Pride and Prejudice: The Real Wickham

Pride & Prejudice 1995

I love the 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice!  Aside from the book, it is my favorite way to comfort myself and to be honest, my way of pampering myself.


Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle give a great and believable performance as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.  They play so well off of each other.


This movie is over 6 or 7 hours long and was aired in the UK on British television.  It was the talk of the country every week as everyone fell for Colin and his now immoralized wet shirt scene!  


Though Colin didn't want to do this at first, it is obvious as you watch the show that when he decided to play Mr. Darcy he went out of his way to make each scene and each line his own.  I think he may have even stunned himself in the process!!!  


I love that this version stays true to Jane Austen's book and it was so well cast!  Each character was spot on and did a wonderful job.


The writers were fantastic in giving you a glimpse of something Jane Austen never could or did, which was give you something of Darcy away from the Hursts, Caroline, Charles and the family.


Alison Steadman and Benjamin Withrow are awesome as Mr. and Mrs. Bennett.  They are funny and fun giving off the exact impressions that Jane wrote for them.  Affectionate towards their daughters and each other, though on occassion, driving each other nuts.  It was brilliant!


Crispin Bonham-Carter was awesome as Mr. Bingley and Susan Harker was great as Jane.  Perfect shy and adoring couple.


Anna Chancellor was great as Caroline Bingley and you could tell that she had not only invested her time to the character, but had her heart and blood firmly implanted in Jane Austen's world, for she IS a decendent of Jane herself.  I thought that was a wonderful little tidbit of information.  It gives me at least ONE reason to actually like Caroline!


Adrian Lukis as Mr. Wickham was another smart casting choice.  He pulls off the seediness of the character while being charming at the same time.  Mr. Lukis is a good actor as it is.


The scenery and costumes were wonderful and detailed.  It was like stepping back in time and finding myself in a great and amazing world.


There were a few deviations from the book, but they weren't intrusive or obviously meant to disrupt the entire film.  The additions only enhanced the entire film, and did not offend.


I love watching this movie over and over again.  It isn't because we see Colin in a wet  shirt, though that is attractive, but because the movie is very well made and very thought out.  You can tell a lot of love and effort was put into the making of Pride & Prejudice 1995.


~Enjoy

Pride & Prejudice Viewing

I have been making a lot of changes  here so that I may get further in writing my blog.

At the moment, I am re-reading P&P and spending a lovely weekend with the movies, Becoming Jane, and Lost In Austen.

This is a good weekend for this and I plan to spend as much of it as I can with Mr. Darcy.

I will do reviews of the movies soon enough, and have some plans to look into some Jane Austen biographic programmes as well.

I began with the 1995 version last night, my favorite of all time.

This is the next for the DVD player.  It is a good movie and I am glad to have the opportunity of seeing Kiera and Matthew do a great rendition, though shorter for time and audience allowance.

This has to be one of my favorite movies outside of P&P, it is something that I do love watching over and over again!

And Becoming Jane, another favorite of mine!   I cannot wait to get into this movie!  Even if it is a partial telling of Jane's life as a young woman.

First Drive Through Jane's World

My first visits through Jane Austen's world was through watching Kiera Knightly as Elizabeth Bennett, I loved this movie, but felt there needed to be more.

I had a copy of P&P which had a bunch of annoying sidebars to it that I could not get into, I wanted to read the book uninterupted, so I bought another version and started reading it.

At Christmas this year, 2010, I recieved a copy of the works of Jane Austen (seen below), and I loved this book! I treated it with so much affection that I eventually broke down and opened its brand new spine to read Pride & Prejudice in full, basically for the actual first time.

As I have stated before, I have kind of read the book before and as for the 2005 version of P&P I was not really that impressed with it, but the story idea was wonderful and amazing.

I had since bought the 1995 version of the movie and fell totally in love with it, it was an amazing adaptation and I am currently searching out other versions of the movie to watch and own. Masterpiece Theatre does a great rendition from what I hear and I look forward to finding it and watching.

I sit here now writing, but my heart is being beckoned by my new best friend and I am wondering what will be next on my read list, but for now, I am going to finish P&P and do a blog or two on it.