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Apr. 7th, 2009 06:37 pmIt's official: I've finally seen every Jane Austen adaptation currently available for DVD viewing!
So I've just seen the 70's BBC mini of Emma, and I liked it. There were far too many mob caps to be seen on character's heads for my comfort, but that's a minor quibble considering how dry 70's BBC minis can be. Though it definitely moved at a more leisurely pace than modern adaptations, I wouldn't call it slow or boring, it was very cute and the cast was right and the costumes surprisingly okay. The fact that it was all on sets, with only one or two brief scenes outside, was a bit distracting, especially in the scene where Emma and Knightley finally admit their love; they're supposed to be in a grotto in the garden, but the studio lighting is so harsh it's impossible to make yourself believe it for a minute. But still, considering how many versions of Emma I've sat through over the years, the fact that my interest was held by it is a testament to it's quality. I'm almost dismayed to find that there is a new version of Emma in the works, because I'm getting a little tired of it! But Sandy Welch is the screenwriter, and she wrote the adaptations of North & South, Our Mutual Friend, and the most recent Jane Eyre, all of which I utterly worship, so if this new Emma actually materializes, I'd be pretty keen to see it!
Also been watching Little Dorrit on Masterpiece Theatre and find it very good so far. But this being Dickens, it can be a bit confusing; I thought one character got killed in one scene, but then he showed up in the next scene, I think. It's very hard to tell who's who, because everybody is made up to look equally Dickensian. I swear no actual human beings could ever have looked like Dickens characters, because it must take just hours of hair and make-up to get these people to look like that! Actual poor people living in the squalid underbelly of Victorian London just couldn't have had that much time, expertise, and hair products on their hands to follow the rigorous dictates of 'Dickens Chic'. *teehee!*
So I've just seen the 70's BBC mini of Emma, and I liked it. There were far too many mob caps to be seen on character's heads for my comfort, but that's a minor quibble considering how dry 70's BBC minis can be. Though it definitely moved at a more leisurely pace than modern adaptations, I wouldn't call it slow or boring, it was very cute and the cast was right and the costumes surprisingly okay. The fact that it was all on sets, with only one or two brief scenes outside, was a bit distracting, especially in the scene where Emma and Knightley finally admit their love; they're supposed to be in a grotto in the garden, but the studio lighting is so harsh it's impossible to make yourself believe it for a minute. But still, considering how many versions of Emma I've sat through over the years, the fact that my interest was held by it is a testament to it's quality. I'm almost dismayed to find that there is a new version of Emma in the works, because I'm getting a little tired of it! But Sandy Welch is the screenwriter, and she wrote the adaptations of North & South, Our Mutual Friend, and the most recent Jane Eyre, all of which I utterly worship, so if this new Emma actually materializes, I'd be pretty keen to see it!
Also been watching Little Dorrit on Masterpiece Theatre and find it very good so far. But this being Dickens, it can be a bit confusing; I thought one character got killed in one scene, but then he showed up in the next scene, I think. It's very hard to tell who's who, because everybody is made up to look equally Dickensian. I swear no actual human beings could ever have looked like Dickens characters, because it must take just hours of hair and make-up to get these people to look like that! Actual poor people living in the squalid underbelly of Victorian London just couldn't have had that much time, expertise, and hair products on their hands to follow the rigorous dictates of 'Dickens Chic'. *teehee!*
