ITV Jane Austen Series

The world of YouTube is such a wonderful place. Despite its bad quality pictures, I have access to the three adaptations of Jane Austen Classics shown in America and the UK in little bite size pieces. Being a period drama freak, I have naturally taken advantage of this opportunity and can tell you a little bit about it here.

Mansfield Park
After the monumental plot cock up achieved by the 1999 version (Starring the lovely Frances O'Connor, the yummy Alessandro Nivola and a favourite of mine, Jonny Lee Miller) I was hoping that this TV version could right some wrongs and actually pay attention to the book.
Somehow, however, they managed to take a novel, adored by many, and turn it into something altogether flat. Jane Austen was a wonderful critic of the human character, yet this aspect was entirely missing from the script. Combined with filming being confined to one set, poor dialogue and direction, the program seemed naive or just extremely disinterested in what it was adapting.

Northanger Abby
I have to admit, I have not read the book, and consequently only gave myself a sneak preview of this adaptation. Luckilly the screenplay was entrusted to the hands of Andrew Davies, better known for his magnificent adaptation of BBC's 'Pride and Prejudice', as well as favourites 'Wives and Daughters' and 'Vanity Fair'. The Jane Austen spark was there, and the acting and direction was very much adequate as far as I could tell from my sneaky preview. I cannot vouch for loyalty to the book however, but given Andrew Davies consistency in the past, I am guessing that this will be excellent.

Persuasion
One of my favourite Jane Austen novels! So I was very anxious that they get this one right. They had to contend with the well received BBC adaptation of 1995, which I think pushed them to a very different personal level. The overall portrayal is a little more somber than I would have expected, and very much constructed from the view of Anne Elliot. The humerous characters are almost pushed into the background (unfortunatly this limited the lovely Anthony Stuart Head's screen time as the Baronette) but I believe all the character representations remain loyal to the novel. In particular, Amanda Hale as Mary Musgrove is a lovely Jane Austen characture of the rediculous! The chemistry between Rupert Penry-Jones as Capt. Wentworth and Sally Hawkins as Anne Elliot is undeniable. The use of hand held, which usually distracts me, does not get annoying and I think the director uses it extremely effectively to show the inner turmoil of Anne. Also curious in the direction is how Anne stares directly at the camera at times, but again it does not seem out of place and connects the viewer with Anne's character.
Many a fan of this novel will lament the tampering with a particular scene (I will not ruin it for you) but the tampering is well done and does not remove from the moment too much.
One problem I had was the rushed ending, but with a TV movie adaptation it was to be expected.

Keep an eye out for the Sense and Sensibility mini that will be out hopefully by the end of the year, also in the capable hands of Andrew Davies' script writing.