The introduction of a new movie version of P&P triggered me to go back and look at my DVDs of both this 1979 version and the much-loved 1995 version (I'll ignore the 1940 MGM version, which so badly misrepresents Lady Catherine de Bourgh, played brilliantly here by Judy Parfitt, and in which both leads are obviously too old). No question that this one is the truest to the characters as conceived by Jane Austin -- and the best-cast too.
I'm amazed that anyone would believe someone like Keira Knightly or Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth. Can someone really imagine Darcy not finding either of them "not handsome enough to suit me"? Yet it is possible to imagine someone saying that about Elizabeth Garvie, who is pretty but definitely overshadowed in looks by her older sister Jane (Sabina Franklyn). However, as in the book, it's Elizabeth's spirit that makes her shine so brightly in an age when marriages are arranged with no thought of romantic love (as Charlotte Lucas (Irene Richards) reminds Lizzie).
Similarly, David Rintoul's reserved, stuffy, not particularly attractive albeit still handsome Darcy may not be as romantic as Colin Firth's -- but Firth often seemed more like the smoldering Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" than Darcy. And Firth's "cooling off" dip in the pond seemed more ludicrous than sexy to me (but women obviously have a different take).
Yes, the 1995 version gets out of the confining indoor settings in a way that the 1979 version does not. However, the characters in the 1979 version simply are truer to the way they were written bu Jane Austin. Perhaps 1979 screenwriter Fay Weldon's previous experiences in writing for the high-class British soap "Upstairs, Downstairs" gave her an edge in this comedy of manners; some of the scene-bridging techniques used in this adaptation seem to be borrowed directly from it. Anyway, this is still the best of the P&P versions out there.
I'm amazed that anyone would believe someone like Keira Knightly or Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth. Can someone really imagine Darcy not finding either of them "not handsome enough to suit me"? Yet it is possible to imagine someone saying that about Elizabeth Garvie, who is pretty but definitely overshadowed in looks by her older sister Jane (Sabina Franklyn). However, as in the book, it's Elizabeth's spirit that makes her shine so brightly in an age when marriages are arranged with no thought of romantic love (as Charlotte Lucas (Irene Richards) reminds Lizzie).
Similarly, David Rintoul's reserved, stuffy, not particularly attractive albeit still handsome Darcy may not be as romantic as Colin Firth's -- but Firth often seemed more like the smoldering Heathcliff from "Wuthering Heights" than Darcy. And Firth's "cooling off" dip in the pond seemed more ludicrous than sexy to me (but women obviously have a different take).
Yes, the 1995 version gets out of the confining indoor settings in a way that the 1979 version does not. However, the characters in the 1979 version simply are truer to the way they were written bu Jane Austin. Perhaps 1979 screenwriter Fay Weldon's previous experiences in writing for the high-class British soap "Upstairs, Downstairs" gave her an edge in this comedy of manners; some of the scene-bridging techniques used in this adaptation seem to be borrowed directly from it. Anyway, this is still the best of the P&P versions out there.