olivier as darcy and other austen etc.

in the desolate midst of job searching, I treated myself to watching part of TCM's Day of Lawrence Olivier, in particular the 1940 adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice." What a good shock I received- having thinking that Colin Firth and Andrew Davies' adaptation was the only one worth viewing! It was also a slightly shocking surprise to hear so much familiar dialogue in the older version (and here I thought Davies' was the genius behind some of those delightful quips!).

Not to mention finally seeing Marsha Hunt in action on screen- I've long seen pictures of her (in her ultra-fab book "The Way We Wore") and told my mother that's the movie star she most looks like (ever played that game? it can be deuced difficult at times- I still haven't a movie star persona, though Dad was declared a Gene Kelly ringer almost as soon as we knew how to play ;) ).

The latest adaptation of P&P seems well underway, with Keira Knightley, the current hot-young-thang from the UK, taking over the central role of Elizabeth Bennett. Don't the costumes look lovely so far? (And thank god B. Pitt is no longer attached! Egads, what a horrible Darcy he'd be!)

In other Austen news, of late there has been some commentary on Austen as an author at the lovely Foreword blog. Peruse at your leisure- I always do.