Sense & Sensibility: Episode 3

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 3
BBC One
13 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C+

In this episode, we see things that didn't appear in the '95 movie (although they were in earlier drafts of Thompson's screenplay) and for the most part happened off-page in the novel.  Two of the scenes involve Brandon: the duel with Willoughby and his visit to "Miss Williams."  The scene of Willoughby showing up during Marianne's illness is changed so that, one, he comes across worse, two, Elinor expresses no sympathy to him, and three, Marianne gets out of her sickbed to eavesdrop!  The main reason for this getting a C+ rather than a B- is that Marianne's falling in love with Brandon, which she does out of sequence with the novel's timeline, is compared to a horse or hawk being tamed, ick!

If you're curious, my review of the book is here http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2011/12/sense-and-sensibility.html
and the '95 movie here http://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2015/04/sense-and-sensibility.html .  I want to add that the humor of both is mostly absent in this adaptation, which is why this is "a historical drama" (as the then recent Mansfield Park was), but Pride & Prejudice was a "historical comedy."

This is the 100th show of mine I've reviewed from the '00s, and yes, we're almost done with the decade.  Unless my collection changes dramatically in the next few days, we will not reach 200.  But, hey, the Oughts outdid the Fifties at least.

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 2

The Steele sisters

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 2
BBC One
6 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
B-

Those who join the cast and will also be in Part Three:

• Leo Bill as Robert Ferrars
• David Glover as Foot
• Daisy Haggard as Miss Steele
• Anna Madeley as Lucy Steele
• Tim McMullan as Mr. Palmer
• and Tabitha Wady as Charlotte Palmer

This episode gives more for both Willoughby and Brandon to do than they had in the '95 version, and arguably in the book.  Even Edward gets his first visit to Barton Cottage restored.  Miss Steele pops back up from the book.  The Palmers on the other hand are short-changed.  Note that Edward being described as shy and diffident doesn't fit this version of Edward.

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 1

Sense & Sensibility: Episode 1
BBC One
1 January 2008
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
B-


The cast who are introduced in this episode and would return at least once more:

• Linda Bassett as Mrs. Jennings
• Lucy Boynton as Margaret Dashwood
• Dominic Cooper as Willoughby
• Mark Gatiss as John Dashwood
• Caroline Hayes as Eliza
• Rosanna Lavelle as Lady Middleton
• Janet McTeer as Mrs Dashwood
• Hattie Morahan as Elinor Dashwood
• David Morrissey as Colonel Brandon
• Morgan Overton as Little Henry
• Claire Skinner as Fanny Dashwood
• Dan Stevens as Edward Ferrars
• Charity Wakefield as Marianne Dashwood
• and Mark Williams (then well established as Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter movies) as Sir John Middleton

Considering that much of the script, by P & P's Andrew Davies, steals from Emma Thompson's award-winning 1995 screenplay, this is better than you'd expect.  The acting and casting are generally solid, sadly with the notable exception of Colonel Brandon.  (I realize that Alan Rickman's shoes were impossible to fill, but it doesn't help matters that this Col. B actually criticizes Marianne's piano-playing!)  I probably would've gone with a C+, but I do like the dramatic coastal scenery, rather than Barton Cottage being plunked down near reedy swamps.  This episode covers through the reunion of Brandon and Willoughby, different than both the book and the '95 movie, but not bad.

John Alexander directed this and the other two episodes.

Mansfield Park

Modest and unassuming

Mansfield Park
ITV
27 January 2007
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
C

Well, this is at least better than the 1999 Patricia Rozema big-screen travesty.  The truth is, no one wants to present Jane Austen's Fanny Price.  (The '83 TV-movie is better but does have the heroine hearing voices in her head.)  Much more than Emma Woodehouse, she's a heroine that (almost) no one but the author likes.  What's peculiar here though is how literal the title is.  Not only don't we see Portsmouth or London (even in flashbacks), but there's no Sotherton or even parsonage.  Every scene, whether it makes sense for it to happen this way or not, takes place in the mansion or grounds of Sir Thomas's estate.

A similar skimpiness means that supporting characters are erased, not just most of Fanny's family but the Grants, Mr. Yates, and anyone not absolutely necessary to the main action.  Even characters we see onscreen we don't necessarily get to know at all, and that includes Maria and Julia.  And then there are the characters who are simply misunderstood: a shrewd Lady Bertram and a slightly annoying but oddly attractive Mrs. Norris being the most obvious.

Which brings us back to Fanny.  Now, I'm not saying there might not be roles where a romping, laughing, bleached-blonde, pouty-lipped, cleavage-baring Billie Piper would be welcome (and not just Dr. Who or, going by her looks, porn), but this isn't one of them.  As always, when the shy, judgmental, but loving Fanny of the book is replaced by an impostor, I have to ask, to what purpose?  If she's perfectly capable of mouthing off to Mrs. Norris, or seeming to welcome Henry Crawford's attentions, then don't have dialogue that contradicts this.

What works here?  The costumes, sets, and music are serviceable.  Much of the dialogue remains intact.  Blake Ritson is quite good, until we get up to the Edmund-gets-twitterpated-with-love-for-Fanny sequence.  Still, I wasn't laughing bitterly like I was at the Jane Eyre adaptation of '97.  Verdict: for completists.

James D'Arcy is almost unrecognizable here as the dissolute but redeemable Tom Bertram, the polar opposite of his villainously priggish Blifil in '97's Tom Jones.  This adaptation is by Maggie Wadey, and the direction is by Iain B. McDonald, neither of whom worked on any other of my shows.

Jane Eyre (1997)

Jane Eyre (1997)
ITV
19 October 1997
Historical Drama, Romance
DVD
D+

At the time I reviewed the 1983 adaptation, I either didn't own this version, or I was unaware that it was packaged with my DVD of Emma.  This version makes that look all the better, because this one is a mess, and not just as an adaptation:

1. Horribly miscast in every role, particularly that of St. John, who (in his less than ten minutes of screen time) comes across as warm and accepting, rather than stiff and distant;
2. Horribly directed by Robert Young (not that Robert Young), who did the 1990 series of Jeeves and Wooster and seemed to then have some sense of period acting, albeit twentieth-century rather than nineteenth;
3. Horribly acted by in particular Ciaran Hinds (who was fine in Jane Austen's Persuasion around then, if not who I picture when reading that book); Hinds spends much of his time ranting and shouting, so that Bertha looks saner than her hubby, and we get none of the other sides of Rochester's personality, making Jane's love look far more masochistic than in the novel;
4. Horribly edited, unlike '97's Emma, which knew where to cut and still keep continuity; to take just one example, we get only a glimpse of the Reed family and servants, so when Bessie shows up and Jane recognizes her, we don't, and then Jane's visit to her Aunt Reed as an adult happens completely offscreen, which has an effect on the St. John plot, as well as Jane being an heiress when she returns to Rochester;
5. Horribly written, not just with Brontë's words being tossed out but with what replaces them, especially Rochester's lines, like "This may sound silly but..." and "You'll never know a love as pure and fine as this," which made me roll with laughter;
6. Samantha Morton isn't bad as Jane but, although her screen persona (seen also as Harriet Smith in Emma and soon to be seen in Tom Jones as Sophia Western) isn't exactly Xena, she can't do self-effacing and this, with Hinds's unhinged performance, throws the "romance" further off balance;
7. The worst onscreen kissing I've ever seen (not counting kisses that are meant to be bad), with sometimes only one or two lips involved rather than four;
8. The scenery and sets and Gemma Jones's performance as a more-in-the-know than in the novel Mrs. Fairfax are fine, if less Gothic than the novel.  (The tree of the proposal scene, pictured above, never gets blasted by symbolic lightning.)

Of the three screenwriters Kay Mellor plays Mrs. Cooper, while Peter Wright gets the larger role of the nameless Clergyman, and Richard Hawley resisted appearing onscreen.  Richenda Carey, who was Lady Wickhammersley in Jeeves and Wooster, here is Lady Ingram.  Amusingly, Laura Harling, who's Young Jane, would be Young Sophia in Tom Jones, so I guess they thought she looked like Samantha Morton.

Tales of Little Women: Shout for Joy

I know they're genteelly poor, but why do they
wear the same outfits in every single episode?

Tales of Little Women: Shout for Joy
Fuji TV
November 15, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
B-

I don't have the previous episode, where they send a telegram to Marmee about Beth's condition, but this series is slow-moving enough that it's easy to follow this episode.  Plus, yeah, it's somewhat faithful to the book.  The original title for the episode translates as the more desperate "God, Please Save Beth!"  There were six more episodes after this one, but this is all I own.

Tales of Little Women: Scarlet Fever

A different episode, but it gives you
a sense of the size differences.

Tales of Little Women: Scarlet Fever
Fuji TV
November 1, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
B-

Unlike the previous episode, this one is more canonical.  (The Japanese title translates to "Beth Caught the Scarlet Fever!")  This is a good time to note that, while Alcott based the character of Jo on herself, this series features narration by youngest sister Amy.  Furthermore, instead of the year or two between each sister in the book, it seems like three or more here, even allowing for the exaggerations of animation.  So instead of the girls being 16, 15, 13, and 12, it's like 18, 15, 12, and 9 (or younger).  I'm guessing Amy was chosen to allow for more identification by preteen and younger girls than if Jo narrated.  It feels odd on this episode, considering so many of the events by definition have to happen when Amy is absent.

Tales of Little Women: Letters from Home

Tales of Little Women: Letters from Home
Fuji TV
October 25, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
C+

Fumio Kurokawa directed this series, while Akira Miyazaki wrote it, based somewhat loosely on the Alcott classic.  How loosely?  Well, it's not till the 18th episode that material from the book appears.  This is the 39th episode, and the air-date is for the Japanese version, although I got it dubbed from Nickelodeon.  But since this is a case where the visuals are more interesting than the sound, I'm fine with going with the original broadcast dates.  (In contrast, Noozles is even campier with the American dub.)

The American voice cast:

• Mona Marshall as Jo March
• Melanie McQueen as Beth March
• Mike Reynolds as James Laurence
• Joshua Seth as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence
• Stephanie Sheh as Meg March
• Reba West as Amy March

The three most notable things about the look of the series:

• Hannah's dark skin
• Meg's waffle-hair
• The exaggerated perspective where characters loom as they approach and shrink as they depart

Note that almost without exception, the translations of the Japanese episode titles are much more interesting than those for the American broadcast, my favorite being "The Friendship Pin," formerly known as "The Town Burns Down!"  This one was called "Letters, Letters, Letters We All Wrote."