Welcome to another special “meeting” of the Risky Regencies Jane Austen Movie Club!

Today we’re discussing the newest version of Northanger Abbey, which aired this Sunday in the US, and last spring in the UK.

We discussed the new Persuasion last Tuesday — and if you missed the discussion, it’s not too late to stop by and add a comment! Opinions on it were mixed, but with few raves, and a fair amount of disappointment (particularly about the run and the kiss at the end).

I suspect, however, that opinions on Northanger Abbey may be a bit different! Can’t wait to hear what you all thought of it…

Here are a few pieces of information I found interesting:

This Northanger Abbey was filmed entirely in Ireland.

And, not surprisingly, a lot of the cast are Irish actors doing English accents.

The screenplay is by Andrew Davies, who also scripted the upcoming BBC version of Sense and Sensibility, which will air in the US on March 30 and April 6.

Davies is, of course, the screenwriter for the 1995 Pride and Prejudice (the one with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) and the 1996 Emma (which starred Kate Beckinsale), both of which will be shown on PBS as part of their “Complete Jane Austen.” He also did the screenplays for Bridget Jones’s Diary, the 1994 Middlemarch, the 1998 miniseries of Vanity Fair, the 2002 Daniel Deronda, and the 2005 Bleak House.

According to imdb.com, Northanger Abbey was played by Lismore Castle, in County Waterford, Ireland.

To aid discussion, here are some of the major credits:

CAST:

Catherine Morland: Felicity Jones

The Voice of Jane Austen: Geraldine James

Mrs. Morland: Julia Dearden

Mr. Morland: Gerry O’Brien

James Morland: Hugh O’Connor

Mr. Allen: Desmond Barrit

Mrs. Allen: Sylvestra Le Touzel

Sylvestra Le Touzel is a Jane Austen veteran, having played Fanny Price in the 1983 BBC miniseries of Mansfield Park. She was also seen as Marianne Thornton in 2006’s Amazing Grace.

Henry Tilney: JJ Feild

John Thorpe: William Beck

Mrs. Thorpe: Bernadette McKenna

Eleanor Tilney: Catherine Walker

General Tilney: Liam Cunningham

Capt. Frederick Tilney: Mark Dymond

Isabella Thorpe: Carey Mulligan

Carey Mulligan is no stranger to Austen either, having played Kitty Bennet in the 2005 film of Pride and Prejudice. She was also young Ada in the 2005 miniseries of Bleak House.

SCREENPLAY: Andrew Davies

DIRECTOR: Jon Jones

So….what did you think???

All opinions welcome!

Cara
Cara King, who danced Catherine & Tilney’s dance last Saturday at the annual Jane Austen Ball!

Welcome to a special meeting of Risky Regencies’ Jane Austen Movie Club!

Today we’re discussing the newest adaptation of Persuasion, which aired in the US this past Sunday on PBS, and in the UK last year.

First, here’s some Knowledge to Impress your Friends With: contrary to what some people assume, this Persuasion is not a BBC production. The upcoming new Sense and Sensibility is BBC, but the other three new adaptations (Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, and Mansfield Park) are ITV.

Or actually, to be quite correct: this Persuasion was produced by Clerkenwell Films and WGBH, and distributed by ITV and PBS. 🙂

Now that that sticky mess is out of the way, please turn off your cell phones and pagers, place your tray tables in their upright position, and tell us what you thought of the new Persuasion!

(By the way, here’s an interview with Sally Hawkins, the new Anne Elliot. A rather ordinary interview, in my opinion, but see what you think.)

To aid discussion, here’s a cast list and some of the other major credits. As I love noticing folks who’ve worked on other historical adaptations, I’ve put some “you’ve seen him in this” tidbits in purple.

Director: Adrian Shergold

Screenplay: Simon Burke

Burke’s screenwriting credits include the 1997 miniseries of Tom Jones and some of the Cadfael series.

CAST:

Sally Hawkins — Anne Elliot

Hawkins played Mary Shelley in the 2003 TV Byron which starred Jonny Lee Miller.

Anthony Head — Sir Walter Elliot

Julia Davis — Elizabeth Elliot

Amanda Hale — Mary Musgrove

Rupert Penry-Jones — Captain Wentworth

Penry-Jones played St John Rivers in the Samantha Morton/Ciaran Hinds Jane Eyre.

Alice Krige — Lady Russell

Krige played Mary Shelley in 1988’s Haunted Summer, and the beautiful marquesa in Sharpe’s Honour.

Michael Fenton Stevens — Mr. Shepherd

Mary Stockley — Mrs. Clay

Peter Wight — Admiral Croft

Wight played Mr. Gardiner in the 2005 (Keira Knightley) Pride and Prejudice.

Marion Bailey — Mrs. Croft

Jennifer Higham — Louisa Musgrove

Rosamund Stephen — Henrietta Musgrove

Stephen played Miss de Bourgh in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice.

Stella Gonet — Mrs. Musgrove

Sam Hazeldine — Charles Musgrove

Nicholas Farrell — Mr. Musgrove

Farrell played Fenner in Sharpe’s Regiment, Edmund Bertram in the 1983 BBC Mansfield Park, and Henry Thornton in Amazing Grace.

Joseph Mawle — Captain Harville

Finlay Robertson — James Benwick

Tobias Menzies — William Elliot

Maisie Dimbleby — Mrs. Smith

Sarah Buckland — Nurse Rooke

So, what did you think???

All opinions welcome! (Though do be polite!)

And be sure to stop by here on the next two Tuesdays, when we’ll be discussing the new Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park!

Cara
Cara King, who reads and writes books, and would sleep on them too if she were a cat

Welcome to the Jane Austen Movie Club! On the first Tuesday of each month, we at Risky Regencies discuss a different Jane Austen adaptation.

This month: the 1986 BBC version of Northanger Abbey!

As I mentioned last month during our Jane Austen Novel discussions, Northanger Abbey is one of my favorite Austens. The wit, the liveliness, the Bath background — I love to read it again and again.

(That is, I love to read the first half of the novel. Sometimes I stop there. Sometimes I go on. I do like the second half, but for me, it comes nowhere near the exuberantly silly Bath bits.)

So… Have you ever seen this adaptation?

If so, what did you think?

To aid the discussion, here’s the cast (etc) info on the movie, courtesy imdb, plus a few interesting cast tidbits (in green):

DIRECTOR: Giles Foster

SCREENPLAY: Maggie Wadey

CAST:

Katharine Schlesinger … Catherine Morland

Peter Firth … Henry Tilney

Peter Firth played Joseph Andrews in 1977 — I’d love to see that!

Robert Hardy … General Tilney

Robert Hardy played Sir John Middleton in the Ang Lee Sense & Sensibility, and more recently has portrayed Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies.

Googie Withers … Mrs. Allen

Geoffrey Chater … Mr. Allen

Cassie Stuart … Isabella Thorpe

Jonathan Coy … John Thorpe

Jonathan Coy played the Prince of Wales in the Richard E. Grant versions of the Scarlet Pimpernel, and was also in one of the Gruffudd Horatio Hornblowers.

Ingrid Lacey … Eleanor Tilney

Greg Hicks … Frederick Tilney

Philip Bird … James Morland

Elvi Hale … Mrs. Thorpe

Helen Fraser … Mrs. Morland

David Rolfe … Mr. Morland

So…good, bad, or ugly? Did you like it, or did you not?

Two notes: first, I will be out most of today; I’m seeing the Rose Parade this morning (first time ever!), and in the evening I’ll be attending a going away dinner for my mother, who’s setting off on a round-the-world cruise. But I’ll check in whenever I get a moment!

Note 2: In the US, PBS will start showing the new Jane Austen adaptations this month. And on the Tuesday following each of these new Austens, we’ll have an extra Jane Austen Movie Club here, to talk about it! So the January schedule will be:

Persuasion: airs January 13; discussion January 15
Northanger Abbey: airs January 20; discussion January 22
Mansfield Park: airs January 27; discussion January 29

So… What did you think of the 1986 Northanger Abbey?

Cara
Cara King, who thinks this will be a very exciting January

Welcome to the Jane Austen Movie Club, where like-minded people get together (virtually, if not always virtuously) to chat about, cheer for, or chastise a different Jane Austen movie or television adaptation on the first Tuesday of every month. Newcomers always welcome!

This month: the 2005 feature film of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE! Also known as:

(1) the one with Keira Knightley;

(2) the one with Matthew however-he-spells-his-last-name- oh-I-love-that-brooding-picture-of-him;

(3) the one with, you know, the, um, pig;

(4) the most-ranted-about Austen pic since Rozema’s MANSFIELD PARK…

(Yes, I know we talked about this P&P when it came out, but that was SO long ago!) 🙂

To make discussion easier, here are some names to help jog memories:

CAST LIST:

Keira Knightley — Elizabeth Bennet

Rosamund Pike — Jane Bennet

Talulah Riley — Mary Bennet

Jena Malone — Lydia Bennet

Carey Mulligan — Kitty Bennet

Donald Sutherland — Mr. Bennet

Brenda Blethyn — Mrs. Bennet

Claudie Blakley — Charlotte Lucas

Sylvester Morand — Sir William Lucas

Simon Woods — Mr. Bingley

Kelly Reilly — Caroline Bingley

Matthew Macfadyen — Mr. Darcy

Rupert Friend — Mr. Wickham

Tom Hollander — Mr. Collins

Judi Dench — Lady Catherine de Bourgh

Rosamund Stephen — Miss de Bourgh

Penelope Wilton — Mrs. Gardiner

Peter Wight — Mr. Gardiner

The DIRECTOR is JOE WRIGHT, who also directed the upcoming film “Atonement” (also starring Knightley), plus a TV miniseries about Charles II (starring Rufus Sewell — wish I’d seen that!)

DEBORAH MOGGACH is the SCREENWRITER, and as far as I can tell it was her first screenplay for a feature (she has multiple television credits, including the 2002 version of “Love in a Cold Climate,” in which Rosamund Pike [Jane Bennet] co-starred.)

In the past, I’ve often put some questions here to help start the discussion, but somehow I suspect that there is absolutely no need for them this time. 🙂

So, what do you think?

Casting, costumes, screenplay, anachronisms, scenery, houses, bonnets, gloves, hair, accessibility, humor, etc?

Let the discussion begin!

Next month, we’ll be discussing the BBC NORTHANGER ABBEY from 1986!

Cara
Cara King, author of My Lady Gamester and frequent hat wearer