Padme's Library: Friday's Film Adaption: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Friday, March 11, 2016

Friday's Film Adaption: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Summary:
When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.

Films
1940
Jane Austen's comic classic about five sisters out to nab husbands in 19th-century England.
Release Date: July 26, 1940
Release Time: 117 minutes

Cast:
Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet
Laurence Olivier as Fitzwilliam Darcy
Mary Boland as Mrs. Bennet
Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane Bennet
Ann Rutherford as Lydia Bennet
Frieda Inescort as Caroline Bingley
Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Bennet
Karen Morley as Charlotte Lucas Collins
Heather Angel as Kitty Bennet
Marsha Hunt as Mary Bennet
Melville Cooper as Mr. Collins
Edward Ashley Cooper as George Wickham
Bruce Lester as Mr. Bingley
E.E. Clive as Sir Willam Lucas
Majorie Wood as Lady Lucas
Vernon Downing as Captain Carter

Awards:
1940 Academy Awards
Best Black and White Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse - Won

1995

Jane Austen's classic novel about the prejudice that occurred between the 19th century classes and the pride which would keep lovers apart.

Release Date: September 24, 1995 – October 29, 1995

Release Time: 327 minutes (6 parts)

Cast:

Jennifer Ehle - Elizabeth Bennet

Colin Firth - Mr Darcy

Susannah Harker - Jane Bennet

Julia Sawalha - Lydia Bennet

Alison Steadman - Mrs Bennet

Benjamin Whitrow - Mr Bennet

Crispin Bonham-Carter - Mr Bingley

Polly Maberly - Kitty Bennet

Lucy Briers - Mary Bennet

Anna Chancellor - Miss Bingley

Lucy Robinson - Mrs Hurst

Adrian Lukis - Wickham

David Bamber - Mr Collins

Lucy Scott - Charlotte Lucas

Lucy Davis - Maria Lucas

Emilia Fox - Georgiana Darcy

Marlene Sidaway - Hill

Barbara Leigh-Hunt - Lady Catherine De Bourgh

Tim Wylton - Mr Gardiner

Rupert Vansittart - Mr Hurst

Joanna David - Mrs Gardiner

Nadia Chambers - Miss Anne De Bourgh

David Bark-Jones - Lt. Denny

Lynn Farleigh - Mrs Phillips

Christopher Benjamin - Sir William Lucas

Roger Barclay - Capt. Carter

Kate O'Malley - Sarah

Norma Streader - Lady Lucas

Paul Moriarty - Col. Forster

Victoria Hamilton - Mrs Forster

Anthony Calf - Col. Fitzwilliam

Sarah Legg - Hannah

Annabel Taylor - Maggie

Harriet Eastcott - Mrs Jenkinson

Awards:

1996 BAFTAS

Best Actor - Colin Firth - Nominated

Best Actor - Benjamin Whitrow - Nominated

Best Actress - Jennifer Ehle - Won

Best Drama Serial - Nominated

2005

In class-conscious England near the close of the 18th century, the five Bennet sisters--Elizabeth, or Lizzie, Jane, Lydia, Mary, and Kitty--have been raised well aware of their mother's fixation on finding them husbands and securing set futures. The spirited and intelligent Elizabeth, however, strives to live her life with a broader perspective, as encouraged by her doting father.

Release Date: September 16, 2005

Release Time: 127 minutes

Cast:

Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet

Matthew Macfadyen as Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy

Brenda Blethyn as Mrs Bennet

Donald Sutherland as Mr Bennet

Tom Hollander as Mr William Collins

Rosamund Pike as Jane Bennet

Carey Mulligan as Catherine (Kitty) Bennet

Jena Malone as Lydia Bennet

Talulah Riley as Mary Bennet

Judi Dench as Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Simon Woods as Mr Charles Bingley

Tamzin Merchant as Georgiana Darcy

Claudie Blakley as Charlotte Lucas

Kelly Reilly as Caroline Bingley

Rupert Friend as Mr George Wickham

Rosamund Stephen as Anne de Bourgh

Cornelius Booth as Colonel Fitzwilliam

Penelope Wilton as Mrs Gardiner

Peter Wight as Mr. Gardiner

Meg Wynn Owen as Mrs Reynolds

Sinead Matthews as Betsy

Awards:

Academy Awards

Best Actress - Keira Knightley - Nominated

Best Original Score - Dario Marianelli - Nominated

Best Art Direction - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer - Nominated

Best Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran - Nominated

BAFTAS

Best Film - Nominated

Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Brenda Blethyn - Nominated

Most Promising Newcomer - Joe Wright - Won

Best Adapted Screenplay - Deborah Moggach - Nominated

Best Costume Design - Jacqueline Durran - Nominated

Best Makeup & Hair - Fae Hammond - Nominated

Golden Globes

Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy - Keira Knightley - Nominated

Best Film – Musical or Comedy - Nominated

1940

1995

2005

Author Bio:
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer. Her artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about 35 years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.

Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture.