Dear readers! you know you want to join in! What are we rewatching this time? The 2007 version of Northanger Abbey.
When: April 29, 2011 @ 8pm EST (Yep. The day of the Royal Wedding. I know, I'll be half dead too ;) )
Where: Twitter: #REanger
look for @heatherfrances and all the rest of the fantastic rewatch group: @CaseeMarie, @Ladyrelaynie, @darbydashwood, @sheblog, and @so_meow
Who: Everyone!
Why: Because we can. And its an absolutely adorable Austen drama. There are only 2 twitter rewatches left for the season! Get into the last 2 before its too late!
Incentive: Like with the S&S rewatch, I will be posting rewatch-only wallpapers and photos. Feel like showing off your photoshop skills too? The more the merrier! Stop by and tweet your fan art. We love sharing!
The Daily Mail recently published an article that featured three Jane Austen character actors: Colin Firth, Jemima Rooper, and Felicity Jones. Click here to read it.
Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy) and Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech
Jemima Rooper, Amanda Price in Lost in Austen, now in Me and My Girl
Felicity Jones (Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey) as Luise Miller, a woman in love with a prince.
Have you ever wondered why so many original BBC adaptations of the classics we love, including Jane Austen's, are cut down for PBS Masterpiece Classic? Erin Delaney, an editor at PBS, explained in a Barnes and Noble discussion thread last year, why so many scenes seem to be cut out, such as the donkey scene with Mr and Mrs Elton at the Strawberry picking party at Donwell Abbey in the current production of Emma or the bath tub scene in which Catherine fantasizes about Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey 2007:
Masterpiece gets involved in these productions at various points in the process, depending on the show. Sometimes, yes, we generate suggestions for which books are ripe for adaptation. Sometimes we get involved at the scripting/casting stage. And sometimes we do buy the shows after they're finished. Basically we're looking for, well, Masterpieces!
The air dates on PBS differ from those in England primarily because whichever channel in England is airing the program has its own schedule to manage, as does PBS. Masterpiece airs on Sunday night and we might want to make sure, for example, that we have five Sundays in a row, uninterrupted by holidays, to air something like Little Dorrit. There have been occasions when Masterpiece has aired a title in the U.S. before it aired in England. Regarding the question about editing to time... Sometimes we might feel that the show would benefit by being slightly tighter. But more commonly, editing is due to odd lengths. The BBC has long had a very free-wheeling schedule. If you've travelled in England, you may have noted that programs might start at 5 minutes past the hour, 10 minutes past, etc. This flexibility allows the BBC to air shows of odd lengths. American television, by contrast, is really ruled by the clock! We need Masterpiece to begin promptly at 9:00. And whatever show is airing next needs Masterpiece to end promptly as well.
Because these films are works of art in their own right (yes, I do believe this), decisions have been made all along, about what to leave in and what to take out. The book's author made such decisions, the screenwriter made more, each performer makes decisions about how to say each line, the director makes still more choices, and so forth. Each iteration of the film is its own piece of art.
Reading some of the books has helped me on occasion to understand parts of the puzzle that may have gotten altered throughout this artistic process...
For the DVD's that you can purchase and whether you receive the full versions or not, please read Cinthia's answer in the comments.
Enjoy this great montage of Jane Austen couples from the recent adaptations of Mansfield Park 2007, Persuasion 2007, Northanger Abbey 2007 and Sense and Sensibility 2008 included in "The Complete Jane Austen" on Masterpiece Classic in 2008, by PBouvma at YouTube.
For all our Aussie Janeites who will have the pleasure of meeting Henry Tilney this weekend, and all else who already know and adore him, here's a great Youtube video to enjoy!
Janeites in Australia will soon enjoy the delights of four of Jane Austen’s cannon adapted for the screen. According to this advance interview of Actress Sally Hawkins who portrayed Anne Elliot in the ITV production of Persuasion (2007), it looks like the month of June has been dedicated as a mini Austenpalooza down under. Starting with Emma (Kate Beckinsale version 1996), the weekly Sunday evening airings will also include the new (2007) versions of Persuasion on June 8, Northanger Abbey on June 15, and Mansfield Park on June 22.
Actress Sally Hawkins has some interesting comments to add about her take on Austen and her motives for writing.
"I think Jane is echoed in all her heroines, in all her novels," Hawkins says. "If you look at them as a set of complete works, you can see a real woman growing up. Her wit is there, apparent through all her heroines, and that is very much at the core."
Australian audiences have the double advantage of previous airing of these adaptations in the UK and North America, and many reviews are about. To prep yourself for each production (spoilers afoot), here are some reviews of the high and low points of each production.
Andrew Davies chose ancient and cavernous Lismore Castle for the setting of Northanger Abbey because “Northanger Abbey, the physical place, has to be very important in the film because it’s called Northanger Abbey yet we spend the first half of the film just having lots of references to it. So it can’t be a disappointment. Lismore Castle is a wonderful, splendid, rather scary building. It delivers all the promise of creaking ghosts in the corridors and strange things hidden in the dungeons. All the things you expect with a romantic castle.”
Once upon a time a lovely young girl named Catherine Morland lived a quiet and sheltered life in an ivy covered house with her mother and father and nine brothers and sisters.
She loved to read novels of the Gothic Persuasion, placing herself as the heroine in the most lurid fantasies.
Then true excitement came Catherine's way. The kindly Allens took her along on a holiday to Bath, where she attended a crush in the Lower Assembly rooms. There she met no one ...
... until Mrs. Allen bumped into a handsome young man named Henry Tilney. They quickly learned they could trust him for he knew all about choosing muslins for his sister and such.
Our erstwhile young heroine spent a delightful evening dancing with Henry. (Part of the ITV scene below was cut out of the 90-minute PBS version of the movie.)
She then met a new girlfriend named Isabella in the middle of the street and the two girls immediately bonded.
Isabella was not only young and gay and sophisticated, but she was always busting out ...
with excitement over gothic novels and novel men.
Soon the two young misses were on a first-name basis and running around with each others’ brothers.
But Catherine thought John was icky. He lied to her and abducted her in an open gig,
leaving Henry and his sister in the lurch, and getting Catherine wet in the rain.
Catherine liked Henry ever so much better than John. She even dreamed about the handsome newly ordained young reverend, misplacing her clothes in the process.
Henry’s father, mistaking Catherine for an heiress (thanks to tattler John) ...
... invited her to visit his cozy house in the country.
Henry drove an unchaperoned Catherine to Northanger Abbey. (Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.)
There, comfortably ensconced in bed, Catherine could read to her heart's delight until the wee hours of the morning ...
and double check laundry lists. One night a gust of wind blew out Catherine's candles. Gasp! Will Catherine live to survive the horrors of Northanger Abbey?
Will Henry will wipe the smudges of mud off Catherine's face?
Will he forgive her for thinking that his father kept his mother locked up in her rooms and threw away the key, or worse murdered her? Will the eight years difference in their ages prevent him from proposing to her and living happily ever after?
Have you noticed? Keen observers of Mansfield Park 1983 will have recognized Sylvestra Le Touzel. She played Fanny Price all those years ago, and appeared as Mrs. Allen in the 2007 version of Northanger Abbey.
And Nicholas Farrell, who played staid and moral Edmund Bertrum in 1983, appeared as the gregarious Mr. Musgrove in last week's Persuasion.
How do you say, "Can't wait for the next installment of The Complete Jane Austen?"
Northanger Abbey is coming to PBS's Masterpiece Classic tomorrow night at 9p.m. EST. Want to know more about the production? This link to A Penny for Your Dreams will lead you to a fun review of the ITV episode. Remember, PBS has cut another 30 minutes off, which in my opinion does Jane a great injustice and disservice. Nevertheless, I think that most of you will be pleased with this production, which is as adorable as a 6-week-old puppy.
If you want to know more about Catherine and her fabulous Mr. Tilney, click on Solitary Elegance and visit the Northanger Abbey Adaptations page, or click on Austenprose.
Judy Silkoff interviews Andrew Davies in Jane Austen's Regency World about his adaptations of Jane's novels to film, including his take on Northanger Abbey. Click here to read the 5-page PDF document entitled "Jane Austen for the 21st Century".
Can't wait for Northanger Abbey icons? Enter this site to view 18 new icons, all of them splendid and created by olde_fashioned for Fans of Felicity Jones.
Kill two birds with one stone and enter this J.J. Feild fan site to read a Felicity Jones interview about Northanger Abbey and her steamy milk bath scene. (See image below.)
Then visitMasterpiece's Northanger Abbey, and you'll be all set to watch the film on PBS this Sunday at 9 p.m. EST. Well, not quite. We still have a few surprises in store for you.
So, our northern neighbors, how did it go? How did you like Northanger Abbey? Feel free to share. Here's a cute video I found of Felicity Jones as Catherine. She looks absolutely adorable.
I won't describe Jane Austen's birth on December 16th, 1775 in much detail when Claire Tomalin does it so much better. Click here to read the first chapter of her informative book, Jane Austen: A Life. In this passage you will learn that the Rev. George Bennet thought to nickname his second daughter Jenny; that, although Mrs. Austen was a month overdue by their reckoning, Jane arrived so quickly and easily there was no need to call a doctor; and that a recent frost had iced a local pond well enough for the elder Austen boys to slide over its frozen surface. Our fellow Janeites up north have a Jane birthday treat in store for them this Sunday evening: The first showing of Northanger Abbey, 2007 on TVO Canada at 9 p.m. Oh, how I envy this celebration! Y'all let us know how much you liked the viewing, y'hear? Here's more about Northanger Abbey.
In honor of Northanger Abbey, I wrote a post about its long journey to print. Click here to read it.
