Pride and Prejudice – overview

Right now I’m soldiering through every available version of Pride and Prejudice.

Less certain of viewing attention are the Raft of Medusa gathering of adaptions, spinoffs, modernizations, and walking dead versions, including

  • Bridget Jone’s Diary (“loosely based on” modernization – 2001);
  • Bride and Prejudice (East meets West version set in India – including an American Darcy and Bollywood elements – 2005);
  • Death Comes to Pemberley (murder mystery, set six years after the original P&P, with Maxwell Rhys of The Americans – 2013);
  • Lost in Austen (modern day girl travels back in time and gets Darcy for herself – 2008);
  • Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (haven’t seen it, but it’s supposedly okay in a weird way, plus… with OMG Lily James,  2016);
  • the Lizzie Bennet Diaries (some kind of vlog version – suspending disbelief – 2012);
  • Pride and Prejudice – A Latter Day Comedy (Mormon version – stay with me – 2003);
  • Pride and Prejudice Atlanta (African American context, on Lifetime, and therefore sweet and kind – 2019);
  • Unleashing Mr. Darcy (Dog show context – I’m not making this up – 2016);
  • Pride Prejudice and Mistletoe (Hallmark Christmas modernization – 2018);
  • Christmas at Pemberley Manor (yet another Hallmark version, even looser – 2018; and (I’m holding my breath – there’s so many ways this could wrong, and so few right) the 2020 musical version.

Notable past or currently demi-to-fully famous performers who have graced the various actual as opposed to derivative versions include Sir Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, Judy Dench, Keira Knightly, Donald Sutherland, Carey Mulligan, Colin Firth, and Rosamund Pike.

 Streamable versions of the actual story include  (Amazon Prime):

  • 1940 –  Greer Garson and Olivier – much beloved.
  • 1980 –  Elizabeth Garvie, David Rintoul – mini series, dated but worth a look for character studies and the adorable Garvie.
  • 1995 – Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, mini series – considered by many to be the definitive version.
  • 2005 – Dench, Sutherland, Pike, Mulligan, with Matthew MacFadyen as Darcy, and Knightly as a fascinating, doe-eyed Elizabeth Bennet. (Also on Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, YouTube, et al.)

To document my re-viewing of the P&P movie versions, while still giving attention to the spinoffs, I plan to review one of each in future posts.