenplay by Deborah Moggach, Lizzie and Darcy were played by Kiera Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen
This was a more down-to-earth production with less of the everyday finery shown in the other two. Mr & Mrs Bennett were played by Brenda Blethyn and Donald Sutherland in a way that maybe aroused more pathos than some productions. Mrs Bennett was still very much the "silly" woman but was also seen as the "worried" woman, worried that her daughters would be left unprotected if unmarried, Mr Bennett also worried about their future but wanted their happiness rather than their security.
There have been many other productions on big and small screens, which do you think was the best, who is your perfect Darcy, Elizabeth, Wickham, Mr Collins etc? Is it one of these or do you have another favourite? In fact do you like the screen adaptations at all?
This post has been edited by Dreamteam: Apr 16 2008, 07:18 PM
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Jo's Book Nook is now reading Sense and Sensibility - just click on the image "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!" |
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Apr 20 2008, 10:58 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall
Posts: 3
Joined: 4:00pm July 14, 2007
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The 1995 BBC adaptation is one of my all-time favourite versions of a classic book. There were so many great performances and it is those voices I hear as I re-read the book. From Alison Steadman's wonderfully neurotic Mrs Bennett to David Bamber's cringing pomposity, not forgetting Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle's brilliant portrayals of Darcy and Elizabeth.
It is a while since I saw the Laurence Oliver/Greer Garson version which I enjoyed but the BBC version definitely has the edge with me because it was able to tell pretty much the whole story. Haven't seen the latest movie so can't comment on that.
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Apr 20 2008, 11:47 AM
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Just Through the Brick Wall
Posts: 2
Joined: 2:10pm December 22, 2007
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My favorite is the one with Keira Knightley. Seriously, I've heard a LOT of negative comments about it, but somehow I find it much more attractive. I had seen both the BBC and Joe Wright's versions before I read the book, and I can tell you that it was the latter that really made me check out the book. After you've seen the BBC version, there's nothing left to read. Plus, I really like it more when the director brings his own vision to the film, not just follows the original blindly. And, well, I haven't seen the oldest version.
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Apr 20 2008, 12:27 PM
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Perusing the Magical Menagerie
Posts: 90
Joined: 11:40am April 20, 2008
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For myself, the thing that characterizes Pride and Prejudice (and indeed, the Harry Potter series) is that, by the end of it, I am completely in love with the characters. They have really become my best friends in the world by the time the book or the movie is over. This, I think, is the advantage of the 1995 version. Being a mini-series, you have time to get to know the characters, and the viewer can observe the development of their characters by watching them in all of those tiny, yet crucial, scenes that are often left out of feature-length films. In the 2005 version, we are led to a quick, and incomplete, understanding of the characters through a hurried exposition. Although this might be more along the lines of Elizabeth Bennet's tendency towards prejudice in the first half of the novel, it does not draw characters quite as richly. Because the 1995 version can afford to take the time, we have the pleasure in watching the subtle changes of expression on the faces of Darcy and Elizabeth. Since so much of the drama is internal, this kind of subtlety is so important and I just don't feel that I got it from any other version than the 1995 mini-series. It achieves the same kind of emotions as the novel: once it's over, I simply have to go back to the beginning because I just miss my friends too much.
I stumbled upon this thread completely by chance three days after finishing the book. What luck for me!
Both Mr. Collins' in the two versions I have mentioned were wonderful, by the way. I adore David Bamber's greaseyness and the awkwardness when Tom Hollander is ignored by Mr. Darcy at the Netherfield ball. It just makes me laugh that both productions shared my idea that Mary Bennet, who is unlikely ever to find a husband, might have been excellently suited to Mr. Collins! Wouldn't Mrs. Bennet have been surprised had it been her "plain" daughter who saved the other, more attractive, sisters from poverty. But, maybe, like Lizzie, I'm looking only at the surface of these two awkward, sermon-giving characters
ll
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Apr 20 2008, 12:36 PM
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Kibble Boy/Girl at the Magical Menagerie
Posts: 308
Joined: 1:11pm August 1, 2005
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
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My favorite's the long detailed one for obvious reasons but I love the new one, too. I call the newest version "the boy version" for the boys in my family - who of course, love P&P but won't admit it! Sometimes you need your quick hour and a half fix and Matthew McFadyen is gorgeous and very sympathetic and I like the way they first meet. It's changed but you get even more meaning out of it than from any other film or even the book - the way they did the shot of them noticing each other in the dance hall was brilliant. And then it devolves from there. It's definitely more of an emotional/visual representation rather than an exact copy of the book, which is fun. It gives short attention spans an intro to the characters, plot, themes by grabbing you emotionally without making the boys in your life sit through 6 hours. And it is lovely visually!
Yay! I love this topic
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