Except Jane Austen didn’t write that line… and honestly, as romantic declarations go, it’s very, er, Edward Ferrarsish.
Also laughing at No. 10. “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Yes, Jane wrote that, but it’s not really that romantic. If it were, Mr. Darcy wouldn’t have had a struggle, or needed to repress his feelings. Just saying. (We much prefer “dearest, loveliest Elizabeth.”)
First, a preview of yet another version of P&P1995–this time, a Blu-ray edition with extras. Sadly, can’t embed it, apparently, but you can pop over to the Entertainment Weekly site to watch.
In addition to the classic story, the new version will include extras such as a featurette celebrating the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s most popular novel, and two featurettes exploring love, courtship, money, and social class in early 19th-century England.
Secondly, something rather more earthy. Heather L. brought this to our attention on Facebook–we had seen it before but forgot about it and it made us laugh, so we are sharing. The language is earthy, but bleeped, and the literary analysis excellent. Jane be slingin’ irony all day, e’er day.
Enjoy, and have a good day!
A note for our readers in Spain from Alert Janeite Carmen:
El periódico español El Mundo va a vender la serie Orgullo y Prejuicio de 1995 todos los miércoles, jueves y viernes, vendiendo el primer número el domingo 21. Cada DVD tiene un coste de 0,5 € más el precio del periódico. Son 13 DVDs. Más información en: http://www.elmundo.es/promociones/orgulloyprejuicio
Translation:
Spanish newspaper El Mundo is going to sell the Pride and Prejudice series (1995) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday beginning next Sunday, June 21. Every DVD will cost 0,5 € + the newspaper’s cost. There are 13 DVDs. For more information: http://www.elmundo.es/promociones/orgulloyprejuicio
Even if you don’t speak Spanish or live in Spain, check out the website–it is beautiful!
Alert Janeite Mrs. Mish reports that Amazon UK is listing a new “Special Edition” of P&P1995 (Region 2) to be released on March 16. We swear when we first looked at the listing it said somewhere on it that the film had been remastered, but it’s nowhere to be seen in the listing now. With the new listing, it’s hard to tell if this is the same as the old “special edition” or a newly-remastered version. It remains to be seen. If it is remastered, a lot of people who were disappointed with the washed-out colors on the DVDs so far will be made quite happy!
In the U.S., the Blu-Ray DVD (Region 1) of the series, which has been remastered, will be released on April 16. One of the bonus features is “a fascinating short film about the technical restoration process” so it’s definitely been remastered.
Alert Janeite Lisa just sent us word that the portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy used in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has sold at auction for £12,000–twice the estimated price.
Today, a handful of die-hard fans were engaged in a bitter bidding war to own a piece of the smouldering aristocrat who won the hearts of millions in the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice.
[. . ]
Even before the sale began, the painting was subject to a number of advance bids, a spokesman for the London auction house said.
We are pleased that the charities will share such a large sum, and we dare say Mr. Firth is as well. Nonetheless, we find this scary fangirl behavior slightly disturbing, but at the same time are consumed with curiosity to know who won the auction! 🙂
Bonhams, which is auctioning the portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy from the 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, has a much larger version of the portrait available on the site for your enjoyment. Even those who complained about the lack of resemblance might have “a more gentle sensation” at close quarters. Be sure to load the Flash version and zoom and pan away. Thanks to Alert Janeite Cheree for the link.
…in the family gallery, that is.
Alert Janeite Julie T. spotted (and sent us, which much squeeing) the news that the portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy featured in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (you know, during the scene in which he’s NOT climbing out of the bally pond) will be auctioned off (with proceeds going to charity) at Bonhams on January 21. The portrait will be accompanied by a signed letter from Colin Firth himself.
The painting was basically a bit part player in episode 4 of the BBCs 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice. Looking at him now I would say he has weathered better than most of us. In fact, he is the only character you can meet in person who looks precisely as he did the day he was filmed.
The portrait is expected to raise £7,000. £7,000? Oh, c’mon, you Firth fangirls surely can do better than that. 😉
The Telegraph breathlessly reports that–ZOMG PONIES!–Mr. Darcy’s dive into the pond was performed not by Colin Firth but by *gasp* a stuntman!
Um…not news, guys. Bridget Jones scooped you almost twelve years* ago.
BJ You know in Pride and Prejudice?
CF I do know in it, yes.
BJ When you had to dive into the lake?
CF Yes.
BJ When they had to do another take, did you have to take the wet shirt off and then put a dry one on?
CF Yes I, I probably did have to, yes. Scusi. Ha vinto. E troppo forte. Si grazie.
BJ (BREATHING UNSTEADILY) How many takes did they have to do?
CF (COUGHS) Well. The underwater shots were a tank in Ealing Studios.
BJ Oh no.
CF I’m afraid so. The -um – moment of being airborne – extremely brief – was a stuntman.
BJ But it looked like Mr Darcy.
CF That was because he had stuck on sideburns and a Mr Darcy outfit on top of a wet suit, which actually made him look like Elvis as you last saw him. He could only do it once for insurance reasons and then he had to be checked for abrasions for about six weeks afterwards. All the other wet shirt shots were me.
Simon Langton, the director of P&P95, does provide one amusing bit of detail, however:
Director Simon Langton said there were difficulties with the actor’s insurance and special arrangements had to be made so that Firth didn’t enter the lake.
He said: “It was a stuntman.
“We didn’t want our leading man to catch Weil’s disease, which can be caught from rat urine in water.”
Hee hee heee heeeeee! But this bit gave us the What The Ferrarses:
But fans are assured the footage of Mr Darcy striding out of the water in his drenched clothing was all shot using Firth.
WHEN IS HE EVER, EVER SHOWN STRIDING OUT OF THE WATER THAT HE WAS NEVER IN? Can the ignorant, ill-informed media please, for the love of the Editrix’s blood pressure, please stop talking about Darcy “emerging from the lake” and “climbing out of the lake” because IT NEVER HAPPENS. You see him swimming, cut to Lizzy looking at the portrait, then you see Darcy walking along LEADING HIS HORSE, AFTER HAVING PICKED UP HIS DISCARDED CLOTHING. We actually just checked the DVD in case there was a scene we missed somehow. It’s not in the book and it’s not even in the bally movie. If you’re going to mock the silly Janeites, at least get your bleeding facts straight.
Thanks to Alert Janeite Lisa for the link, and we hope she is following up with a bottle of Tullamore Dew. 😉
*Holy cr@p! It’s been twelve years? We feel terribly elderly all of a sudden.
DVD Times is reporting that a Blu-Ray DVD of P&P95 will be out in October. This will be good news to many disappointed with the bad color transfer on the DVD versions to date. Note it says “Region TBD.” Hopefully there will be releases in all regions for everyone who wants one.
Returning to the original film negatives this classic drama has been painstakingly restored frame-by-frame. 5.1 audio has also been created from the original soundtracks.
The 2-Disc Blu-ray release also features extras including a retrospective with interviews from Andrew Davies, and Costume Designer Dinah Collin. Region coding is TBC.
The administrator also says in comments,
The PR also says “Colours are now rich and vivid with previously unseen details, such as lace and fabric texture, revealed for the first time.”
Good news all around.
The last part of P&P95 aired tonight on Masterpiece Whateveritisthisweek, and we have to admit that even your tar-hearted Tilney-lovin’ Editrix’s toes curled a bit at “dearest, loveliest Elizabeth.” And then we’ve been bombarded by overstimulated Alert Janeites letting us know that there’s a very special treat available for auction at eBay for Firthaholics–a Pride and Prejudice Anniversary Edition DVD set signed by His Darcyness himself, AND a personal note from Mr. F. (tee-hee) to the winning bidder! There also are some other auctions featuring Colin’s other work, so do a search and see what’s out there. It all benefits Oxfam, so open your wallets and bid. You know you want him. 😉 Thanks to Alert Janeites Karen, Lisa, and another who sent a message through eBay and didn’t leave his or her name.
In other P&P news, the 15,000 members of Australian bookseller Dymocks’ booklover program have chosen Pride and Prejudice as their favorite novel. Several Jane Austen novels ended up in the Top 100: Persuasion at No. 57, Emma at No. 69, and Sense and Sensibility at No. 72. Thanks to Alert Janeites Lisa, Maria, and Lucy for the info!
In other news related to the Complete Jane Austen, Alert Janeite Liz let us know that the Behind the Scenes show from ITV, featuring the making of MP07, NA07, and P07, are available at YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5. Liz said, “Some questions are answered but don’t expect to find any explanation about Billie Piper’s hair.” Darn!
And lastly, Alert Janeite Marybeth wrote to tell us something interesting about P07:
It seems the PBS broadcast includes two very small scenes – totaling 20 seconds -that did not air on ITV and is not on the Region 1 DVD.
In the American broadcast, during the scenes at Lyme, after Anne and Captain Harville’s conversation about Captain Benwick’s ability to get over his recent loss, the sequence introducing us to Mr Elliot for the first time is edited out and instead the scene switches to a shot of crashing waves and then a shot of Anne standing on the Cobb looking out at the sea and then into the camera. (Neither of those shots were a part of the original British broadcast.) The PBS version then picks up with the British version showing Anne in front of the mirror at the inn.
Like I said, the whole thing takes about 20 seconds and replaces a sequence that lasts for 1 minute and 20 seconds. My guess is it was done to help match up the musical cues. But still, I just find it rather ironic that after all the scenes that were taken out, they decided to add something in for us.
The same thing happened with the second Hornblower series–the American cut was different from the British cut, and then the DVDs had less stuff than was shown on the television broadcast, and other stuff that wasn’t shown on the television broadcast. It was very weird.
Marybeth also sent a link to Ask Andrew Davies a question via PBS. Hope he has a bouncer handy.
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