Pride and Prejudice

The movies are too short to capture the beauty of the book. And the new mini series by A&E and BBC is just plain tacky! This series, however, has it all! The most important aspect is the quality of the acting. Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul are excellent. They ARE Lizzy and Mr. Darcy. But the great acting doesn't end there. The quality of the cast is superb. From the most important stars all the way down to the most menial of the servants. Every actor and actress does a great job of capturing the mood of the era.

Please see this production. Buy it if you can. It is being shown on the Romance Channel, too. See it at all costs!

I have seen the movie with Greer Garson and the new BBC mini-series, and this 1979 version is my favorite of the three. But they all have something to recommend them. The Greer Garson movie is gentle and courtly and it doesn't take itself seriously at all...the new BBC series is *very* romantic. But I think the Garvie/Rintoul series really does capture the spirit of the book. What some people have described as stilted reading is, I think, just evidence of the care that Austen took with each phrase, so the words are carefully chosen and carefully spoken...and, assuredly, the Darcy/Elizabeth exchanges are filled with emotion underneath the surface of propriety. David Rintoul does a wonderful, wonderful job, he is totally believable as the enigmatic Darcy, and Garvie as Elizabeth is wise and restrained, yet also shows her youth. The other characters are also well-played, and the music is very appropriate. The sets are simple, yes, but they seem very authentic, and the scenery is marvelous. Although I did enjoy both other versions I saw, it is in this one where I feel the real passion is, despite of, or, perhaps because of, the restrained actions of the characters...you can see them boiling underneath the veneer of civility. :) But the lush BBC version and the gentle, kind movie version have much to be said for them, too...they are all good in their own ways, and, therefore, should be enjoyed for what each of them brings to the novel. Enjoy. :)

For anyone who has actually read "Pride and Prejudice" (rather than just knowing it from the A&E production), this is an excellent and lively adaptation of the book. It is worth watching just to see the parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, in action. Unlike the A&E version, which took enormous liberties with Jane Austen's novel, much of the dialogue is straight from the pen of Austen herself. Adorable as Colin Firth is, David Rintoul does a much better job of capturing the essence of Dr. Darcy as created by Austen, and Elizabeth Garvie is a spirited Elizabeth Bennett. The supporting cast is also for the most part excellent, particularly Charlotte Lucas, Mr. Collins, and Lady Catherine. In a few places, the pace is stilted, and it was clearly made for TV before big budgets, fancy sets, and more modern technology. Nevertheless, if someone wants to view an adaptation true to Austen's creation, this is an enjoyable experience.

"Pride & Prejudice" is easily the favourite of all of Jane Austen's six published novels. Many literary critics have tried to analyse why her books are still so popular in this day & age around 200 years after they were written. Probably the best reasons are that the themes of her novels, (love & marriage), are relevant at any time period & that she was just so darned good as a writer. Taken purely as a love story It is probably without equal which explains why it has been adapted for film & television so often. This 1980 version stars Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennett who plays the sensible & spirited young lady really well but, for me David Rintoul as Fitzwilliam Darcy is even better. To my mind, he plays the proud, haughty & extremely handsome Darcy precisely as written & envisioned by Jane Austen. He is aloof, stiff & unemotional which makes it easy to see why Elizabeth dislikes him so much at first. Quite a number of reviewers of this adaptation of Pride & Prejudice have criticised Rintoul's performance. They claim he plays Darcy with too little emotion & in comparison with Colin Firth's 1995 performance is dull, uninteresting & unromantic. It is true that he isn't as outwardly romantic as played by Colin Firth but I disagree with that criticism. Rintoul nails him precisely as written by Jane Austen & what a shame we cannot get her opinion!. Another standout acting performance is given by Judy Parfitt as Darcy's aunt Lady Catherine De Bourgh. Ms Parfitt has a natural regal bearing combined with a beautifully intoned speaking voice & can just nail an upper-crust woman effortlessly. She also plays her with such a commanding air that you almost cannot help disliking her. That, too, is also true to the spirit of the book as written by Jane Austen. Malcolm Rennie is also excellent as the pompous, somewhat comical vicar Mr. Collins. The scene in which he proposes marriage to Elizabeth & is rejected by her is particularly well played by both of them. Both Priscilla Morgan & Moray Watson are also extremely good as Elizabeth Bennett's mother and father, respectively. Sabina Franklyn also does well playing Elizabeth's very pretty older sister Jane who will fall in love & marry Darcy's best friend Mr. Bingley (Osmund Bullock). Tessa Peake-Jones plays her bookish younger sister Mary who later got a more fames television role as Delboy's love interest Raquel in Only Fools & Horses. Natalie Ogle plays the youngest of the five Bennett sisters Lydia who is fatuous & will enter into a hasty, sham marriage with the handsome, (but deceitful & untrustworthy), Mr. Wickham (Peter Settelen). None of the sisters attend the marriage ceremony & when they return from their honeymoon Lydia is eager to tell her sisters all about it. Elizabeth does not want to know & delivers one of the books most memorable put-down lines. "I do not think there can be too little said on the subject!". There isn't a weak performance by anyone in the entire cast. The 1995 TV production with Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle was pretty good, but this 1980 BBC production dramatised by Fay Weldon is closer to the book & definitely superior in my opinion.

I enjoyed both this one when I first watched it on Masterpiece Theater and the A&E production. Colin Firth was certainly a more sexy Mr. Darcy but David Rintoul had his personality more down pat and was more true to the real Mr. Darcy in my estimation. Elizabeth Garvie was more the true Elizabeth as well, she wasn't considered to be a great beauty in the book but her character portrayal was true to the book. I thought all of the sisters and the parents were perfectly cast. Mr. Bennett, Moray Watson, gave a marvelous performance as the wise and witty father. This program may have been considered a bit slow moving to some but I enjoyed every minute of it.