Now as you all know I am a huge Jane Austen fan and normally I love BBC adaptations but for every rule there is an exception and this is it but as there is no Udolpho review today then I thought I would at least keep on subject with todays posting,
It has been a long time since I last viewed this version of Northanger Abbey and I now recall why. The acting is merely acceptable but the constant use of dream sequences is both annoying and distracting. While they do reflect the dangers that were perceived to exist in impressionable young ladies reading gothic literature they are done in this in such a way as to almost drive the viewer to hitting the off switch. While of course as most BBC dramas they stick faithfully to the text this adaptation falls well below the normal standard one expects from the BBC.
Originally transmitted on 15/02/87 eight years before the great success of the Pride & Prejudice adaptation one must be thankful that they obviously learned from it in terms of casting and characterisation.
While Northanger Abbey is one of the less adapted works of Austen I am confident that there are better ones out there, as well as the visual failings the soundtrack plays continuously what I assume is supposed to be music to build tension sadly it merely annoys and leads to temptation to mute the TV. I sadly have to say give this one a miss.
Rating 2 out of 5 stars and that is simply for Austen’s words.
I must first state I am bias when it comes to adaptations, and that as a general rule, I do not like the big screen adoptions where casting the big names takes priority over who is most fitting for a role. That said A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and despite reservations regarding the casting I did enjoy this adaptation.
It is a play where in truth overacting can be acceptable and on the most part the film was well acted, personally I have to say that Kevin Kline in the role of Bottom was the only part that I found to be really annoying but I fully accept that may be a personal reflection rather than one upon his acting. If any play lends itself to film adaptation it is this one with its talk of magic and fairies and I do believe that adaptations such as these do have an important role to play in introducing Shakespeare to the younger generations who can find the language off putting with its complexities. I really do believe that Shakespeare should not be forced upon children in the classroom; rather they should experience it preferably on stage or failing that on screen before being faced with the text.
The plot of course most of you will be familiar with, star crossed lovers in a tangled comedy of emotions that run the full extent of complications and misadventures before all is resolved and a happy ending ensues. As well as being a personal favourite I believe the subject matter of this play lends itself well as an introduction for younger viewers and I also believe a child is never too young for Shakespeare, this was one of the first films I watched with my daughter when she was younger (not this version though) and even though my son is only four he watched this with me. Of course he is too young to have a clue what is actually going on but he already likes the sound of the language and he loved watching Anna Friel and Callista Flockheart rolling round in the mud (maybe men are all born that way lol).
Sorry for poor quality it was the only one I could find.
Overall a good adaptation though of course nothing beats seeing the actual play in a theatre.
The changing of the clocks is once more playing havoc with everyones moods. The extra hour promised sleep failed to materialise and of course come bedtime the monster is over tired and refuses to stay in his bed. We have had numerous reasons from noise? Germs? All of which of course get him sent back to his bed until the final one a nosebleed requires actual attention. He returns to ENT this week and I hope they will get to the bottom of the cause. He never had nosebleeds before having his adanoids removed last year and has had them at least once or twice a week since.
Now you may have a puzzled expression regarding the germs excuse but believe me he actually came out with it and there is one programme to blame. Get Well Soon is a Cbeebies programme that is one just after we get home from the school run. It is aimed at helping children feel more comfortable with seeing the doctor but as everything comes down to germs well you know the rest. Dr Ranj the doctor on the show is an actual doctor he created the programme so I hold him personally responsible.
Sadly youtube don’t seem to have any clips from the show but for those who can get BBCi player and won’t to see more here you go http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/cbeebies/episode/b01n85lg/Get_Well_Soon_The_Sniffly_Nose/ then you can see why my son will be most disappointed on his next doctors appointment as I doubt our family doc will burst into song and dance.
I have had the edit notes back for my short story for the WOCA Anthology they are no where near as scary as I though they would be. The main thing as is so often the case with me is punctuation. I really must remember people need to breathe as they read lol.
I have been watching a few of my old DVDs this week and have done a few reviews to keep you occupied during my absence but don’t worry there are a few normal posts in the mix aswell including one on Friday which I will be very nervous about seeing your responses to once I am back.
Have a great week to come, and try not to miss me too much lol and I hope to be back fighting fit or at least back in a little over a week but am scheduling posts up to the 8th just incase.
Well today it is dark, grey and very wet here in Huddersfield. I just got a soaking heading to the post office so I am curled up on the bed watching the worst Amityville based film I think I have ever watched. Just incase you see it in the store and are tempted like I was it is this one…
It is so bad it will not even be getting a review I am about half an hour in and actually hoping this annoying family get killed very soon. Infact if I wasn’t so comfy I would get up and change the DVD over.
I am working to schedule posts for the week I will be in hospital, it would be so easy to cheat and schedule a week of reblogs or youtube clips but so far am doing okay at filling the posts.
I know some of you will have been expecting a Udolpho post today but the reality is both MsKatykins and I are having hectic real lives at the minute soooo If MsKatykins agrees I think that our reviews my take a break until after my surgery.
Okay I really need to change this film it is doing my head in think of a mix between the Blair Witch style of filming and a b-horror movie and you just about have it throw in annoying characters and you are there.
Because of my back issues I can’t really go to the cinema to watch films and I was gutted not to go see this one and patiently awaited its DVD release.
Now I will be honest when I finally put it into the Dvd player I had mixed feelings, I had read all the great reviews but the certification at age 12 suggests thhis wasn’t going to be that scary.
Sadly I was left disappointed, Radcliffe puts in a creditable performance as Arthur Kipps, a young widower sent to sell some real estate with its own dark hidden past. Infact to be fair the whole cast perform well its just that it wasn’t scary.
I really wanted to love this but I didn’t I liked it and it was a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours it just failed to make me jump. Sadly the ending is also blatently set up for a sequel which leaves the feeling that this was far more about making money than adapting a great book and play. I do want to read the book now there was enough potential in the film for me to see what a good book it should be and a friend of mine that has seen the play on the stage in the West End raved about the stage version.
This has left me wondering if the people making the film held back on the scare factor in order to get the lower rating, I would hate to think that was the case but with the casting of Radcliffe who of course recently concluded his role as Harry Potter the film would naturally attract his fans from that series.
Rating 3.5 stars out of 5 which is a shame as I believe it could have been so much better.
I admit this was not the post I had hoped to be doing today I had intended reviewing the first of the books I have picked to read for Austen in August however, yesterday morning I awoke to some upsetting news, an online friend is in a medically induced coma following a car accident. this is someone I have never met in real life nor realistically am ever likely to. I know Danny only through playing a game, we talk sporadically but it does not ease the shock friendships and aquaintances we make on line are sometimes more real than the ones in day to day life, we can hide behind a screen but sometimes that very anonimity allows us to be ourselves more fully without worry of letting anyone down. Danny is a hero but I am not allowed to call him that, he says he was only doing doing his job, but I hope it will be the same strength of character that he showed during the rescues during 9/11 when he spent hours trapped in the rubble that will pull him through this.
So back to subject I decided following last weeks Cranford review to have a quick look at the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice and the hollywood block buster.
Having been lucky enough to have visited the locations used for Pemberly in both versions, and I have to say they both have their own appeal much like the two versions themselves
The BBC version was a tv series therefore longer and including much more of the original words that Austen wrote. As personal preference this is by far my favourite version the charcters are portrayed far more closer to those Austen described or maybe I am bias as it is the version I saw first.
BBC setting for Pemeberly at Lyme Park
The views at Lyme Park are spectacular although the interiors were shot else where and I have to say it is not the most impressive of the big houses i have visited inside. But wandering round the gardens, wood and parks all that is forgetton and you find yourself transported to the very place where Elizabeth encounters Darcy while visiting Pemeberly
Me at the entrance to Lyme Park
And I think this is why the BBC version does translate so well on screen. The detail of the costumes, props and locations is unrivalled by any other makers of costume drama. The amount of research done for every adaptation is outstanding as most of their DVDs testify to with bonus behind the scenes footage. They are also responsible for one of the most iconic Austen images ever to have graced the scene, yes ladies this one is for you….
And for me this is the crux of the problem with the Hollywood version..Mr Darcy! I can accept Kiera Knightly as Elizabeth, I can accept the rest of the cast but sadly the choice of Darcy leaves me uninspired. It is nothing against Matthew Macfayden he is a talented actor but for me he is just not Darcy. The locations they chose were good, although slightly different to the places I envisioned in some cases most particularly Longborn but they did go with what is suspected to be the original inspiration for Pemberley which is of course Chatsworth house.
Chatsworthmain entrance at chatsworth
Chatsworth is breath taking inside and out and you really can believe that Austen would have been inspired as she walked along the very same corridors that I walked along. There is a granduer at Chatsworth which fits with the hollywood image but the film did disappoint in one aspect which I did not know until I bought the DVD and that was they added to the ending for the american version. I read an article about why, I wish I could remember where, and I was offended for my fellow Austen lovers in the states as the suggestion was the american people in general were not well enough aquainted with the novel to understand the ending without having it added to. They felt that a US audience would not accept the story ending at the altar and needed to add a marital kiss, it seems a travesty that they do not give the viewers credit for having any imagaination.
Anyway it is only far to compare Darcy’s so I managed to find the same part in 2005 film version
this is the added american ending for those who haven’t seen it
Of course there have been other versions
But the BBC version will always be my favourite though the films a a good way to watch if you only have a couple of hours spare.
Paula Acton 