(no subject)

[nineveh_uk]

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.

Comments

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking exactly the same thing about the waving!

I'm afraid that the moment Miss Taylor was introduced by her first name (which I am not persuaded appears anywhere in the book, though I would have to read it again to check), was the moment that they lost me.

Tamsin Greig is a very good Miss Bates, I think, though I did love Sophie Thompson in the role. I have yet to be persuaded by anyone else. Michael Gambon looks to be sleeping his way through the whole thing.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

I think Davies will be *very* disappointed when he discovers South Riding is a place and not an activity...but I believe that the fact that they keep hiring him makes it unlikely that the BBC is amenable to letters from viewers, or indeed to reason at all.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

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

Oh Lord. And I thought Lost in Austen was so not all those things that I couldn't get past the third ep for sheer lack of interest. Oh well, that's one more set of DVDs I needn't get.

PS Calling Miss Taylor "Anne" seems particularly egregious, given that this is the book where Frank Churchill gets huffy with Mrs Elton for calling Miss Fairfax "Jane". Names are important.

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

Have you read PD James' 'A Private Patient'? It reminded me a little of Wimsey in places, and she doesn't usually do that. Recommended.