Here is some some brief info about the major TV and movie adaptations. For in-depth features and reviews (including much gushing over the various male leads!) please click:

► Here for the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie
► Here for the BBC 1995 adaptation
► Here for the 1980 BBC dramatization
► Here for the 1940 film
► Here for the 2008 spin-off TV series Lost in Austen.

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Pride and Prejudice Movie 1940

Pride and Prejudice (1940) was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and written by Jane Murfin and Aldous Huxley, the author – most famously – of Brave New World. Starring Laurence Olivier as Mr Darcy and Greer Garson as Elizabeth, the movie was billed as “The Gayest Comedy Hit of the Screen!” Jane Austen, who famously considered her work to be “a little too light & bright & sparkling” would have seen more than just “a little” of these characteristics in Leonard’s adaptation.

According to the Internet Movie Database, the costumes, while beautiful, were apparently recycled from Gone with the Wind, which is set during the US Civil War era. The lack of attention to detail in the costumes mirrors the lack of deference to the novel; the film is set in 1835 and Lady Catherine de Burgh’s role, for example, is completely transformed. Much of the satire in the novel has been lost, but the film is charming and humorous in all the right places. It also finds redemption in the wartime glamour and mannerisms that provide their own nostalgia. Greer Garson adds 1940s star quality and Laurence Olivier’s Darcy is light hearted but still magnetic.

The film was critically well received and, in 1941, won an Oscar for Best Art Direction, Black and White.

Watch the 1940 Pride and Prejudice Movie here.

BBC and PBS Masterpiece Theater Pride and Prejudice 1980

The BBC’s five-part series was directed by Cyril Coke and written by Fay Weldon, the popular novelist. Next to the 1995 BBC adaptation, this is a relatively slow-paced and genteel adaptation, with a studio-bound feel in keeping with other costume dramas of the day. Elizabeth Garvie’s Lizzy is softer and more even-tempered than Jennifer Ehle’s, and Darcy’s forbidden passions are buried especially deeply beneath David Rintoul’s steely exterior. There is less fire in the portrayal of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy’s encounters; instead Fay Weldon has focused on the battle of wits between the characters. This results in less sexual tension but is perhaps closer to Jane Austen’s intentions.

Aside from a few minor changes and additions (for example, when Elizabeth rushes to Pemberley to find the Gardiners after receiving news of Lydia’s elopement) this adaptation is relatively loyal to the novel. Greater prominence is given to the characters of Charlotte Lucas, who is less unswervingly loyal to her new husband than is the case in the novel, and to Mary Bennet, who is played rather sweetly by Tessa Peake-Jones (who later starred in one of the UK’s most popular situation comedies, as Raquel in Only Fools and Horses.)

Mrs Bennett is played as sympathetically as possible by Priscilla Morgan, while Moray Watson’s Mr Bennet is far more short-tempered and aggressive than in any other popular adaptation.

The production values and costumes cannot compare with the more recent adaptations, but non-Brits will enjoy the all-so English stuffiness, which perhaps explains its global popularity -particularly in the United States. Relatively obscure and difficult to obtain in the country of its production, the series was first broadcast in the US in 1981 by PBS television as part of Masterpiece Theatre.

To read our full 1980 BBC Pride and Prejudice Review, click here.

BBC Pride and Prejudice 1995

This BBC six-part series was joint-funded by the American A&E Association and aired in the United States in 1996, the year after it first screened in the UK. Pride and Prejudice won a BAFTA TV Award (for Jennifer Ehle as Best Actress) and received five other nominations. It also received four Emmy nominations and one award, and numerous other prizes, and has become one of the most enduringly popular British costume dramas.

Andrew Davies’ ‘remarkably faithful and sensitively nuanced script’  keeps a frantic pace throughout each 55 minute episode. The ‘liveliness’ and critical intelligence of Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth, matched with Colin Firth’s painfully conflicted Mr Darcy, creates a rather hot-blooded adaptation – now famous for the long, smouldering looks shared by the leads at various points in the story.

Davies lifts as much of the original dialogue from the source text as possible, with his own lines inserted minimally and seamlessly. Small plot differences, such as one enduringly popular scene in which Colin Firth’s Darcy steps out of a lake in his Pemberley estate, were generously forgiven by much of the book’s female fan base! Other changes, such as Mr Collins’ visit to Longbourn after news breaks of Lydia’s elopement, are largely insignificant and arise obviously from the need to adapt the plot for television.

Read our full Pride and Prejudice 1995 DVD review here

You can also read our review of the soundtrack here

Pride and Prejudice Movie 2005

Joe Wright’s cinematic adaptation of Pride and Prejudice has a much more earthy and rustic feel than any of the adaptations to date. At two hours nine minutes, (less than half the length of it TV predecessors) a lot of the story was necessarily compressed or omitted. However, Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, appear much closer to the ages attributed to them by Jane Austen than in rival dramatisations. Macfadyen’s portrayal has a touch of vulnerability, making him a more subtle and introverted Mr. Darcy. Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth is sharp tongued and passionate. Joe Wright keeps a lot of the original humor, especially with Tom Hollander’s hilarious Mr Collins and Brenda Blethyn’s cringe-inducing Mrs. Bennet. The film’s scenery is breathtaking, which – although a strange thing to say about an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel – is another of its strong points.

Critical reception was good. The film won a BAFTA for the director and four Academy Award nominations. Worldwide, the film grossed over US$120,000,000 at the box office and according to metacritic.com, has an average review score of 82%, signifying near-universal acclaim from reviewers.

Read our review of the 2005 movie here

Check out our review of the stunning movie soundtrack here