Review: Nicholas Nickleby (2002)

This was a movie that was on my list of movies to watch for a quite some time. And after answering the February Tag of the Period Drama Challenge, I felt like I need to watch more Dickens period dramas. Luckily, after they took it down, Netflix's Instant Streaming put Nicholas Nickleby back up again and I was able to watch this without having to buy the movie. So, here's another movie to add to my list of Dickens movies I have seen!

DVD Box Art

Synopsis

Nicholas Nickleby, at age nineteen, has become the head of his family after his father dies. In order to provide for his widowed mother and his sister, Kate, Nicholas pleas with his selfish uncle, Ralph Nickleby, to help them. However, Ralph Nickleby sends Nicholas away to work as a teacher at Dotheboys Hall (a dirty school where the students are mistreated) and though he sets Kate up with a job at a dressmaker, he uses her to get business men to go into business with him.

Period Drama Challenge -- February Tag

The Period Drama Challenge continues at Old-Fashioned Charm! So far, I have submitted three reviews (though two of the reviews count as one for The Pallisers). And as the Period Drama Challenge continues, Miss Laurie has put up another tag for February.

New Sink Me! Submission

I submitted a new caption to Miss Amy Dashwood's blog Sink Me!

 Sink Me! Post

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 God Bless,

Review: A Christmas Carol (1999)

Box Art of DVD

And just in time for Christmas! For a special Christmas review, I present you with a review of another version of A Christmas Carol. If you remember, I reviewed in June of 2011 the 2009 movie starring Jim Carrey and gave it a bad review (let's face it, not even Colin Firth could save that movie). But this time (and for Christmas, not in the middle of June like last time), I'm reviewing a version of A Christmas Carol that I could expect more out of: the 1999 version starring Patrick Stewart. I had seen parts of this version, but not the whole thing until last week. So now that I've seen it, I can review it!

Synopsis
Taken from my review of A Christmas Carol (2009)
It's Christmas time and everyone is in a great mood except for Ebenezer Scrooge, a stingy old man who does not like Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner who announces that Scrooge will be visited by three more ghosts.

Reader Question #10: Jane Austen vs. Charles Dickens

And after a little hiatus, I'm back to doing Reader Questions! This question came to me from Violet from Violets and Daisies. Violet asked:

I was just wondering why it is that so many people seem to read/watch lots about Jane Austen (particularly in all the blogs I've discovered), but very few seem to prefer Charles Dickens and period dramas based on his books? I guess it is all down to personal preference, but I just always wonder why it is that way when I personally prefer his writing over hers. Any thoughts on this?

Reader Question #7: Jane Austen and Charles Dickens's Faults

This question comes from Kiri Liz from Lianne Taimenlore. Kiri Liz asked:


What do you think Jane Austen's worst fault was as a writer? Charles Dickens's worst fault? And what, in your opinion, could they have done to remedy that fault?

Reader Question #5: Austen, Dickens, Gaskell, and Bronte, Oh My!

This question come from Birdienl, who writes:


What do you think are the unique points of the stories (books or adaptations) of each of these great writers: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Brönte (add others if you like), which distinguish them from other writers.

Wednesday: Character Costume Highlight: Lady Dedlock - Period Drama Fashion Week

Today's Character Costume Highlight is Lady Honoria Dedlock from Bleak House.

A little about Lady Dedlock

Lady Honoria Dedlock (nee Barnaby) is married to Sir Leicester Dedlock, Baronet. Lady Dedlock holds a secret from Sir Leicester which could ruin the entire House of Dedlock. Unfortunately, it is not just her secret: Sir Leicester's lawyer, Mr. Tulkinghorn, also knows the secret and enjoys having power over Lady Dedlock.

Lady Dedlock's Green Dress

Lady Dedlock's Black Dress

Which of these two dresses of Lady Dedlock's is your favorite? Or is your favorite one that isn't up here? Leave a comment!

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 God Bless,

Reader Question #3: Chivery vs. Clennam and Jarndyce vs. Woodcourt

This question came to me from Payton from Dirt and Dickens. Payton writes:

In Little Dorrit, Amy receives a proposal from a wonderful guy, John Chivery, but she rejects him and ends up marrying Arthur Clennam. Likewise, in Bleak House, Esther initially accepts Mr. Jarndyce's proposal, but ends up marrying Allan Woodcourt. Both Mr. Jarndyce and John Chivery are amazing guys and true gentlemen, and it's hard to watch them get rejected. So should Amy have married John? Should Esther have married Mr. Jarndyce? Whose team are you on?

Having not read Bleak House or finished reading Little Dorrit, I have to go off of the miniseries for each.

So to answer this question, I'll start off with Little Dorrit. I don't have much against John Chivery, but I honestly prefer Arthur Clennam. I was happy that Amy married Arthur; sure, he was a bit older than her, but he was a good guy. He is responsible for his mistakes, wants to right wrongs, and is an overall good guy. I'm sure he would be a great husband for Amy.

I don't think I would be as happy if Amy married John Chivery. Why? It's not that John Chivery would have been a bad husband for Amy (though her life would certainly be different if she married him), but I guess there's not much of a reason for it other than I got used to the idea of Arthur and Amy getting married before John Chivery even proposed to her.

Now, for Bleak House. I liked both Mr. Jarndyce and Allan Woodcourt (oh my, I keep wanting to write Woodhouse! Way too much Jane Austen? Impossible! You can never have too much Jane Austen! :-P). They were both gentleman and truly cared for Esther. Neither of them had hidden, deep, dark secrets that would potentially ruin them. They always acted properly and had good hearts. So, which one did I prefer Esther end up with? Allan Woodcourt.

But why not Mr. Jarndyce if I liked him so much? Yes, Mr. Jarndyce is a good guy and I liked his character greatly, but he was far, far too old for Esther! Sure, for Little Dorrit Arthur and Amy had a fairly big age gap (about 19 years), but not as big of a age gap as Mr. Jarndyce and Esther (Okay, so I don't know how old Mr. Jarndyce was supposed to be, bit I had the impression that the age gap for him and Esther was pretty big). I could see him more easily as Esther's father (or grandfather even?) rather than her husband. Allan Woodcourt seemed closer to Esther's age than Mr. Jarndyce and seemed like he could be more like a husband to her than Mr. Jarndyce. If it weren't for Mr. Jarndyce's age, I would have been happy if Esther chose either one of them; it simply all came down to age.


So, I'm pretty much certain that Dickens was right in keeping Amy with Arthur Clennam and Esther with Allan Woodcourt. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Leave a comment!


Thank you, Payton, for sending in your question! If you have a question you would like to submit for me to do a post on, leave a comment. Just follow these guidelines. It can be about anything related to this blog: period dramas, blogging, reviews, etc.

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 God Bless,

Review: Bleak House (2005)

And how's this for my 500th post? This movie was recommended to me by Melody from Regency Delight ~Jane Austen, etc.~ quite a while ago. Finally! I got to watch it on Netflix! I had seen previews of Bleak House on other BBC DVDs, but I didn't know much about Bleak House other than it had something to do about wills. I also saw that there are a number of people on the blogs that really like it. So one day, I saw it was on Netflix and finally gave it a try.

Box Art

Synopsis
The case Jarndyce and Jarndyce has been in the courts for generations. There are multiple wills that say who will inherit a large fortune, but no one knows who is the rightful heir. Esther Summerson, an orphan raised by a Miss Barnaby, is taken into the care of John Jarndyce, a kind, older man with two wards, Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Meanwhile, Lady Dedlock, wife of Sir Leicester Dedlock, holds a secret from her husband which has attracted the interest of unscrupulous lawyer, Mr. Tulkinghorn.

Characters
There are a number of recognizable cast members in Bleak House. Anna Maxwell Martin (Esther Summerson) can also be seen in North and South as Bessy Higgins. Gillian Anderson (Lady Dedlock) can also be seen in Great Expectations (2011) as Miss Havisham. Pauline Collins (Miss Flite) can also be seen in the first two series of Upstairs, Downstairs as underhouse parlor maid Sarah. Alun Armstrong (Bucket) can also be seen in Little Dorrit as Flintwinch and in The Mystery of Edwin Drood as Mr. Grewgious. Richard Harrington (Allan Woodcourt) can also be seen in Series 4 of Lark Rise to Candleford as Gabriel Cochrane. Joanna David (Mrs. Badger) can be seen in various period dramas including Pride and Prejudice (1995) and He Knew He Was Right

Like in Little Dorrit, Bleak House has a variety of characters. Some are likable, others you practically can't stand. This section of my review may run a little long, just a warning.

Let's start with the likable characters, shall we?

Esther Summerson

First, let's start with our heroine, Esther Summerson. Esther is a very sweet character and probably one of the least flawed (if not the least flawed) characters in Bleak House. She is a very caring person and I very quickly liked her. Even though it risks her health, she takes care of a poor boy named Jo, and nearly dies from contracting small pox from him which leaves scars on her face (which eventually mostly fade by the end of Bleak House). She is very close with both Ada and Richard. Her and Ada do not keep secrets from each other: Spoiler when Esther has to keep the secret about her being Lady Dedlock's daughter from Ada, it causes a little bit of a rift between them, but despite this, they still remain good friends. End of Spoiler

Allan Woodcourt

Esther is involved in a love triangle between her guardian, John Jarndyce (another likable character) and the doctor Allan Woodcourt (also a likable character). Spoiler She initially accepts a proposal from John Jarndyce (to which I kept thinking "NO! HE'S TOO OLD! Sure, he's a good guy, but he's too old!"), but he lets her out of the engagement by the end to marry the man she really loves, Allan Woodcourt ("YES!"). End of Spoiler John Jarndyce, like Esther, is a kind person, but he is a much more serious character than most characters. For a good deal of the story, I wondered why he was so nice to Esther, Ada, and Richard, but I think it is because he is a naturally kind character. Allan Woodcourt is also a kind character. He is a doctor that takes care of the poor of London and doesn't make much money. I think that that is why him and Esther are much more suited for each other than Esther and John Jarndyce: Esther willingly cares for Jo without expecting much of anything in return and Allan Woodcourt treats his patients with the same attitude.

Richard Carstone and Ada Clare

Esther becomes very good friends with wards Ada Clare and Richard Carstone. Like Esther, Ada was very caring and sweet. I liked Richard, but I felt he was too obsessive over Jarndyce and Jarndyce (and so did everyone else in the story), Spoiler and that was what killed him in the end. End of Spoiler There was a scene that annoyed me about Ada, though. Spoiler When Ada tells Esther about her's and Richard's secret marriage, Ada essentially says (not a direct quote), "Sorry I kept this secret from you, but you kept a secret from me." It was a bit catty of Ada to say that to Esther and it really irked me. End of Spoiler

Lady Dedlock

In a way, I also liked Lady Dedlock... Or probably more accurately, I felt sorry for her. She has a huge burden on her heart that she has to keep from Sir Leicester and is hassled by Mr. Tulkinghorn at the same time. Spoiler After thinking for all those years that the daughter she had was dead, she finds out that her daughter is alive and is Esther, but they can't see each other after she tells Esther that she is her mother. I was hoping that everything would work out in the end and that Esther and Lady Dedlock can see each other (even if Sir Leicester knew and Esther could visit them in the evenings privately or something), but alas! it didn't work out. End of Spoiler

Now onto the irritating characters.

Mr. Harold Skimpole

I'll start with one of the most irritating, Mr. Skimpole. Did he really have a purpose in the story other than to be irritating? He was fairly useless and annoying! His whole "I am but a child" shtick was too much to be borne! Plus he was a bad influence on Richard, especially after getting him his own lawyer. Well, I guess I knew he was going to be bad when he said that he was a doctor but didn't go through with it and had a wife and child(ren?) that he left somewhere. Seriously, if Charles Dickens left him out of the story, I think it would have gone on smoothly without him.

Mr. Guppy

Mr. Guppy... The man who couldn't take no for an answer. Sure, he wasn't really harmful to anyone, just annoying. He kept proposing to Esther, even though she said no each time. It was a little creepy how he was watching Esther for a good part of the beginning, but then Esther told him to stop watching her and he did... He just researched her past for her... What really made me angry about him was that after Esther is scarred by small pox, he suddenly was like "I can't marry you now because my situation won't allow it" (again, not a direct quote). What a jerk!

Mr. Tulkinghorn (above) and
Mr. Smallweed (below)

"Ooh, my bones!" That's right, Mr. Smallweed. Villainous and annoying (okay, that can also be applied to Mr. Tulkinghorn. In fact, why don't I just combine both of them into one paragraph since they practically worked for each other or along the same lines?) Mr. Smallweed is greedy, cruel, and not an honorable person at all (woah, this can also be applied to Mr. Tulkinghorn too. No, they are not the same person). I guess the difference between them is that Mr. Tulkinghorn is a lot more clean cut than Mr. Smallweed. Both are after Lady Deadlock and her secret (though Mr. Smallweed is more interested in the money while Tulkinghorn was more interested in having power over her). Both men are hated by almost everyone in the story.

And sure, there are plenty of minor characters that I could go through, but I'm only going through the main characters. As it is, this section is very, very long! :-P I'll end this section by saying that yes, there is a verdict to the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case, and it will have you face-palming yourself.

Scenery

Secrets to be revealed!

The scenery is mostly bleak (fitting, isn't it?). There are some scenes with a little bit of color, but most scenes are dark. What I didn't like about some of the camera angles was that the camera would move very quickly in a lot of scenes: for example, you could be looking at the exterior of a house and then it zooms into the house in the same shot. It also got to be a bit much when this same zoomed in technique was used on characters/characters' faces. If they backed off a little on this technique, then I wouldn't have too much to complain about. Anyways, scenes take place in a variety of places. We get to see the exterior and interior of Chesney Wold, the home of the Dedlocks (a very grand house, indeed), and the Dedlock's London home (which was also very nice). Bleak House, the home of John Jarndyce, is not as bleak as the name (as also remarked by Esther), however it's past is a bit bleak. We also get to see poorer houses, which are mostly dirty and falling apart.

Music
The music is very serious throughout the miniseries, excepting the wedding song at the end. The wedding song is very, very similar to a song that is in Downton Abbey (John Lunn composed the music for both Bleak House and Downton Abbey). The music overall is very good and worth listening to.

Costumes
The costuming is very nice! Just by looking at the costumes, I would say that the story takes place sometime in the 1840s or the early 1850s; though since Dickens published Bleak House in the 1850s, I'm inclined to think it takes place in the early 1850s.

Lady Dedlock has a number of lovely dresses! The dark green striped dress that she wear when, I believe, when she is traveling can also be seen in North and South on Margaret Hale during the final scene. Personally, I think Lady Dedlock pulled off the dress better (for some reason, I didn't like that dress on Margaret Hale, but that's another period drama, isn't it? ;-)  ). Lady Dedlock also wears some nice fichus, some of which are embroidered. But overall, Lady Dedlock's dresses are fairly dark, which would go with her character.

Esther with John Jarndyce

Esther and Ada also have nice dresses. Unlike Lady Dedlock, their dresses are brighter and have more color to them (though Esther does have a couple of darker dresses). Instead of wearing the decorated fichus that Lady Dedlock wears, Esther has a little bit of lace along the neckline of some of her dresses.

Bonnets... There were plenty of nice head wear in Bleak House. Lady Dedlock had hats and bonnets while the other ladies had bonnets. As with the dresses, Lady Dedlock's bonnets were dark while Ada's and Esther's were lighter and more colorful.

Overall: 4/5
Upon viewing the first episode, I didn't think I would very much like Bleak House as much as other period dramas, but once I watched more of it, I got very interested and very into the plot. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot that really keep you watching. Careful, you may go too quickly through it and get the feelings that I related to here.

Content wise, there is some violence and a few people die, some alcoholism, and a very brief scene containing opium (though this scene is divided between episodes), but nothing is graphic. There is also a scene that takes place in a morgue; it's not graphic, but it can be a little creepy. I would probably rate Bleak House TV-PG for content.

Bleak House is available on DVD and is currently on Netflix. It runs for 510 minutes: it is made up of fifteen half hour episodes (though on Netflix they put everything into 8 episodes that combined 2 episodes in one episode).

Review: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I first heard of The Mystery of Edwin Drood in one of my English classes -- that it was Charles Dickens's unfinished novel. I didn't know anything else about it, though, until this adaptation was announced. I finally got to watch it online through Masterpiece's website. Here are my thoughts.

DVD Box Art

Synopsis
John Jasper, a choir director, has been in love with Rosa Bud, the fiancee of his nephew, Edwin Drood. John Jasper is determined to get Rosa Bud, but he has to get Edwin Drood out of the way in order to do so.

Characters
Couple of familiar faces are present in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Tamzin Merchant (Rosa Bud) is also seen in Pride and Prejudice (2005) as Georgiana Darcy. Julia Mckenzie (Mrs. Crisparkle) is also seen in Cranford as Mrs. Forrester. Alun Armstrong (Mr. Grewgious) is also seen in Little Dorrit as Mr. Flintwich.

I didn't like Edwin Drood at first. Spoiler During the first half of the movie, but once he came back at the very end, he was a little more likable. (The fact that he actually came back at the end and was not killed is one of the biggest twists in the whole story). End of Spoiler He was an arrogant, conceited man. Most of the time, you felt that Rosa was too good for him, but after a little while you see that he really loved Rosa, though she did not love him back.

John Jasper watching Rosa Bud with Edwin Drood.

John Jasper is one of the creepiest characters in any period drama I have watched or any book I have read. Seriously, he made Rigaud from Little Dorrit look normal (okay, not quite normal, but you get my point). The story follows him around for a good deal of the time, which isn't necessarily a good thing. Due to his frequent opium usage, we see many of his hallucinations (which are usually creepy and violent).

Twins Neville and Helena Landless play a role in the story and contribute to one of the plot twists. Both of them were likable and they were good friends to Rosa Spoiler Why didn't Neville and Rosa get married?! He cared so much for her, but she only saw him as a friend. Uggh! End of Spoiler

Rosa walking with her guardian, Mr. Grewgious.

Scenery
The story takes place in the town of Cloisterham. The scenery is very grey and has very few colors, which fits with the story since it is not a happy story. There are scenes that take place within a cathedral; the cathedral is very lovely to look at. Other scenes take place at the school that Rosa lives, around Cloisterham and a little bit near London.

Music
Much of the music of The Mystery of Edwin Drood has a very serious tone to it. Apart from the soundtrack music, we are treated to church choir music, which is very nice to hear (though it would be nicer if John Jasper wasn't conducting them).

John Jasper with Rosa (though she hated being near him).
I do like the lace that she is wearing in this picture.

Costumes
The costumes were pretty! Rosa and Helena had some very nice dresses. Judging from the look of their dresses, I would say that the story took place either in the 1840s or the early 1850s. I liked how Rosa's necklines were trimmed and filled in with lace: it was a very pretty look. I do question why the costumers left Rosa's hair down for most of the movie. It was during the last couple of scenes her hair was put up as ladies would put up their hair at the time. She was young, so her hair down would have given the impression that she was young, but at 17, she should have had her hair up. Edwin Drood had some fancy jackets on, which would fit with his character.

Overall: 1.5/5
Let me just say this: this was one messed up plot. I'm still trying to absorb what just happened. In ways, the story was interesting, but it had a very creepy tone to it (hence the low rating). There are a lot of twists and turns in the story that keeps you watching however (at some parts my jaw dropped for a good couple of minutes as I said "WHAT?!"); I do have to say that some of those plot twists were pretty bizarre (dare I say unrealistic?). I guess with me, I saw it once and was mildly entertained, but probably wouldn't watch it again (unless someone I knew really, really wanted to see it).
Content... There is violence (no blood, but the same couple of violent scenes are flashed back to). There is also some drug use (John Jasper frequently uses opium and we see the effects of it). That was pretty much it, but those two issues are in the plot frequently. If this was in the theaters, it probably would be rated PG-13.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is available on DVD. It runs for 120 minutes.

Review: Great Expectations (2011)

My dear readers, I know I've been a little irregular in posting reviews, and I am most sorry for it. Things at school have gotten very busy lately, so I haven't had as much time to watch/review period dramas. But don't worry! School will be done for me at the start of May, so I will be back to posting reviews regularly. In the meanwhile, here is a review of the new Great Expectations to tide you over until my next review.

Well, Downton Abbey is over for another year... Now what to watch on Masterpiece Classic? Oh! Great Expectations will be playing soon! And so over a couple of weeks, I sat and watched Great Expectations. I had seen the 90s version starring Ioan Gruffudd and Justine Waddell, but didn't particularly care for it. But I thought I could watch this new version and see how it compares to the 90s version.

DVD Box Art

Synopsis
Young Pip is invited to the home of Miss Havisham to entertain her and Estella, a orphan that she raised after her fiancee abandoned her on her wedding day. Years later, Pip comes into a great fortune from an unknown benefactor that quickly changes his life. (Synopsis taken from my review of Great Expectations (1999))

Characters
There are some familiar faces in this miniseries that you may have seen in other period dramas. Miss Havisham is played by Gillian Anderson, who is also seen in Bleak House. Herbert Pocket is played by Harry Lloyd, who can been seen in Robin Hood and the recent version of Jane Eyre (and also the recent movie The Iron Lady). Herbert's fiancee, Clara, is played by Perdita Weeks, who was Lydia Bennet in Lost in Austen. And Jaggers is played by David Suchet, who was Melmotte in The Way We Live Now. Other than those faces, the rest of the cast was pretty new to me.

Miss Havisham is portrayed differently in this version of Great Expectations than the other version that I've seen. In the 1999 version, she was portrayed as being fully spiteful and always seeking revenge. In this one, she is still spiteful, but she is also a little insecure. There is a more sympathetic view taken of Miss Havisham in this miniseries. Spoiler Towards the end of the miniseries, Miss Havisham tells Pip that she wanted to hurt him and everyone else and that she was sorry for it and asks for Pip's forgiveness, which Pip grants. Also, the way Miss Havisham died in this miniseries was also different from the 1999 version (and from what I've read/heard, the book also). From what I've seen/heard/read about, in the book Miss Havisham was having an argument with Pip when she stood too close to the fire and caught on fire; even though Pip manages to put out the fire, she still dies from the burns. In this version, her and Pip have a talk (where she asks for his forgiveness) and Pip leaves; Miss Havisham proceeded to take what looked like love letters and her old bouquet, put on her wedding veil and proceeded down the stairs to the fireplace where she individually burns the letters and bouquet and drops them into the fireplace. One of those items happened to land too closely to her and lit her on fire. Pip, walking away outside, turns around to see that something has caught on fire at Satis House and runs back to help where, it is implied, is too late. Not sure how I feel about this interpretation other than I know it is different from the book. To me, it seemed like the film makers got a little artsy with this scene where they could have left the scene alone and do it like it was in the book.  End of Spoiler Between this Miss Havisham and the 90s one, I think I like this one a little bit more maybe because I got to see more of her and understand her better.

Various Characters from Great Expectations. From Left to
Right: Abel Magwitch, Estella Havisham, Miss Havisham,
Pip, and Jaggers.

Along with Miss Havisham, Estella is portrayed softer in this version. Miss Havisham does bring her up to not love, but I think that the way Estella is portrayed, she really does have feelings for Pip in spite of Miss Havisham's harsh upbringing. Estella warns Pip not to return to Satis House because of all the suffering there. Even when she says that she only used Pip, you could tell in her face that she didn't want to and that she felt bad about it. Spoiler Even on the way to her wedding to Drummle, she wants to stop the wedding (probably knowing that she has feelings for Pip and that Drummle would make her very unhappy), but she was forced to go through with it. End of Spoiler So, this Estella was more sympathetic than the other version. This Estella is portrayed as being powerless to everything going on around her. If Estella can be likable, this one was probably the most likable than the other Estella I've seen.

Of all the characters in this Great Expectations, the best character has to be Herbert Pocket. He was probably the most stable out of all the characters: no hidden back story, he cares for other characters, and he has no visible vices. Sure he got into a little fight with Pip when they were younger, but he grew out of it! He was probably my favorite character in the entire miniseries.

Pip... Not sure what to make of this Pip. I don't particularly care for the way that they made him look (more on that later). The acting was okay, I guess, but it didn't really stand out for me. Comparing this Pip to Ioan Gruffudd's Pip, I would say that they just about tie. Looking back on Ioan Gruffudd's Pip and this Pip, neither of them really made much of an impression on me. I will say that I liked younger Pip better than older Pip. I felt so bad for young Pip: everyone always mistreated him except for Joe Gargery, his sister's husband.

Scenery
Great Expectations is a bleak story, so don't expect the scenery to be very cheery. Many of the scenes were filmed in a greyish overtone, which reflected the tone of the story. The problem with that was that many characters looked extremely pale, like ghosts, in some scenes. I could understand Miss Havisham looking very pale, but not Pip or the other characters (well, maybe Estella, but probably not). My personal opinion is that I didn't care for the grey scenery, but it does fit in with the story.

Dining Hall of Satis House

Satis House was extremely dirty and the film makers made of point of it. There was a lot of mold growing in the house and even puddles? Now, I haven't read Great Expectations, so this could be a accurate portrayal of the house, but it seems to me like there isn't anyone that could live in that house without getting sick. How did Miss Havisham raise Estella there without either of them becoming gravely ill? I am glad that in this adaptation they left out the rats crawling all over the tables like the 1999 version. *Shutters*


Costumes
The costumes were okay. The fashionable ladies wore what looked like 1830s fashions towards the end of the miniseries, which leads me to think that the story took place over about 20 years (starting at 1812 and ending sometime in the 1830s).

Miss Havisham in her wedding dress.

Miss Havisham wore the same wedding dress that she had on for years (which is fitting). From the look of her wedding dress, it looks like she was supposed to be married sometime in the early Regency era. But this puts into question what her age really is. If the story starts in 1812 and we assume that Pip and Estella are about 7 and since Miss Havisham adopted Estella shortly after she was abandoned at the alter, I would say that Miss Havisham should have gotten married about 1805, so that would fall in the right era. Now, as for calculating Miss Havisham's age, that might be a little more difficult. If we assume she got married at 20, and we assume that Pip grows up to be about 27 or 28 before getting his inheritance, that would make Miss Havisham 45 by the end of the story (and 27 when the story begins): 27 is extremely young to have white hair, and at 45, she would still be too young to have completely white hair (unless it turned white prematurely when she was in her 20s). If she was an older bride, maybe 28?, that would make her 53 at the end, which is still young to have completely white hair. I guess I'm wondering about how they presented Miss Havisham's age. From the look of her face, she looks fairly young, but haggard, but the white hair makes her look older.

...Anyways! Onto another subject!

Estella and Pip after dancing.

I'm sorry, but I have issues with the way Pip and Estella looked. To me, Pip looked too girly and Estella wasn't girly enough. Estella didn't look terrible, but compared to Pip, Pip was the one that looked more girly. I don't know if it was something they did in makeup, but still that vexed me.

Estellas gowns were nice and pretty to look at. I do question some of their accuracy, however. Many of her dresses showed off her entire shoulder. For the 1830s, part of the shoulder was starting to be shown off, but I don't think it was as much as Estella was showing.

Overall: 2.5/5
Well, I know I rated this higher than the 90s version, but I'm still not quite sure which one I liked better. With this one, I felt like I knew the story better, but the other one was a little lighter (did I just say that?). Throughout most of the miniseries, I didn't particularly care for it, but I will say that it did get better towards the end. Content-wise, there is some violence and blood and some suggestive themes. If it was in theaters, it may earn a PG-13 Rating.

Great Expectations is available on DVD and Blu-Ray. It is made up of three one hour long episodes.

Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Dickens! (Featuring Bonanza!)

Two hundred years ago today, a man named Charles Dickens was born in England.

I don't know very much about Charles Dickens, but I did enjoy the 2008 adaptation of Little Dorrit and A Christmas Carol is a very good Christmas classic! I am interested in becoming better acquainted with his works, though.

I always enjoyed this episode of the show Bonanza where Charles Dickens visits Virginia City. I knew that he visited America and that he was very popular, and though I'm not sure how accurate a protrayal of Charles Dickens this is, I enjoyed the episode nevertheless.



Also, don't forget to head over to Old-Fashioned Charm and Of Trims and Frills and Furbelows for their Dickens events, which will continue for the rest of the week!


 God Bless,
 

Celebrate Charles Dickens's Birthday!

Charles Dickens's 200th Birthday is on February 7th, so to celebrate his birthday, two lovely blogs are holding week long events!



There's going to be "Charles Dickens Birthday Week at Old-Fashioned Charm. There will be special posts about Charles Dickens, Games to play, and a giveaway!

Alexandra from Of Trims and Frills and Furbelows  is holding "Dickens' Bicentennial Celebration Week". Alexandra is going to have film comparisons, a dream casting, and video clips!
I encourage you to check out both events! 

 God Bless,

 

Two New Great Expectations... Two New Miss Havishams

 You may have heard that there are going to be not just one, but two new adaptations of Great Expectations. And you may have also heard that two period drama actresses, Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) and Gillian Anderson (Bleak House), are both to play Miss Havisham. But have you seen the pictures of their Miss Havisham's yet?

Helena Bonham Carter

Gillian Anderson

I noticed that Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham is wearing Georgian Fashions (notice the heavily trimmed sleeves), while Gillian Anderson's is wearing Regency fashions. If the story starts around 1812, Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham will have fashions that are at least fifteen years old and Gillian Anderson's would have more current fashions for the time. Would Gillian Anderson's Miss Havisham be portrayed as being much younger than how some of us might picture Miss Havisham? Of course, I've never read Great Expectations, so I can't really say which is more accurate to the story.

I also heard that one of the versions will have a different ending than the book...

What do you think? Who do you think will be the better Miss Havisham?

God Bless,
 

Review: Great Expectations

Box Art

I've never read Great Expectations, but I was aware of it and knew it was a classic. I noticed this film in a store once, but I kind of glanced past it. After a while, I noticed this movie on Youtube, so I thought I would give it a try on Youtube and see if I liked it or not.

Synopsis
Young Pip is invited to the home of Miss Havisham to entertain her and Estella, a orphan that she raised after her fiancee abandoned her on her wedding day. Years later, Pip comes into a great fortune from an unknown benefactor that quickly changes his life.

Characters
I only recognized three members of the cast. Though I haven't yet seen Amazing Grace (but I really want to!), I knew of Ioan Gruffudd (though I never realized it, he was also in 102 Dalmations, which I loved to watch as a kid) and he was Pip in this version of Great Expectations. Justine Waddell from Wives and Daughters was also in this adaptation as Estella. The last actor that I recognized: I saw Jaggers come onto the screen and I thought "Where have I seen him before", and it dawned on me that he was in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (though not my favorite Star Wars movie). Other than those three, I didn't recognize anyone else in this Great Expectations.

Miss Havisham (seated) with young Estella
and young Pip

The acting overall was good. However, this was one of those movies where you like a couple of character, and the rest you either don't like too much or they just irritate you. Characters like Joe and Herbert I found to be likable, and, at first, I found Pip likable. Pip kind of got on my nerves after he got money: I thought he started to spend money irresponsibly, but this was probably the angle that Dickens was going for to prove a point; maybe Pip was similar to Mr. Dorrit in Little Dorrit -- how Mr. Dorrit got his money and started to act like a jerk to everyone from his past, only in Little Dorrit, there wasn't much of a sign that he was running out of money while he was spending it while in Great Expectations there is talk of Pip running out of money. But back to my original point, before Pip became rich, he seemed a lot more likable. Other characters, like Miss Havisham, Estella, and Mrs. Joe, I couldn't like too much. Well, maybe I felt more sorry for Estella after she got married, but before that I really didn't like her. Miss Havisham seemed to be a little "off her rocker" (for lack of a better phrase), and Mrs. Joe seemed to treat young Pip unfairly all the time.

Scenery
Since the story isn't really a happy story, you won't find much bright, colorful scenery as you would in other period dramas. Most scenes have a grayish tinge to them and, for the second half of the movie, take place in the middle of London. There are some scenes in the country, but they aren't anything spectacular.

Costumes

Justine Waddell as Estella

The costumes were good! Estella's dresses were very lovely to look at; they seemed to dress her in a lot of red (at least to my memory). Miss Havisham had only one dress: a Regency era wedding dress. It would make sense for her to have Regency fashion: yes, she is wealthy, but she also hasn't left her home in a very long time and she is also older.

Music
There wasn't much music to speak of. If there was a soundtrack to this miniseries, it would be composed of probably only one song: a very eerie song that seemed to pop up every once in a while. 

Overall: 2/5
I found this Great Expectations to be only tolerable. Some of the costumes were okay to look at, but not much else recommended itself to me. While the acting was good, I found a lot of the characters to be dislikable or irritating. I'm not quite sure if this version is accurate to the original story (though, from what I read on a synopsis, the ending was different), so if anyone out there has read the novel and can compare it with this adaptation, I would be thankful. Honestly, I probably wouldn't watch this version again, but maybe if a new version of Great Expectations came out (which, from what I hear, there are two in the making), I might watch it.

Great Expectations is available on DVD. It is a two part movie that runs all together for 168 minutes.

Review: Little Dorrit

I'm a big fan of the 2008 miniseries of Little Dorrit, and I've read a little bit of the book (though a small part of it), but everything seemed to follow the story okay (maybe a couple of things left out or changed, but nothing too bad). I've heard of this version of Little Dorrit, but I didn't think too much of it, but I saw it on Netflix's instant streaming, so I thought that I would give it a try.

Synopsis

VHS Box Art

Synopsis from Little Dorrit (2008)
William Dorrit is imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt. His daughter, Amy (also known as Little Dorrit), lives with him in prison and goes out to support him secretly because of his pride. Amy gets a job doing needlework for Mrs. Clennam whose husband and son are overseas in China. When Mrs. Clennam's son Arthur returns from China, he brings word that his father has died and that his dying wish was to correct a wrong. Arthur notices that Amy is working for his mother, and learns that her father is imprisoned in the Marshalsea for numerous debts. He suspects that his family might have something to do with this, and he tries to right the suspected wrong.

This miniseries is divided into two parts: the first part is Arthur Clennam's story, while part 2 is Amy Dorrit's story.


Characters/Presentation of Story
There were three members of the cast that I recognized: Sir Alec Guinness (easily recognizable from Star Wars Episodes 4-6) was William Dorrit; Derek Jacobi (The King's Speech) was Arthur Clennam; and Liz Smith (Lark Rise to Candleford) had a couple minute scene early in Part 2.

Derek Jacobi as Arthur Clennam

I had a lot of issues with this miniseries. First of all, I didn't like how they told about 95% of the story through Arthur's eyes, then part 2 comes and you have to rewatch the entire thing through Amy's eyes. I could understand why they did this if the book was actually like that, but it isn't. I've read about 200-250 pages of Little Dorrit (which I really enjoyed, but I fell away from reading it, so I'll have to start over one of these days... Oh well.), and the book goes back and forth between the different plotlines (for example, there will be a couple of chapters that focus on Arthur and then a couple that focus more on Amy). So the directors told the whole story (complete with spoilers and holes) and then go to Amy where you can tell what's going to happen next? It didn't seem to make much sense to me...

The next issue that I had was what they left out of this miniseries. In the book (and the 2008 miniseries), there are three main plots: Amy Dorrit and her life taking care of her family, Arthur Clennam and how he's trying to find out a family secret, and the escaped convict Rigaud (who does become a pretty big part of the story). They included the first two plots, but completely left out the third. Since that plotline that includes Rigaud becomes very important at the end of the book, they completely had to rework the ending... and not in a good way. The ending just turned out to be a big mess.

There were even subplots left out of the movie (which may be a little more forgivable since you can usually work the story around enough without changing the story and leaving less important parts out). I also didn't like that they mixed up the order of scenes. Like I've said before, I've only read 200-250 pages of Little Dorrit, but even with that little bit that I've read, I could already tell that scenes were mixed up.

If characters weren't left out, their part in the story was changed severely. The Meagles were only there briefly (and you get the impression that Arthur knew them for a really long time), you don't get to see Pet Meagles after she gets married, Daniel Doyce dies in the middle of the story (which wasn't necessary and another reason the ending had to be reworked) and Pancks's had a bigger role in the end than he should have.

I will say this, however. They did do a good job of making Maggy and Pancks look like their characters described in the book and Amy did look young. However, I thought that Derek Jacobi looked too old to be Arthur. In the book, Arthur is supposed to be about 40, but in this movie, he looked like he was in his fifties.


Scenery

The Marshalsea

The scenery was okay, but I thought that the Marshalsea was too bright for a prison. I know I usually like vivid scenery with lots of colors, but I don't think that it worked for the Marshalsea. I'm not saying to make it black and white, but tone down the colors a little: it is a prison after all. I will say that they did succeed in making the Marshalsea look cramped.


Costumes
The overall quality of the costumes wasn't too bad. They looked okay and seemed to be constructed properly. However, I think that these costumes are inaccurate to the time period. Little Dorrit takes place around 1826, which would be after the Regency Era and before the Romantic Era. From the looks of the costumes, it seemed like they were more from the 1840s and even 1850s: the way that the sleeves were, the poof of the skirt, and some of the necklines screamed 1840s or 1850s.

Sarah Pickering as Amy Dorrit

Music
I wasn't too impressed with the music score. When music did come on, it usually came on blaring and overly dramatic at times. It was also really difficult to hear some of the speaking parts, namely Amy, but other characters were really hard to hear too...

Overall: 1/5
Honestly, if you want to watch Little Dorrit and really enjoy it, watch the 2008 miniseries: the costuming was closer to the time period (although some seemed like they were from the 1830s, but it would be closer than the 1840s/1850s), the acting was so much better, and it was far, far more interesting. This miniseries is very dull (which it shouldn't be since the story itself is interesting) and even hard to hear (I know Amy is supposed to be quiet, but to the point that you can't hear her?). I will say that this miniseries doesn't include the questionable scenes that were in the 2008 miniseries (although those scenes can be skipped over fairly easily), so if you wanted to show a younger audience this Little Dorrit, there really shouldn't be a problem with questionable scenes: the hard part would be actually keeping the kids interested in this movie...

Little Dorrit is available on VHS or on Netflix instant streaming. It is rated G and runs for 357 minutes.