Top 10 Austen adaptations: #5

~No. 5 - Pride and Prejudice 1980~

This is embarassing, but I have to admit this was actually supposed to be No. 6! And Persuasion 2007 was going to be number 5, but I forgot! Nevermind.

Pride and Prejudice, Pride and Prejudice. . .

This is in some respects the best TV or movie version of this book available - it's a shame it isn't more widely watched. I guess most people just don't know about it. The only real downside to this adaptation is its production values. In other words - this sooo looks like a 1970s BBC TV show (It was in fact made and broadcast in Britain in 1979, but I just can't get out of the habit of calling it P&P80! It was aired in America in 1980). It often feels stagey and studio-bound, and the costumes look like costumes. It takes a little while to adjust to the tone of the series. Once you start to relax and get into the "flow" of things, it's a thoroughly enjoyable watch. 

This is a production with very few weak points (apart from the afore-mentioned low budget), but its greatest strength is undoubtedly Elizabeth Garvie's performance as Elizabeth Bennet. She is arguably the best Lizzy ever to have graced the screen. Keira Knightley was good, but I thought she seemed too modern in her posture and mannerisms - plus she giggled and smiled too much, even for Lizzy. I wasn't completely won over by Jennifer Ehle as Lizzy, either. But Garvie is very, very good. Not 100% the same as I imagined Elizabeth to be in the book, but very close. The perfect mixture of "sweetness and archness", as described in the book (pity I can't find that passage from the book. I forget which chapter it's in. . . ) 

As for this version's Mr. Darcy (played by David Rintoul). . . you know, I haven't quite made up my mind about him yet. I think he's too wooden in some scenes. Of course, you could argue that Darcy is supposed to be stiff and wooden, but honestly. . . at the first proposal, for instance, he seems so bored and stiff - "In vain have I struggled, it will not do, my feelings will not be repressed, etc. etc. Man, this is so boring, I'm just proposing to the woman of my dreams, but this all so boring and dull. I wish I was somewhere else, doing something else." Seriously! Just a hint of passion or emotion wouldn't have gone astray! 

But on the hand, he is so adorable during the second proposal scene, right at the end - he looks so sweet and boyish, you just can't help falling for him. :-) I think he's a very good-looking Darcy. Unfortunately, the ill-fitting costumes and the funny hairdo don't do him any favours, but he has Darcy's noble profile and bearing. Actually, sometimes Rintoul overdoes the "noble bearing" thing, and ends up walking around in a stiff, unnatural manner! 

The supporting is first class. Mr. Bennet is well-portrayed here, though he is perhaps a little too gruff and overbearing. But it helps you to understand why Darcy would consider Mr. Bennet to have a "lack of propriety", and how it would pain Lizzy to see her father being sarcastic towards his wife and daughters. Mrs. Bennet and the Bennet girls are all good, though Jane isn't quite pretty enough. Mr. Collins is hilarious, Judy Parfitt as Lady Catherine unforgettable, and the Bingleys are also played well.

Another thing that I really appreciated about this adaptation is the fact that it includes many lines and scenes from the book that aren't in any other version - not even the 1995 one. It's fascinating seeing just how much bearing the screenwriter has on an adaptation of this kind - here, Fay Weldon chose to emphasise on Lizzy's personal growth and journey through the year of her life that is covered in this story. (BTW, I remember reading somewhere that Fay Weldon is working on the screenplay for an adaptation of Sanditon, Jane Austen final novel, left unfinished when she died. Let's hope the rumours are true!)

It isn't my all-time favourite P&P, but it is arguably the most faithful screen adaptation of the book. Its fidelity to the novel is a major plus for any Jane Austen fan. The 2005 and 1995 versions of P&P are by far the most popular, but in some ways I believe the 1980 P&P trumps them both. Highly recommended viewing for any Janeite.

You can watch Pride and Prejudice 1980 online here. There are also a couple of fun P&P80 fan videos on Youtube - here and here. 

Pride and Prejudice poll results

The results are in! Thankyou everyone for voting!

~~~~~

P&P 2005 - 41 votes, 38% of total

P&P 1995 - 59 votes, 55%

P&P 1980 - 2 votes, 1%

P&P 1940 - 4 votes, 3%

It comes as no surprise that the BBC's 1995 adaptation reigns as the most popular version of Jane Austen's novel. In the end, though, the results were a good deal closer than I expected. For most of the time the poll was open, P&P '95 had about twice as many votes as the 2005 version. Just in the last few days, however, there have been a lot of votes for P&P '05, bringing it within 18 votes of P&P '95.

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who voted in this poll! This was such fun. In fact, I think think there'll be a new poll coming soon. . . any suggestions or ideas for a new poll?

Current Mood: Sleepy

Pride and Prejudice poll!

Please vote! :-)

It arrived!!

Lizzy and Darcy. . . 

I bought myself a copy of Pride and Prejudice 1980 on DVD several weeks ago on eBay. For the last fortnight or so, I have been anxiously awaiting its arrival. I was just beginning to get a bit worried, until it finally arrived on Thursday!

My brother teased me about it a bit - he seems to think it's absurd that I find it necessary to have not one, nor two, but THREE different version of P&P on DVD. 

I've been telling my brothers and sisters that they wouldn't like P&P80. In the past, I have found this to be a somewhat effective method of getting them to watch and enjoy my favourite DVDs. I tell them they won't like it, so to prove me wrong, they sit down and watch it, and more often that not, they end up liking it in spite of themselves. In this instance, my plan wasn't so successful.

The opening credits begin, with hand-drawn pictures of Regency ladies and gentlemen doing various activities in the background. "Oh, is this a cartoon version of Pride and Prejudice?" says someone. The first episode begins.

"Lizzy and Jane look ugly."

"Mr. Darcy looks weird."

"Mr. Bingley looks duhhh. . . "

"Mr. Wickham has BLOND HAIR!?"

"This is boring."

They all deserted the couch, one by one, except for one or two of my sisters.

The general consensus among my siblings seems to be that a.) This version (1980) of P&P is boring b.) The 1995 version is much better c.) Mr. Darcy in the 1980 version has funny hair.

I tried to tell them that the actors looks (or lack thereof) were not important, neither were the ugly costumes and wigs; the acting was good, and it stuck faithfully to the book, etc. etc. Unfortunately they weren't convinced. One of my sisters enjoyed it with me, but the rest of them weren't impressed. *Wry smile*

Oh well! I enjoyed it! I bought it with my money for my own enjoyment, if my brothers and sisters don't like it, that doesn't matter.

*Laughs evil laugh--Mwuhahah!* I'm going to make Janeites out of them all yet! Just wait and see. . .

~To read my review of P&P80, click here

Current Mood: Devious

A different version of P&P

A little while ago I wrote a post in which I compared two different film adaptations of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Well, I wrote that post before I had had the pleasure of viewing a third adaptation of Pride and Prejudice - P&P80! As it turns out, the BBC produced a five-part miniseries of Pride and Prejudice back in 1980! 

I had been aware for some time that there was an ‘old’ version of Pride and Prejudice that had been done sometime in the ‘80s, but I hadn't taken it very seriously. I half-expected that it would have dreadfully historically inaccurate costumes (like the 1940s P&P with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier!) straying far from the novel, and suffering from a tiny budget.
I could scarcely have been more wrong.

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing online, and I happened to read somewhere that the 1980 Pride and Prejudice was very, very good - even (in the opinion of some) better than the 1995 one with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle! I went to Amazon to have a look at some of the customer reviews for P&P80, and much to my surprise, most of them were very positive! I was a little hesitant to buy the DVD set without first watching the series for myself, so my next stop was, of course, Youtube. After much searching, I finally found it (it won't come up if you just search for "Pride and Prejudice 1980"!). Over the course of the next few days, mostly during our recent holiday, I watched all five episodes. 

I'll try to outline my verdict below. I know I should only judge the movie against the book, but really it's almost impossible to avoid comparisons with P&P95 and '05. . .

Elizabeth Bennet (Elizabeth Garvie)

Possibly the best thing about this movie is Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet. Yes that's right, an Elizabeth playing an Elizabeth! But seriously, Garvie does a wonderful job playing Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I still prefer Keira Knightley in the role, but Garvie is now a very close second in my list of favourite Lizzys. In terms of outward appearance, at least, she certainly looks the part - indeed, she looks almost exactly how Austen describes Lizzy. 

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy (David Rintoul)

It took a little while for me to warm to David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy. Sure, he's much better looking than either Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen, but he seemed so wooden at first - I know Mr. Darcy is supposed to be cold and stiff at the beginning, but Rintoul seemed so very inexpressive and passionless. It wasn't until right at the end of the movie that I finally started to like him. (Then again, you could argue that that's the way it supposed to be - Lizzy didn't like him at first, either!) I think you really have to watch his eyes to get an idea of what he's feeling. Not easily done when you're watching a blocky, grainy Youtube video, which is one of the reasons why I'm anxious to get the DVDs - so I can actually see the expressions on each of the actors’ faces! 

Gorgeous scenery

Most of the supporting cast were excellent. For the first time in any adaptation of P&P that I have seen, they finally got Mr. Collins's character right! Mr. Collins is described in the novel as being a "Tall, heavy looking young man of five and twenty." (Volume 1 chapter XIII.) David Bamber, (Mr. Collins from P&P95) aside from not looking at all like Mr. Collins, got the character of Collins all wrong! I have a lot of respect for Bamber as an actor, having seen him in several films and BBC productions, including The Railway Children (2000), Miss Potter (2006), and Robin Hood (2006-present); but in this instance, I just don't think he nailed the personality or mannerisms of Mr. Collins. He portrayed Collins as a horribly slimy, positively evil man! Mr. Collins is supposed to be just plain stupid, not evil! OK, so he's not a very pleasant character, but he's not meant to be the villain!

Malcolm Rennie as Collins in P&P80 was, I thought, just about perfect. He looked exactly the way Mr. Collins is supposed to look, and was hilariously stupid whenever he appeared.

Judy Parfitt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh also deserves a mention. Lady Catherine is a rather nosy person who enjoys telling other people how they ought to run their lives, even down to the seemingly inconsequential minutiae of daily life. This is an aspect of her character which none of the other versions of P&P I have seen seemed to pick up on, but it was very well elaborated on here.

Moray Watson and Priscilla Morgan were also superb as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, respectively. 

The five Bennet sisters

This particular production was made on a much lower budget than either P&P95 or '05, and, frankly, it shows.

I was aware that this would be the case before I started watching; and I braced myself, expecting the worst. In the end, though, I was pleasantly surprised. The costumes were really not that bad - many of them were very beautiful, in fact. The indoor sets were pretty basic, but by no means terrible, and the beautiful English countryside lent a richness to all of the outdoor scenes. Just don't go into this expecting the stunning, lush production values of P&P05 or Sense and Sense and Sensibility '95. Expect the worst and you'll enjoy it a whole lot more.

All things considered, this version of Pride and Prejudice probably wouldn't be as appealing for the average viewer as either of the more recent adaptations, but dedicated fans of the novel will find a lot to like here. They picked up certain nuances of the book that none of the other film or TV versions seem to have noticed. There were one or two little things that I think they misinterpreted (or should I say their interpretation of these characters/scenes was simply different than mine!). Predictably, whenever the screenplay diverged from the book, the result rang a false note. However, these issues were minor ones and did not detract from my enjoyment of the movie.

Definitely worth a look for devotees of Jane Austen's wonderful book.

For more information on this miniseries, go to jrinla.com - check out the "P&P80 v. P&P95 smackdown" , it's a lot of fun.

This wonderful Youtube user has posted all of P&P80 online. Click here to watch part 1 of the first episode.

Pride and Prejudice 1980 is available at Amazon.com for the very palatable price of $10.99 US.

And they lived happily ever after :)