Mansfield Park

The actors weren't perfect, but they were mostly believable. Sylesta seemed to talk continually in a high tone, and didn't seem to fit comfortably into her role. But she was submissive yet resolute, as Fanny is supposed to be. I didn't feel Edmond was totally right for his role either. He didn't seem smooth enough or something. I liked Henry Crawford mostly, except he didn't make me fall in love with him when he addressed himself to Fanny. He wasn't convincing when he tried to woo Fanny- if he was i'd have fallen in love with him. He also had a curl of the lip that made him ugly- he would have been handsome without it. His sister totally hit the nail on the head though. And Lady Bertram was HILARIOUS! I loved her performance! Anna Massey as Aunt Norris was great too!

I will agree with others that the production value of this mini series is a bit low. The acting is very stiff and is some places just unconvincing. For users of digital televisions the picture and sound quality is very low, but understandable since this production was made in the early 80s.

The thing that amazes me most about this rendition is how faithful it is to the book. If you loved the book, then you will also like the movie. I'm sure the costume designer and casting directors looked at the old Hugh Thomson illustrations. This most noticeable in the characters of Henry and Mary Crawford.

Lady Bertram is very much like she was in the book -except for her voice. I found it very odd! Rather overdone in my opinion. Mr Yates had a very strange hairstyle as well.

The locations and set were very nicely done. Sotherton and Mansfield Park are very much like the way I pictured them. There was one scene in Portsmouth where there was a matted background with ships. That was rather cheesy looking but it was the only scene that I was less than satisfied with.

This production lacks the polish of BBC's Pride and Prejudice (1995) but it is worth seeing for the serious Austen fan.

This is unquestionably the best ever adaptation of this book, faithful to the text and faithful to the feeling of the book. Sylvestra le Touzel is appropriately mouse-like and really embodies the real Fanny Price, (one of my favourite Austen heroines). She displays that transcendence of flesh that Austen uses as a metaphor for stability in an increasingly precarious situation, both for the estate and for the individuals associated with it. More recent adaptations have tried to make Fanny more capricious and human... but that is not what she is about. She represents the rise of the diligent lower classes to dominate the corrupt aristocracy, of merit over money, and morality over license. She and Edmund are the eventual winners, custodians of their inheritance, when all the favoured children have fallen into sin and temptation and proved themselves unworthy. Fanny Price is not so very different from Jane Bennett, Anne Elliot or Elinor Dashwood. I don't understand why so many people find her character "difficult"

After watching the more recent movie version of this movie, I must admit I put off watching this one for fear they would be similar. I'd read the book years ago and enjoyed it, although not as much as Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice. I finally got around to viewing this about a month after I'd purchased the box set and was VERY pleasantly surprised. It stayed very faithful to the book and unlike a few of the other reviews I read here, I did not find it at all dull nor did i find the acting lacking in any fashion.

I especially liked the development of the relationships between Fanny, Tom and Edmund. It was neat seeing them grow and mature over the course of the mini-series.

I was also impressed with the interactions between the Crawfords. The characters had always irked me a bit in the story but in this version they came across as more subtle.

This is a gentler, truer version of jane Austen's novel than the appalling 1999 film and I am thankful for that ! The casting could have been done with more thought and the whole production would have welcomed a larger budget but - overall - this version remains the yardstick by which all others should be measured.

Fanny Price is, despite the actress chosen to play her, essentially the heroine of the book and it is her views, fears insecurities and morals which are pivotal to the story. Judgmental? No, i think not. The fact that Fanny does speak out against the play and Henry Crawford shows the strength of her misgivings. Anyone who finds her insipid has either not read, or not understood, the book and should look again.

In this day of fast paced films and often nonsensical dialogue, this adaptation may seem a little slow at times, but it is worth persevering. To dismiss it as mere period drama does the novel an injustice, and it should be viewed with the thought that you are watching through the window if history. women had no real value or input. They were expected to marry well and breed the next generation, personal ambitions were rarely mentioned or taken seriously. Although, indeed it could be argued that, despite all the education or freedoms of the present day, quite often books, Tv and films still convey the message that women are nothing if they do not snare a man - a dire reflection upon society.

Of the actors involved, many were good and others less so which often happens. Was amused by the fact that Jonny Lee Miller appeared in both this version and the 1999 film. A welcome link