I watched the 1940's P&P last night with Twigs. I had a great time, though maybe I'm being more generous in my expectations because this is 75 years old and I can't really go around demanding "What were you
thinking?" and expect an answer.
Things I liked: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet had great comedic timing. I'd say it's worth watching for those parts alone.
Caroline Bingley--!!! <3 <3 <3 I never thought she'd be one of my favorite parts in any adaption, but for a snobbish, manipulating,
elegant woman... look no further. Casting and costuming worked in her favor. (I think she managed to avoid the enormous sleeves 90% of the time, which might have helped.
)
Elizabeth Bennet--maybe not outstanding, but very watchable.
Black and white filming.
I love the look of the old films... the lighting and the carefully chosen textures and saturations.
Things to make one go "I, what--?": The choice for 1830's costumes... they're gorgeous in an over the top fashion as art sort of way once you become acclimated to the look... The best rational I can come up with is that the hair and makeup suit the style. (I'm having a really hard time mentally matching the long, slim, look of the 1810's with Elizabeth's make-up so maybe it was for the best...??? On the other hand, I'm sure they could have pulled it off with a different hairdo...)
Pemberly.
Oh, wait. There was no Pemberly.Two key Elizabeth/Darcy scenes were condensed down to almost nothing, giving one no anticipation for them changing their minds over the course of the film.
The Assembly Ball is where we meet both Darcy and Wickham, thus serving to condense a large amount of the beginning. I like it as the individual scenes but not as a whole, I think... We get Bingley wanting Darcy to dance with Elizabeth and her outrage on the point and then immediately afterward Sir William is introducing Darcy to Elizabeth claiming Darcy wants to dance with her. Both are fine in and of themselves but there's no intermediary scene where Darcy takes a second look and changes his mind.
(Actually, he spends the entire movie obviously in love with her. I did like the entirely invented Elizabeth/Darcy scenes at the party which stood in for the Netherfield Ball. It suited their characters and moved the story along at the same time.)
Then, because of the choice to cut Pemberly entirely, there's a bit of plot jiggery-pokery (Rosings must be a lot closer to Longbourne in this version) and immediately after the first proposal we find out Lydia and Wickham have run away. Aaaaaaand there's Darcy to explain himself in person instead of sending a letter and letting Elizabeth mull things over for awhile. Instead, she's left with the impression that Wickham actually did run away with Georgiana and Darcy had to bring her back and hush things up (Maybe? Twigs, did you get that impression too or am I reading too much into it?) and apparently that tragic story is enough to convince her that he's a decent fellow underneath it all.But wait... there's more.
The grand finale is everyone showing up at Longbourn--and I do mean everyone.
Elizabeth's line about Darcy being intrigued by her refusing to be intimidated by his reputation and daring to speak back is put in Darcy's mouth, and he's speaking of Lady Catherine's view of Elizabeth. Because Lady Catherine was deliberately sounding Elizabeth out for her dear nephew... And yeah. I think that about covers it.