Review: Jane Eyre (2006)

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I know, the last review I did was for Jane Eyre (2011) (granted, a long time ago), so you're getting two Jane Eyre reviews in a row. But I had been curious about this version despite its content issues. This one was not available on Netflix, but it was uploaded on YouTube, so I watched it there. This would be Jane Eyre Version #5 that I've seen, so I have plenty of other adaptations to compare to, which can be both a good and a bad thing. On the upside, there is plenty to compare to and any unique aspects of this miniseries would be easily recognizable. The bad side: I already have ideas on how adaptations of Jane Eyre should be (but not that's ever stopped me before). From reading around on other period drama blogs, the impression I had of this version before viewing it all the way through was that the major objection to this version was the content, but that the rest was pretty good, so I tried to keep an eye out for scenes that might have content issues (which did detract from my enjoyment of the miniseries, to be honest) but at the same time watch and see how this adaptation presented the story.

Synopsis
(Synopsis taken from my review of Jane Eyre (1983) )
Young Jane Eyre, an orphan, lives with her rich but cruel Aunt, Mrs. Reed and her cousins at Gateshead Hall until Mrs. Reed sends her away to Lowood School to be educated and be rid of her. Ten years after receiving an education and without connections, Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall to young Adele Varens, the ward of Thornfield's master, Mr. Edward Rochester. Thornfield itself holds many secrets and Mr. Rochester is very mysterious and strange, but Jane eventually falls in love with him.

Review: Little Women (1978)

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After The Inheritance, I finally got to watch this older version of Little Women. I wanted to watch it, but I didn't expect to like it very much. So why did I want to watch it in the first place? I wasn't all that fond of the 1994 movie of it. I've heard bad reviews of it (that it was a poor production). I even admitted that I liked The Inheritance better than Little Women. So why watch this version? One word: Shatner. That's right: Star Trek actor William Shatner is in this version of Little Women. Now I wouldn't classify William Shatner as the greatest actor, but he has such a presence that makes him enjoyable to watch. I was lucky to find this version of Little Women online at Hulu.com. Hulu is a free site if you use it on the computer, but if you want to watch it on your tablet or TV, you have to get a subscription to Hulu Plus.

Synopsis
Adapted from my review of Little Women (1994)
Little Women revolves around the lives of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, and their mother, Mrs. March [called Marmee]. Mr. March, Mrs. March's husband and Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy's father, is off fighting in the Civil War. Jo March, the main protagonist, becomes quick friends with Theodore "Laurie" Laurence who falls in love with her. 

Review: Jane Eyre (1983)

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And continuing on my quest to watch 12 - 15 period dramas for the Period Drama Challenge, I present to you my review for Jane Eyre (1983). Up to this point, I had seen two versions of Jane Eyre all the way through and clips from various other versions (this one included). The Jane Eyres I have seen up to this point weren't as accurate to the original story as it could have been, but I had heard good things about this version around the period drama blog world (and the clips I had seen of it reinforced the point). I had seen that this version on Netflix for a while, and I finally watched it over a week.

Synopsis
Young Jane Eyre, an orphan, lives with her rich but cruel Aunt, Mrs. Reed and her cousins at Gateshead Hall until Mrs. Reed sends her away to Lowood School to be educated and be rid of her. Ten years after receiving an education and without connections, Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield Hall to young Adele Varens, the ward of Thornfield's master, Mr. Edward Rochester. Thornfield itself holds many secrets and Mr. Rochester is very mysterious and strange, but Jane eventually falls in love with him.

Review: Sense and Sensibility (1971)

Certainly took me long enough to review this! Why, it's been listed as Coming Soon in my Review Index for how long? This was the last thing I bought at my local Borders before it closed. But even though it took me a long time to watch this, I'm glad I waited this long because I recognized three actors from Poldark! But we originally got this because Patricia Routledge is in it. My mom is a fan of the show Keeping Up Appearances which stars Patricia Routledge, so she wanted to see how "Hyacinth" was going to act in there.

Synopsis

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Taken from the review for Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Sense and Sensibility follows the story of two sisters: sensible Elinor Dashwood and passionate Marianne Dashwood. When their father Mr. Henry Dashwood dies, his property, Norland, is passed to his son from his first marriage, John Dashwood. Before he died, Henry Dashwood made John promise to take care of his current wife and two daughters. John promises to take care of them and wants to give them some money, but he is persuaded by his wife, Fanny, not to. Meanwhile, the Dashwood women prepare to receive John and Fanny, and when they arrive, Fanny announces that her brother Edward Ferrars will be joining them. Edward arrives and him and Elinor form an attachment, which is broken off by Fanny.

Review: Titanic (2012)

No, I don't mean the 1997 movie that was recently re-released in 3D starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. The Titanic I'm referring to is the 2012 miniseries written by Julian Fellowes, known for creating Downton Abbey. I found out about this miniseries some time ago before it was released in America. I was interested in it since Julian Fellowes wrote the screenplay. I didn't know all that much about the Titanic (other than it sank after it struck an iceberg) and I had heard that the 1997 movie Titanic was not as accurate as it could have been. But I had heard that Julian Fellowes pays close attention to period correctness (though, we must allow, that some artistic license must have been taken), so I thought I would give this miniseries a try after finding it on Netflix.

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Synopsis
Told in a nonlinear format, this miniseries follows the finishing touches that were put on the Titanic towards the end of it's construction, the boarding of its passengers (some wanting to take a trip to America, others searching for a better life), and the fateful night that it struck an iceberg and sunk. Multiple subplots are followed including the voyage of Lord and Lady Manton and their daughter Georgiana Grex, the Batleys (a middle class couple) and the Maloneys (an Irish family seeking a better life in America).

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.

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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: 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.

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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.

Review: North and South

I heard about North and South from various places: Amazon recommendations, other blogs, even some of my followers recommended it. A while ago, my mom and I were at Barnes and Noble, and we picked up North and South along with Downton Abbey. We finally got to watch North and South last week. Here's what I thought.

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Synopsis
When Mr. Hale, a clergyman, has a matter of conscience on his mind regarding his position, he uproots his family from Helston in the south of England to Milton, an industrial town in the north of England, to become a tutor. Mr. Hale's daughter, Margaret, takes an immediate dislike to Milton: she witnesses an employer of a cotton mill mistreating one of his employees. Margaret soon finds out that her father has taken a new pupil, Mr. Thornton, the same employer that witnessed mistreating his employee.

Characters
There are a couple of members of the cast that you might recognize: Mrs. Hale was played by Lesley Manville who was Mrs. Rose in Cranford; Nicholas Higgins was played by Brendan Coyle who was Robert Timmins in Lark Rise to Candleford and John Bates in Downton Abbey. Frederick Hale was played by Rupert Evans who was Frank Churchill in the latest adaptation of Emma.

Margaret Hale (Right) and Mr. Thornton (Middle) in Milton:
notice the grey overtones.

For about 75% of the miniseries, I really disliked Mr. Thornton... and even by the end, I only got to the point where I admitted that he was "okay". It seemed like he couldn't control his temper most of the time, or he would be extremely rude. By the end, when he started to get along with Nicholas Higgins, a former union leader, and how he started to take interested in the newly orphaned children that Nicholas was taking care of, he started to get a little more humanity to him and became a little more likable. To me, it was a bit difficult to like his character throughout the entire miniseries.

It took me a little bit to like Margaret, but it didn't take too long. For a while, I thought that she took any opportunity of butting her way into conversations between Mr. Thornton and her father, which kind of caused me to think that she was looking for any chance to argue with Mr. Thornton. By the second half of the miniseries, she stopped that and even started to like Mr. Thornton. Overall, I like her character, but like any character in literature, she has her faults like the rest of us.

Scenery

Helstone in the South

I didn't like the scenery very much throughout 95% of the movie. Most of the scenes took place in Milton: since it is an industrial town, there are a lot of gray colors (due to smoke). Milton was not pretty to look at, which was probably the angle that the film-makers were going for. The country scenes were very pretty! Whenever scenes were in the country, the colors were very bold and popped out at you. The scenes in the country were few though, so there are only a couple of scenes where you get to see the vibrant colors.

Costumes
I thought the costuming was good. I liked some of Margaret's outfits. My favorite one has to be the white blouse with the dark green skirt. Some of her dresses I really didn't care for (like the dress she had during the final scene at the train station: I really didn't like that one), but for the most part, I liked her dresses. Some of Fanny Thornton's dresses were also nice (but I disliked her character).

Music
The music was mostly very serious since the story was a serious story. Most of the pieces were slow moving and had a lower tone to them.

Overall: 4/5
I liked North and South, but I wouldn't say it's my favorite. Spoiler Towards the end, it seemed like characters were dying off one by one. At least four prominent characters died by the end and one was about to die in a short while. End of Spoiler I tend to like more lighthearted stories, so it can be difficult for me to like a more serious storyline, but I did like it. It kept me interested throughout the entire miniseries. There are some implications, violence and people do die in this miniseries, but other than that there really isn't anything too bad in this miniseries.

North and South is available on a two disk DVD. It is 235 minutes long and has four episodes.

Review: Sense and Sensibility (2008)

I had gotten a couple of requests on here about this version of Sense and Sensibility. I was a little skeptical about this version, since I am so fond of the Emma Thompson version. I know with the Emma Thompson version, they did leave out a lot of scenes and characters (which I found out as I was reading the book), but I still liked it a lot despite all that was missing. Then I watched this version, and I still liked it, but I did notice some similarities and differences. Here are my thoughts on this version. Note: I do tend to make comparisons to the 1995 movie in this review, so be warned. :-)

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Synopsis - Taken from the review for Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Sense and Sensibility follows the story of two sisters: sensible Elinor Dashwood (Hattie Morahan) and passionate Marianne Dashwood (Charity Wakefield). When their father Mr. Henry Dashwood dies, his property, Norland, is passed to his son from his first marriage, John Dashwood. Before he died, Henry Dashwood made John promise to take care of his current wife and three daughters (Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret). John promises to take care of them and wants to give them some money, but he is persuaded by his wife, Fanny, not to. Meanwhile, the Dashwood women prepare to receive John and Fanny, and when they arrive, Fanny announces that her brother Edward Ferrars (Dan Stevens) will be joining them. Edward arrives and him and Elinor form an attachment, which is broken off by Fanny.


Characters
There are a few actors and actresses that you might recognize. Linda Bassett, who was Mrs. Jennings, was on Lark Rise to Candleford, Dan Stevens (Edward Ferrars) is on Downton Abbey, and Hattie Morahan was on one episode of Lark Rise to Candleford.

A lot of the characters that were left out of the 1995 movie were included in this miniseries. We get to see Lady Middleton (she was dead in the 1995 movie), the Middleton children (there were no children in the movie), Harry Dashwood (John and Fanny's son who wasn't in the movie at all), Anne Steele (who wasn't in the movie), and Mrs. Ferrars (who was only mentioned in the movie). There were also scenes that were included in this version that were left out of the 1995 movie: Willoughby's confession scene, the dinner with Mrs. Ferrars, among others.

Anne and Lucy Steele talking with Elinor.

The addition of Anne Steele, Mrs. Ferrars, and the Middletons were very good editions. I have always wondered with the 1995 movie what it would be like if those characters were added in. Anne Steele was very amusing: Spoiler the scene where she tells Fanny about Lucy's engagement to Edward was hilarious! End of Spoiler I thought, however, that there should have been more scenes with Lady Middleton and Mrs. Palmer, but definitely with Mrs. Palmer. She wasn't in the miniseries as often as she should have been. I was happy that they included the dinner with Mrs. Ferrars; the 1995 movie left out that Edward was supposed to marry Miss Morton, but I'm glad that they included that with the dinner scene.

Margaret Dashwood's character, I could nearly swear, was taken from the 1995 movie. In the movie, she was hiding under a table in the library and was prone to be a little shy. Here, they have her hiding under the bed, hiding up trees, and (in a similar scene) she was crouched down behind a table in the library at Norland and from the screen view almost looks like she was hiding. Also, like in the movie, they show the friendship between her and Edward, something that was not in the book. I am glad that they made Margaret thirteen instead of a few years younger like in the movie.

Left to Right: Colonel Brandon, Edward Ferrars,
John Willoughby, Marianne Dashwood, and Elinor Dashwood.

Elinor and Marianne were portrayed well. I thought that Marianne should have been a little more emotional (just enough to prove Jane Austen's point on how over-emotion can be a bad thing). But overall, I thought these were good portrayals of Elinor and Marianne.

I thought that the actor who was Willoughby was too creepy for his role. I know he isn't a good character, but the Dashwood women were supposed to notice how handsome, charming, and unthreatening he was. Here, it seemed that anyone would be creeped out by him and you couldn't trust him just by looking at him. *shudders*

Scenery/Scenes
The scenery was a little dark for an Austen adaptation. I know Sense and Sensibility isn't as lighthearted as Pride and Prejudice or Emma, but I didn't think that it was very dark, just serious. The colors were also a little washed-out and dull for my taste; it seemed like many days were cloudy for the Dashwoods. The scenery would have been much better if there was more color present.

There were a couple of invented scenes. Like the 1995 movie, invented was the scene in which Marianne goes out for a walk in the rain at Cleveland, gets sick, and needs Colonel Brandon to bring her back. There were also scenes added to develop Edward's friendship with Margaret.

I also want to include a small note: I did not watch the first scene of this miniseries. A while ago, I saw what it was and turned it off. It was a bit of a mature scene (which I thought was out of place since Jane Austen didn't go into detail about that part). But when I heard that it was the only mature scene throughout the whole miniseries, I gave it a second chance. I can assure you that throughout the rest of the miniseries there weren't any more mature scenes.

Elinor, Marianne, and Mrs. Jennings at the ball in London.

Costuming
I did like the costuming, although I found the dresses to have a rather low waistline for the Regency era. The costuming seemed to go back and forth between Regency era gown to Gregorian gowns, which for some characters I found a little confusing, namely for Mrs. Ferrars. Mrs. Ferrars is rich and in London, in the middle of the English fashion world: why, then, was she wearing out-of-date fashions for a dinner party? I would imagine her character buying the latest fashions, not using old gowns. I noticed that Mrs. Jennings occasionally would wear older gowns, but she also had Regency gowns.

Elinor and Marianne both dressed nicely. I liked Elinor's dark purple over robe that she wears on the cover; it has a similar build to the over robes in the 1995 movie. Marianne tended to dress in bright, colorful gowns while Elinor's tended to be more sedate (showing their contrasting personalities).

Music
The music was okay, but it was mostly serious. Most of the songs had a sad overtone and were a little slow moving. There was one piece of music, however, that I thought didn't fit in with the time period. In the scene where Colonel Brandon goes out to look for Marianne at Cleveland, there was kind of an odd beginning to the piece, almost as if it came out of an 80's action movie. It seemed a little out of place, but it was a small issue.

Overall: 4/5
I'm still partial to the 1995 movie (in fact, I probably like that one a little bit more). For the 1995 version, even though characters and scenes were left out, I thought that the overall gist of Sense and Sensibility was capture (overtones, character personalities, etc.). Here, it stays closer to the book as far as scenes and including characters goes, but I thought it was a little darker than what Sense and Sensibility was written to be. But I did enjoy watching this miniseries. I wouldn't be sorry to watch it again!

Sense and Sensibility is available on DVD either on it's own or can be purchased in a collection along with Persuasion (2007). It runs for 180 minutes and it is divided into three episodes.

Review: Middlemarch

Lastly in The George Eliot Collection, my mom and I watched Middlemarch (I will have reviewed all the movies in The George Eliot Collection except for one, Silas Marner). I never heard about it until I started watching period dramas.

Box art

Synopsis
There are two main storylines to Middlemarch. The first one is about a woman, Dorothea Brooke (Juliet Aubrey), who marries the middle-aged Casaubon. She wishes to help him with his research, but he gets irriated when she tries to help him. She meets Casaubon's young cousin, Will Ladislaw, and the two quickly become close. The second is about a doctor named Tertius Lydgate, who comes to Middlemarch. He soon afterwards, marries the beautiful Rosamond Vincy and then deals with financial problems.

Characters
Fans of Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice) might be interested to know that his brother, Jonathan Firth, was in this movie. Other than that, there weren't any actors or actresses that I recognized.

I had a really hard time telling the characters apart for a good majority of the movie. Most of the men looked too much alike. This made it difficult to follow certain parts of the story. They should have dressed them differently from each other or give the characters different hair colors, something to tell them apart. It's wasier to tell woman characters apart, since they all wear their hair differently and dress differently. With the men, it was difficult, indeed!

Casaubon, Dorothea, and Landislaw.

Since the plot is divided into two storylines, it would be inevitable to compare them with each other. The whole storyline with Dorothea was a bit uninteresting: Spoilers she marries an older man hoping to help him on his research, but he doesn't want her to help him, she starts to love his cousin (who looked shifty, if you ask me), and then her husband dies and his will prevents her from marrying his cousin. End of Spoilers There really wasn't anything very interesting going on in that plot. It was all a bit dull.

The Lydgate story fared a little bit better than the Dorothea story. It was a little bit more interesting, but even throughout most of that story, it was one bad thing happening after another. If you're looking for something to cheer you up, this isn't the right storyline for you...

Scenery
Kind of disappointing. Usually for BBC miniseries, there is such lovely scenery and bright, beautiful colors. I don't know if they used an inferior camera or the technology wasn't great, but the colors did not look that good. There was also a brief screen or two towards the end where the picture was very poor, but after a few shots, it went back to normal. Scenes took place in Middlemarch and a couple in Rome, both inside and outside.

Costuming

Rosamond and Lydgate on their wedding day.

Nothing really spactacular as far as costuming was in this miniseries. Since Dorothea has a plain personality, she was dressed in very plain clothing. I will say that Rosamond had very pretty dresses; her dresses had a very nice color on them and they were in very pretty styles. Her dresses were probably the best throughout the entire miniseries.

Like I said before, they should have varied the men's costumes, since it was difficult to tell them apart.

Overall: 1/5
Not very good. The whole miniseries was dull, uninteresting, and hard to follow. I didn't like it very much. There was one adult scene, but it didn't last too long. It was hard to pay attention what was going on throughout the miniseries. I probably wouldn't watch it again. I know there are a lot of people who love this miniseries, but I did not like it. Although, Rosamond's costumes were very nice: if you are looking for costume ideas, you might want to take a look at her dresses.

Middlemarch is available on DVD through The George Eliot Collection or you can purchase it on it's own. It runs for 375 minutes. It has six episodes with varying lengths.

Review: The Buccaneers

My mom and I went to Borders one evening. We searched among the DVDs for some bargains, but couldn't find any until I saw a wall with a bunch of bargains. We looked at them and saw The Buccaneers, which we both heard about, but didn't know anything about, but for $15, we decided to try it.

Synopsis

Four "new money" American girls, Virginia St. George, Nan St. George (Carla Gugino), Conchita Closson, and Lizzy Elmsworth, cannot get into upper New York society until Nan's governess, Laura Testvalley, suggests that they try a season in England. The girls go over to England and find themselves husbands, however marriage to rich Englishmen is not what they expected. Nan makes the best marriage materially, but she becomes very unhappy and finds that she loves Guy Thwait (Greg Wise).

Characters

I really only recognized two of the cast. I recognized Carla Gugino (Nan) from Night at the Museum and Greg Wise (Guy Thwait) from both Sense and Sensibility and Cranford. The rest of the cast seemed to be new to me (although I thought the actor that played Lord Richard, who marries Conchita early in the miniseries, was Alan Rickman, but he just looked a lot like him).



The Buccaneers: Conchita, Lizzy,
Nan, and Virginia

For the first part of the movie, the girls act... well, like little girls. It seemed that all they do is run around outside and tumble down hills. If they wanted to show them having fun, they should have done so that was more becoming of adults, not three year olds. I suppose if they wanted to show them running around outside maybe once in a while, but it seemed like for the first half of the miniseries that was all they did. It was kind of hard to take them seriously.

It seemed like at the end, either no one got what they wanted, no one was happy, or someone was happy, but got this happiness through scandalous behavior. None of these characters were good role models, which, for me at least, makes it extremely difficult to relate to any of the characters and hence I have a hard time liking the movie. Even Miss Testvalley, who I liked at first because she seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders, started to make bad judgments and became less likable towards the end.

Scenery

As usual, BBC does a great job with picking great scenery. The story shifts between America and England. Both places have great houses, more so in England where all the aristocrats live. There is a brief outdoor scene by a house near the sea. The houses are very big and nicely furnished. The only problem I had was in one house, there was a room full of immodest paintings. I understand that a lot of paintings had that style, and it would be one thing if they were in the room and not focused on for too long, but there were multiple scenes where the pictures are viewed (and zoomed in upon and examined). I didn't particularly care for that at all. Excepting that one part, there is very lovely scenery in this miniseries.

Nan and Miss Testvalley

Costumes

Hit and miss. Sometimes, they did look nice, but there were other times that they did not look that great. This story takes place during the bustle era of the Victorian era (early 1870's). Some of the clothes that they picked for Nan did not flatter her at all; other times, she looked alright, but there were just some of those times where she was not flattered by her clothes. Whatever they were doing before when she looked alright, they should have done that throughout the miniseries.

Overall: 0.5/5
I will come out and say this bluntly: this movie is definately not for children. There are many adult topics discussed and there were some very mature scenes. From what I read, these added scenes were not in the original novel, which leads me to this question: "Why did they add them in the first place?" Those additional scenes, from what I have read, were why this film was controversial; I can see why. While some costumes were alright and the scenery did afford some nice color (hence why it didn't get a flat 0), they were not enough to save this film. The characters become increasingly dislikable as the series went on. I wouldn't really recommend this film.

The Buccaneers is available on DVD. It runs for 212 minutes.

Pictures from here.

Review: Mill on the Floss

Haven't watch movies from The George Eliot Collection in a while. My mom and I had some time this weekend to watch Mill on the Floss, which neither of us had heard of before we got The George Eliot Collection. We were able to watch it in one evening, even though it was a miniseries.

Box Art

Synopsis

Mill on the Floss follows the story of Maggie and Tom Tulliver, two siblings who live at a mill by a river. When their father, Mr. Tulliver, loses the mill to Mr. Wakem, a lawyer, he suffers a stoke. Mr. Tulliver stays at the mill as Mr. Waken's manager until his death, though he despises working for Mr. Waken. Meanwhile, Maggie grows fond of Phillip Waken, Mr. Wakem's hunchbacked son.

Characters

Watchers of Keeping Up Appearances will notice that Judy Cornwell, who was Daisy in Keeping Up Appearances, is much seen as Mrs. Tulliver, Maggie and Tom's mother. Other than her, I didn't see anyone else that I would have recognized. But, on to the characters...

What was up with young Maggie? The girl was positively nuts! Between randomly cutting her hair and abusing her doll, this girl was crazy. She also would change moods very quickly: she would go from being glad to see her cousin, Lucy, and asking her to stay with them for a while to pushing her into the mud. Thankfully, she does grow out of this very wild behavior; if she was going to be like that the whole miniseries, it would have been less enjoyable.


Adult Maggy reading outside.

Adult Maggie really mellowed out. She seemed much more likable than she was when she was younger - she was less... crazed. She still would have her tiffs with Tom, but they didn't seem to last as long as the one when they were younger. What bothered me a little was that her and Tom seemed to fight a lot, but then it seemed like they were best friends only a short while later. There was no period after the fights where they wouldn't talk to each other a while. I'm not saying that they shouldn't talk to each other, but it's natural to not talk to someone you were fighting with for a while.

Tom always seemed to want to starts fights all the time. I would understand this if he was always a boy, but even when he grows up, he always seems to start fights with Maggie. It got a little annoying after a while.

Scenery
Some of the outdoor scenes were nice, but since this was made in the late 70's, the miniseries comes across as more like a play (which seems to be common for BBC adaptations prior to the 90's probably due to the lack of technology that we have today in filming). Obviously, the colors aren't going to be as striking as some of the more recent period dramas. There were a couple of nice outdoor scenes, though. Scenes took place outside along the river or in the forest or indoors in country houses, barns, or a warehouse. There was one scene in a conservatory in a fancy house, which was nice to see.

Costumes

Lucy and Tom seated while Maggie looks under the sheets
in the background.

Some of the costumes were nice. The dresses looked like they were from the 1830's or 1840's. Some did include the big sleeves popular during the 1830's period, so those dresses I did not particularly like, but some of the others I did.



Adult Maggie had a couple of nice dresses. One dress in particular was a blue dress that she wore when Phillip Wakem was drawing her portrait. I thought the color was a nice blue.

Young Lucy looked so sweet. She seemed to wear a lot of white dresses, and her hair was always very nicely arranged. It was a shame that young Maggie pushed her into the mud and ruined her lovely dress!

Maggie's aunts' dresses I did not like very much. They had the big sleeves of the 1830's period, which I never really cared for. I suppose because they had money, they could afford the latest fashions, but 1830's fashions never really impressed me too much.

Music

Not much music to speak of. The only significant song was the theme song. It can be a little piercing if you have the volume up on your TV too much. Other than that, there wasn't much music.

Overall: 3.5/5 3/5
Overall, I didn't hate it, but it's not my favorite. Spoiler This could have something to do with the fact that this story has a sad ending, and I always preferred happy endings to sad endings. Spoiler It was okay to watch once, but I don't know if I would watch it again, not because I disliked it, but rather because I have already seen it.

Mill on the Floss is available on DVD either as a part of The George Eliot Collection or can be bought on it's own. It is made up of eight half-hour episodes and runs for about 212 minutes.

Review: Wives and Daughters

I've heard about Wives and Daughters, but I didn't know anything about it other than it was written by Elizabeth Gaskell, who wrote Cranford. My mom bought the DVD and we watched it over a couple of weekends.

Box Art

Synopsis
Seventeen year old Molly Gibson's (Justine Waddell) life gets turned upside down when her father (Bill Paterson) remarries the selfish Hyacinth Clare Kirkpatrick (Francesca Annis), a widow. When Hyacinth's daughter, Cynthia (Keeley Hawes), comes to live with them, Molly forms a quick friendship with her; however, Cynthia harbors a secret that could ruin her reputation.

Characters
You will recognize a couple of actors and actresses in Wives and Daughters. Justine Waddell is, I believe, in a verision of Great Expectations (though I have never seen it). You will also find Michael Gambon (Emma and Cranford), Francesca Annis (Cranford), Barbara Flynn (The Barchester Chronicles, He Knew He Was Right, Cranford), Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Pride and Prejudice) among others.

Update 8/1/11: Maria Elisabeth from Miss Georgiana Darcy also noted that Rosamund Pike from Pride and Prejudice (2005) was also in here as Lady Harriet. Thanks Maria Elisabeth!

Molly (Justine Waddell) and
Cynthia (Keeley Hawes)

I absolutely found Hyacinth's character very irritating! She is oblivious, selfish, condescending, and incredibly silly. She was just very irritating to watch. Spoiler When Squire Hamley came to ask if Molly could visit the very ill Mrs. Hamley, Hyacinth says that she can't go because Molly has to accompany her somewhere! How absolutely selfish and uncaring! End of Spoiler I had to feel sorry that Molly has to deal with her condescension. I suppose her irritating character was intended, but still I had to feel embaressment for Molly.

It was interesting to see Molly's and Cynthia's friendship form, since they both have different personalities. Cynthia, since she is much more worldly than Molly, can be a little more outspoken, while Molly is a little more quiet (but she does voice her opinions when needed). I actually liked Molly better than Cynthia; there was something in Cynthia's attitude that I didn't like (whether she sounded too fake or something else). Molly seemed more genuine to me.


Scenery

Molly and her father (Bill Paterson) overlooking
the scenery.

You get some very nice scenery in Wives and Daughters. Most of the scenes take place in the English country side, but some scenes feature Africa. The colors are very nice and bold, and the houses are very pretty and nicely furnished. Overall, Wives and Daughters is very pretty to look at.

Costumes
The costumes were a hit and miss with me. Some of them I really liked, but others I hated. I'm not really a fan of big-sleeved fashions of the 1830's, which could have something to do with the fact that I didn't like some of the fashions.

Molly reading a book; I love this jumper/undershirt combo!

Probably it was Molly's wardrobe that I liked the best, though I didn't like all of her dresses. I particularly liked the blue jumper dress and under-shirt that she had on; it was so cute! I also liked the white dress that she wears at Hamley Hall; it almost reminded me of some of the Regency Era dresses that I've seen in other miniseries. Some of her other dresses, however, I disliked. There was the plaid dinner dress that she wore at Hamley Hall: wrong fabric or wrong pattern, but either way plaid did not work for that dress.



Molly and Lady Harriet (Rosamund Pike) going to Mr. Gibson and
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's wedding. Featuring one of Lady Harriet's hairstyles
throughout the miniseries.



I liked some of Lady Harriet's dresses. The dress that she wore for being an amateur bridesmaid was very pretty. I also thought that the outfit that she wore for riding was a good color. Throughout most of the miniseries, I liked the way that she arranged her hair. However, towards the end she had a very short haircut which I did not like at all. I thought that it was a little out of place for the period; it seemed too modern to me.



I did not like Hyacinth or Cynthia's wardrobe. Their dresses had the big sleeves that were fashionable at the time, so that could be why I don't particularly like their dresses since I don't care for dresses from that time period. I will say that Hyacinth's wardrobe fit her perfectly; it was outlandish.

I will say that the trims, fabric prints, and embroidery on all of the dresses were very lovely!


Music
The music shifts back and forth between very flowing, beautiful pieces to more serious pieces. The more serious pieces are usually played when Cynthia is involved in something. A couple of the dance numbers were very bouncy and fun, but others were more flowing and smooth. There are some nice music pieces in here.

Overall:  4/5
Overall, I enjoyed this miniseries. I didn't particularly care for some of the dresses, but there are a couple that caught my attention and that I liked. The acting was well done (though Hyacinth made me cringe). A good miniseries, in my opinion.

Wives and Daughters is available on DVD. It is divided into four episodes, each one hour long.