Comments on: Do you only ask what I can be expected to tell? A review of Northanger Abbey 2007

By: Hunsford Parson

Hunsford Parson — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:58:50 +0000

Allow me to join the party of those who enjoyed this production.

No, I haven’t (yet) read the novel. And, yes, I expect it to be better, of course. That being said, I really enjoyed this movie. The casting was mostly really good, I think. Felicity Jones and JJ Field were adorable, too bad they hadn’t more room for interaction than the 90min. timeframe of this production allowed them. I’d have loved to see more, given that there seem to be so many interesting missing scenes.

Mock me, if you wish, but I just love the proposal scene.

BTW, does anybody know what music is being played when Henry and Catherine dance their first dance together? The melody sounds so familiar, but I just can’t place it.

By: Tamara

Tamara — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:29:51 +0000

Franka I agree with you! (and thanks a million times over for suggesting to watch it on youtube!!!) I loved it; it was a very enjoyable 90 minutes. I will definitely acknowledge its mistakes though. I think those started at the very beginnning; the narrator was way off in her reading! Those words are not supposed to be said seriously and of course this continued at the end and had no effect, or not the correct effect. Yes the humor is quite missing from such a hilarious book. The points that could have been funny were sometimes there but not done like they should have been (for instance Isabella running after the young men; that could be very funny). Henry was excellent- just about how I have always visualized him (my favorite hero by far mind you). He was too firm when scolding Catherine but this was to make the part of being evicted from the Abbey seem to Catherine like her fault and so that was okay. The proposal scene was about how I imagined too. I thought it was cute. The dream sequences were tolerable to me since I am a chronic daydreamer. But the parody is definitely lost. I could go on, but I will sum up with: I think it did fine for the 90 minutes given and Henry being as he is, I believe I will watch this again.
Oh and I was a little surprised by Isabella’s being so easy, but nothing in that is against what is written in the novel and being Willoughby did that in Bath, I suppose it is realistic that Captain Tilney did. Eleanor was a bit too accepting of her brother’s low morals, but whatever, it was alright.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 22:23:59 +0000

I totally agree that these productions have not been given the running time they deserve – it is a big problem with the film versions too notably P&P3. However I am desperately hoping P3 will be better; it has a good cast, was actually filmed in Bath and Lyme Regis and produced by a different production company from the other two. And also importantly, the wonderful P2 was only 103 mins long!

By: marcyg68

marcyg68 — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:46:17 +0000

Thanks for the honest review, Mags. We all have our expectations when it comes to JA adaptations. I certainly stand by my original opinion that this version of “Northanger Abbey” was delightful and brilliant, Henry Tilney divine, Catherine adorable, and that this is one of favorite JA adaptations (and period dramas) to date.

I thought your opinions on “Bride & Prejudice” and “Clueless” interesting (and, yes, P&P Salt Lake City, too!). I own all the dvds available on JA adaptations – including the modern ones – and I agree that these ones are quite well done and, surprisingly, very faithful to the spirit, charm and humor of the books. This is especially interesting because they have proven that you do not have to have big stars and big budgets (or even be in the right period or genre) to make an enjoyable, faithful book adaptation.

I do agree that it is a big, big shame that these recent slew of adaptations didn’t get the running time that they deserve. I really wish MP3, NA2 and P3 were given – at the minimum – a 3-hour time slot. That would have taken care of the plot and dialogue omissions, and character development, at the least. We would have gotten Sotherton, Portsmouth and a proper ball in Mansfield Park; a proper visit to Woodston and most of Henry’s clever, witty lines in Northanger Abbey; and who knows what in Persuasion. Less than 2 hours is too short a time to give a Jane Austen novel the proper treatment and I am very sorry for it. It is a shame that the BBC can find the budget to do a proper 4-hour remake of “Sense & Sensibility” (and goodness knows how many versions of P&P) and yet other worthy JA novels like MP, NA and Persuasion get left in the dust.

My consolation is that Jane Austen adaptations seem to pop up out of the woodwork and get remade every 5 -10 years or so, so with any luck, we just may get a production studio brave enough to mount a proper and “improved” version of the neglected JA novels someday in the future!

By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:45:13 +0000

There were also a few too many shots with brick buildings in the background! Not very convincing as Bath.

By: Julie P.

Julie P. — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:37:31 +0000

I live in New York City. They do that all the time around here. One movie I saw had a character get in his car and drive for what seemed to be 15 or 20 minutes (with no traffic), and then he parked in a spot that is literally around the corner from where he started.

By: A

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:44:16 +0000

I found your review hilarious. It was filmed in Kings Inns in Dublin (incidentally where I studied to be a barrister)… When I watched the other night, I was keen to see the scene they were shooting one night I was there… a scene with a carriage driving through the Kings Inns arch.. How I laughed when the arch appeared in every single street scene after that! The cobble street at the back of Kings Inns is about 100 yards long and they tried to represent it as the entire city of Bath!

By: Samantha

Samantha — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 14:50:37 +0000

I saw this morning and I just loved it. I really enjoyed the parts when Henry teased Catherine. He is cute! I also liked Catherine’s wild imagination when she read the novels. The character that gave me the creeps was General Tinley. The actors blew me away. Much better then MP. Can’t wait to see Persuasion.

By: Julia (not Bertram)

Julia (not Bertram) — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:58:45 +0000

I enjoyed this very much- what I loved about Felicity Jones’s performance was the way in which she actually played Catherine as a late 18th century girl, rather than a 21st century girl trapped in the 18th century. I found that so refreshing.

By: Julie P.

Julie P. — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:53:53 +0000

I finally got to see the whole thing last night. It was entertaining, but it wasn’t as entertaining as NA should be. I’d recently finished a re-read of the book and was disappointed that some great dialogue and some good scenes were missing.

One last thing — thank God the Dirty Old Man was reined in so there were no Nude Anglican Priests on my television screen. The Nude Teenaged Girl was bad enough.