Tag: Regency Era Movies

Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022) Movie — A Review

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:

For those of us who are fans of Jane Austen movie adaptations and binged the Netflix mega-hit Bridgerton, the announcement of a movie adaptation of Suzanne Alaine’s popular Regency-era novel, Mr. Malcolm’s List, was the best news this period drama lover could receive. While our anticipation ran high, we were also anxious if the production company could pull it off. Inevitably, any Regency-era romantic comedy will be compared to Austen on the screen, some of which are excellent (I am looking at you Pride and Prejudice 1995) and others missed the mark entirely and will remained unnamed. The fact that Alaine’s novel was very clever and entertaining, and she would be the screenwriter, was highly in its favor. Continue reading “Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022) Movie — A Review” →

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Miss Austen Regrets (2007) Movie — A Review

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress:

What do we know about Jane Austen’s love life? Very little. The information that survives is found in her personal letters and from family recollections. Apart from the one proposal by Harris Bigg-Wither, no other known romances or love affairs were documented. For someone who wrote so perceptively about love and romance, it stands to reason that she must have experienced a grand passion herself. This is an Continue reading “Miss Austen Regrets (2007) Movie — A Review” →

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A Preview of Death Comes to Pemberley on Masterpiece Mystery PBS

Matthew Rhys and Anna Maxwell Martin in Death Comes to Pemberley

The long wait is almost over. The two part BBC/PBS mini-series of P. D. James’ bestselling novel, Death Comes to Pemberley, will premiere on Masterpiece Mystery in one week on Sunday, October 26 at 9pm (check your local listing) and concludes on the following Sunday, November 2.

To get you warmed up for this intriguing mystery that continues the story of Jane Austen’s characters from Pride and Prejudice, here is a brief synopsis of the first episode and a trailer from PBS: Continue reading “A Preview of Death Comes to Pemberley on Masterpiece Mystery PBS” →

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Sense and Sensibility Movie (1981) – A Review

Sense and Sensibility (1981) DVD coverThis 1981 BBC seven-part miniseries of Sense and Sensibility is a solid but flawed adaptation of Jane Austen’s masterpiece. In my mind, the character of Marianne Dashwood is always the benchmark for a superior adaptation. She is a complicated creature driven by emotion and racked with vulnerability, and if the actress portraying Jane Austen’s most melodramatic character can play her as intended, the whole production can rest on her shoulders. Tracey Childs as Marianne Dashwood exuded all the frantic emotion and romantic “sensibilities” that Marianne should at all the right moments, and Irene Richards as her sister Elinor was equally convincing, and at times touching, as her stoic, stable and guarded counterpart. However, my disappointment in the male characters: Edward Ferrars, John Willoughby and Colonel Brandon, pushed this production below my expectations. Part of this can be attributed to the loose adaptation of dialogue by screenwriter Alexander Baron and partly to Austen herself, who chose to craft male roles that are weaker than the two female ones. Yes. Not everything in Sense and Sensibility is balanced, and that was Austen’s point. Even though this imperfection is one of its charms, it can be unsatisfying. Here is the description of the production by the distributor. Continue reading “Sense and Sensibility Movie (1981) – A Review” →

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Jane Austen Film Locations: Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility (1995)

From the desk of Helen Wilkinson of P and P Tours:

Actress Emma Thompson recalls her time filming Sense & Sensibility for the 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee,

“The house representing Barton Cottage is one of the most beautiful spots we’ve ever seen. It took the curse off a six-day week.”

The film location researchers knew they had found a world-beating location when they stumbled on the glorious eighteenth century stone cottage on the private Flete Estate in south Devon. It is not only near Continue reading “Jane Austen Film Locations: Barton Cottage in Sense and Sensibility (1995)” →

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Sense and Sensibility Movie (1971) – A Review

I was quite excited when the news hit the blogosphere that the elusive 1971 mini-series of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility was being resurrected from the vaults and reissued by the BBC. It originally aired in the UK, but had never jumped the pond until this re-issue. Now, I think I know why.

If you step back in time with me to the early days of the BBC and Masterpiece Theater television adaptations of literary classics and biographies you might recall such gems as The Six Wives of Henry VIII , Poldark or I Claudius. The scripts and actors were superior, but by today’s standards of movie making they appear a bit stage-playish and stilted. They are after all close to forty years old. If you can get past the slower pacing, video film recording quality and classically trained actors playing to the back row of a theater, they are well worth your entertainment time. This adaptation of Sense and Sensibility is from the same era, and suffers from some of the same stiffness and sluggish pacing. However, these faults could easily have been overlooked if the script had not been so severely altered from the original masterpiece. The plot line of Austen’s story remains, but unfortunately very, very little of her unique language is included. Newer adaptations by Emma Thompson in 1995 and Andrew Davies in 2008 do include Austen’s words, or a variation of them, and we have come to expect them. Continue reading “Sense and Sensibility Movie (1971) – A Review” →

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Mansfield Park (1999) Movie — A Review

From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: 

Take a controversial classic novel, mix in a liberal filmmaker’s re-interpretation, amplify the slavery subtext, add in lesbianism and incest, and presto! you have Mansfield Park (1999), writer-director Patricia Rozema’s provocative adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1814 novel. I am not exaggerating when I say that Jane Austen’s fans find this movie puzzling. So did critics. It has spawned a rash of conversation since it premiered. Just Continue reading “Mansfield Park (1999) Movie — A Review” →

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Sense and Sensibility (2008) Episode Two on Masterpiece Classic PBS – A Review

“I, and only I, knew your heart and its sorrows; yet, to what did it influence me? — not to any compassion that could benefit you or myself. — Your example was before me: but to what avail? — Was I more considerate of you and your comfort? Did I imitate your forbearance, or lessen your restraints, by taking any part in those offices of general complaisance or particular gratitude which you had hitherto been left to discharge alone? No; — not less when I knew you to be unhappy, than when I had believed you at ease, did I turn away from every exertion of duty or friendship; scarcely allowing sorrow to exist but with me, regretting only that heart which had deserted and wronged me, and leaving you, for whom I professed an unbounded affection, to be miserable for my sake.”  Marianne Dashwood,  Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 46

Episode two of the BBC/PBS adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility aired Sunday night
on Masterpiece Classic. It did not entirely disappoint, nor was as satisfying as one would expect for a Jane Continue reading “Sense and Sensibility (2008) Episode Two on Masterpiece Classic PBS – A Review” →

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Sense and Sensibility (2008) Episode One on Masterpiece Classic PBS – A Review

 

Marianne began now to perceive that the desperation which had seized her at sixteen and a half, of ever seeing a man who could satisfy her ideas of perfection, had been rash and unjustifiable. Willoughby was all that her fancy had delineated in that unhappy hour and in every brighter period, as capable of attaching her; and his behaviour declared his wishes to be in that respect as earnest, as his abilities were strong. Marianne Dashwood, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 10

The first episode of the BBC/PBS adaptation Sense and Sensibility by John Alexander/Andrew Davies aired last night on Masterpiece Classic. Its the final installment of their 2008 series, The Complete Jane Austen, Continue reading “Sense and Sensibility (2008) Episode One on Masterpiece Classic PBS – A Review” →

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