Pride and Prejudice 1980: My Review

I was a little skeptical of Pride and Prejudice 1980 for a while, but I had heard good things about it and I knew at least that it was pretty accurate, so when I (sort of) had some extra time, I decided to watch it. 

It was good. 

Not quite "Pride and Prejudice 1995 with Colin Firth" good, but still quite good. 

Its main fault was being made in 1980, so it was not very great quality and the actors and actresses spoke a certain way that was just--you know, like a movie made in 1980. But that was a small fault, and it was really quite good besides that. 

What I Liked

Mr. Darcy

Sadly, it's hard to find a good quality picture of  him because, like I said, not the greatest quality made movie...

I really, really liked David Rintoul as Mr. Darcy. (Okay, so still not as well as Colin Firth, but for a little while I almost thought so...Much to the shock and horror of my sister...And then I watched a P&P'95 clip and I remembered that Colin Firth is Mr. Darcy.) He did the Mr. Darcy thing really well. He was properly proud and stand-offish, and he was handsome, and he spoke as Mr. Darcy quite convincingly. I think he was really good. 

Mr. Collins!!!!

This was one of two actors that I liked better in this one than the '95 one. This Mr. Collins WAS. PERFECT. Malcom Rennie did a perfect job. I liked this Mr. Collins because he portrayed the Mr. Collins of the book perfectly, it seemed to me. He was young, and ridiculous, and tall (yeah, the Mr. Collins in the book was tall, which we forget after watching '95. But I still absolutely LOVE the Mr. Collins in '95!! He's sooo hilarious and he still does the Mr. Collins thing really well, it's just that, well, he was too old and he was short and he was a little bit too slimy and not just pompous. Still love him, though.). This Mr. Collins just was the perfect combination of everything about Mr. Collins in the book. He made me laugh sooo much, just as much as he does in the book. This Mr. Collins gets a 10/10. 

Wickham

I liked this Mr. Wickham for the simple reason that he seemed to me to be much closer to the Wickham of the book. He was completely friendly and gentlemanly--you know, at least at first--and he did a better job of being convincing in telling his story and making one feel sorry for him. The Wickham in '95 seemed a little too shifty and slimy and insincere (not to mention being a little too old, which this one was not at all). It was funny, though, because Peter Settelen, who plays Wickham, also played Charlie Sloane in the 1975 "Anne of Avonlea," which I've seen many times. So it was a little weird seeing "Charlie Sloane" as Mr. Wickham. :) He was really good, though. I liked him as Wickham because he seemed a lot more like Mr. Wickham in the book. 

That's really about all I liked better than the 1995 one. The accuracy was about the same as the '95 version, except that a couple of teeny tiny details in conversations were more accurate. So as far as that went, it was good. None of that "let's change anything we can think of to make it seem like a modern American drama" stuff that's in 2005. 

What I Didn't Like As Well

The Bennet Family

Elizabeth, left; Jane, right

Left to Right: Lydia, Kitty, Mary

Mr. Bennet

Mrs. Bennet

Each member of the Bennet family was done better in 1995. They were all still good, but none of them was nearly as good as the ones in 1995, in which they were all absolutely perfect. I still liked this Bennet family, though, and they did a far better job than 2005 and I think they still did a good job of keeping it like the book. So it was good. 

(One more thing--Jane Bennet, too, was familiar: Sabina Franklyn (Jane) played Phillipa Gordon in the 1975 BBC "Anne of Avonlea." It was interesting to see "Phil" as Jane. :)

The Ending

I didn't like the ending nearly as well. That was the main thing they kind of messed up. They kept a lot of the same conversation Mr. Darcy and Lizzy had in the end of the book, but they changed it so that it finished with Elizabeth talking to Mr. Darcy. They didn't do the wedding, which I suppose was just fine as far as book accuracy goes, but I really liked that scene in P&P '95. It was fine, though. 

The Bingley family was pretty good. Still definitely not as good as the Bingleys of 1995, but tolerable, I suppose. :) 

The other minor characters were either not as good or about the same. 

Overall, I would say if you like Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice, then you would probably enjoy this movie. I would recommend it with the understanding that it's not as good as P&P'95. 

Have you seen Pride and Prejudice 1980? Do you want to? What do you think?