The Scarlet Pimpernel - Although the Baroness who wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel may not have been the greatest novelist of all time, nor even necessarily belong to the same esteemed status as a Bronte or Dickens, the Pimpernel has endured as a swashbuckling classic romance. I first saw this version The Scarlet Pimpernel in 2001. A fan of the 1934 version with Leslie Howard, I fell in love with this A&E adaptation starring British actor Richard E. Grant in the title role. Grant is perfect in the role, as the Regency England fop with a double life as the dashing Pimpernel.
Horatio Hornblower: The Duel & The Fire Ships – Ioan Gruffudd stars in this Emmy award winning adaptation of the C.S. Forrester novels set during the Napoleonic wars.
Pride and Prejudice and Emma - 1996 saw not one but two versions of Jane Austen’s Emma, one starring Gwyneth Paltrow (Miramax) and the other, the A&E version included in this collection starring Kate Beckinsale. Both versions are excellent but this one is a particular joy for Beckinsale's wonderful interpretation of the main character and for a cast of well drawn secondary characters played by such as Samantha Morton (also in the collection’s Jane Eyre), and Prunella Scales. If you are an Austen fan, both filmed versions can be enjoyed, as they tend to highlight different aspects of the novel’s characters and themes. On the other hand, for many, the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice in this collection is the gold standard, and the one that launched thousands of Firth fans.
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books of all time, and I have seen several filmed adaptations of the novel. To me, Edward Rochester is the quintessential romantic hero (who I discuss further in a Blogcritics article) and I am quite picky about adaptations of the novel. I have always held the BBC version of it with Timothy Dalton as the standard by which all other Jane Eyres must be judged. I found this version, although much abridged from the novel (and BBC production), quite well done, with Samantha Morton’s narration providing cohesion to the story. Ciarán Hinds creates nowhere as complex a Rochester as Dalton but Morton’s Jane Eyre is excellent.
Vanity Fair – For those not completely satisfied by the Reese Witherspoon version of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, the A&E adaptation of the might be more to your liking. The social climbing Becky Sharpe is brought to life in this sumptuous miniseries. At once treacherous and put-upon, Becky reaches the heights of London society before her comeuppance and the story is a joy to watch and absorb in this lovely miniseries.
Article comments
1 - hl_lover
I see on the A&E site that you can get two 14-disc sets of the same DVDs for a lower price than the one mega-set, $170 vs $400.
I suppose you could argue endlessly which adaptation of a certain novel is the best, but it would be hard to beat this collection.
Thanks for your excellent review, Barbara!