# Jane Austen-esque movies



## Davidius (Feb 2, 2008)

I like watching movies that take place in old aristocratic cultures. Does anyone have any recommendations?


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## greenbaggins (Feb 2, 2008)

Just watched Victoria and Albert, a splendid movie. North and South isn't set in an aristocratic setting (merchant middle class), but it is good.


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## Davidius (Feb 2, 2008)

greenbaggins said:


> Just watched Victoria and Albert, a splendid movie. North and South isn't set in an aristocratic setting (merchant middle class), but it is good.



I think I found V&A. Was that produced by A&E? The 200-minute version?


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## greenbaggins (Feb 2, 2008)

Right. It is long, but exceptionally well-acted, in my opinion.


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## py3ak (Feb 2, 2008)

_Wives and Daughters_ is the best of the non-Austen, non-Dickens films. _Martin Chuzzlewit, Our Mutual Friend_, _David Copperfield_ and _Little Dorritt_, though not necessarily referring to the aristocracy or even the gentry, are very good period adaptations.


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## ADKing (Feb 2, 2008)

The new(ish) movie _Amazing Grace_ about William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade in the UK is brilliant!


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## Augusta (Feb 2, 2008)

There are some really great ones. Not mentioned yet are:

The Barchester Chronicles
Persuasion
A&E Emma as well as the Paltrow Emma are good.
Bleak House (Dickens)
Jane Eyre: I love the Franco Zeffirelli one but the newer 2006 version is also great. Mansfield Park the 1983 version
There is a new Northanger Abbey, I haven't seen it yet but it is rating high on amazon.

I know more will come to me...


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## RamistThomist (Feb 2, 2008)

Augusta said:


> There are some really great ones. Not mentioned yet are:
> 
> The Barchester Chronicles
> Persuasion
> ...



My fiancee and I saw Persuasion. It wasn't great by any stretch but it was pleasing and well worth watching.


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## py3ak (Feb 2, 2008)

The only really adequate Jane Austen adaptation is the A&E _Pride and Prejudice_, it seems to me.

And I always say that real men enjoy Jane Austen.


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## py3ak (Feb 2, 2008)

There are also some pretty decent adaptation of George Eliot, such as _Daniel Deronda_ with Romala Garai, or _The Mill on the Floss_. But George Eliot is a far cry from Jane Austen and the heavy-handed moralizing can be tedious. With Thomas Hardy you always run the danger of a cloying sentimentality.


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## QueenEsther (Feb 2, 2008)

Search PBS for their Master Piece Theater stuff. I love Oliver Twist.


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## greenbaggins (Feb 2, 2008)

There are a lot of Dickens movies out there that are quite worthy of our attention. I agree with Queen Esther. The recent edition was quite well done, and Elijah Wood did a very good job in his supporting role, I thought.


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## Puritan Sailor (Feb 2, 2008)

You all might enjoy the A&E version of _Horatio Hornblower_. Pretty well done.


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## Reformed Covenanter (Feb 2, 2008)

Puritan Sailor said:


> You all might enjoy the A&E version of _Horatio Hornblower_. Pretty well done.



ITV did a series on Hornblower, it might be available on DVD.


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## SRoper (Feb 2, 2008)

py3ak said:


> The only really adequate Jane Austen adaptation is the A&E _Pride and Prejudice_, it seems to me.
> 
> And I always say that real men enjoy Jane Austen.



Totally agree.


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## 21st Century Calvinist (Feb 2, 2008)

If you want to see really old period pieces then some of the movies of Shakespeare's plays are well worth watching.
I watched Amazing Grace. I agree- it's brilliant. "I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior." John Newton


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