nineveh_uk | (no subject)

Watching Emma, I wonder if perhaps it isn't a good thing that the Wimsey books have not been televised for twenty years. It might be possible for less of Austen's dialogue to have been included, but it would have been hard work.

And why is no-one wearing a cap or hat?

Oh! Finally Mrs Weston has stopped being wet and has put on a cap.

Oh God! Jonny Lee Miller appears to be acting entirely by waving his forefingers.

And Robert Martin isn't supposed to be a clodhopper - Emma merely convinces herself that she is.

Urgh. And all the waving. Emma might be enthusiastic and eager for exciting, but she is supposed to have a good deal of dignity.

Aargh! And it could be a good cast, of only the script weren't so bloody awful.

The men are waving, too. Stop it! Stop it!

In short, Lost in Austen, which I was re-watching on DVD the other night, has ten times more subtlety, appreciation of period, and better dialogue than this supposedly "straight" adaptation.

I feel a letter to the BBC coming on.

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I have the worst possible feelings about what will happen with South Riding, and cling passionately to my DVDs of the 1970s version* (which probably moves far too slowly by modern standards, but is beautifully expansive and includes all the various plots).

*However, having once read a plot summary of the 1930s movie, I back away hissing and making cross signs with my fingers from any engagement with it.

Edited 2009-10-05 09:28 (UTC)

Maybe it's a plot by the 1970s team to increase royalties from the DVDs.