Product Details

• Actors: Anne Baxter, Robert Powell, Michael Wager, Tim Choate, John Guerrasio
• Directors: James Ivory
• Writers: James Ivory, Jane Austen, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Samuel Richardson
• Producers: James Ivory, Connie Kaiserman, Ismail Merchant
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Dolby, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Merchant Ivory
• DVD Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002KPHVA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,105 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Jane Austen in Manhattan - The Merchant Ivory Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

JANE AUSTEN IN MANHATTAN - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a quirky experiment, January 22, 2006

By 

Hatha Yodel (Hardwick) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jane Austen in Manhattan - The Merchant Ivory Collection (DVD)

I'm a Jane Austen freak and devoted to Merchant Ivory movies. This one is early and quirky. It's about art and acting. It's about two quite different ways to bring Jane Austen to life in Manhattan: a traditional, aristocratic way, and an avant garde liberatory way. Watching the two ways interact on the screen (and almost merge at the end) while trying to follow the story of who abducted who and how she felt about it ties your mind in unexpected knots. I think one needs to have read not only Jane Austen's juvenilia, but also Richardson's now-impossible once-best-seller novel Sir Charles Grandison to understand all the allusions and satire. If you happen to have experienced the artistic circles in New York in the 60's and 70's - from the upper class patrons of experimental avant garde art to the struggling young would be actors - then you MAY enjoy the movie. Many people seem to have really disliked it. I loved it.

24 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What a Dissapointment!, May 7, 2005

By 

AutumnHarvest (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Jane Austen in Manhattan [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The blurb about this movie made it seem like something I wanted to see, even buy. I rented it yesterday. Thank goodness I did not buy it! It is bizarre' to say the least, and lousy, to say the truth! My husband is a former film maker and even he found nothing good to say about the technique, script, lighting, acting, et al. The whole thing has almost nothing to do with Jane Austen-a lost piece of her work sold at auction to the leader of misguided would-be actors in New York under his spell. He passes himself off as some sort of avant-garde coach, when he is actually creating some kind of cult in which he alone reaps any benefits. He takes everyone's money, practically holds them prisioner, and puts on ridiculous scenes in the name of creating genius. Only Anne Baxter added anything positive to this film as an actress who wants to put on a real production of the Jane Austen works, but even she can not pull this stinker out of the loo. Save your money and your time.

3.0 out of 5 stars Imperfect But Still Entertaining, August 30, 2011

By 

James S. Eisenberg - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jane Austen in Manhattan - The Merchant Ivory Collection (DVD)

In Manhattan, two theatre companies, one avant-garde, one traditional, are putting on productions of the same long lost play by Jane Austen.

The actors, directors, angels, techies and hangers on of both groups all seem to know each other, and complications, romantic and otherwise,ensue. Also, at several

points, the plot of Austen's play becomes real and you see dramatic events unfolding in a wild landscape.

The storytelling here is rather a mess, and much of the acting, especially by the younger performers, is weak.

Anne Baxter delivers some of her lines in a wonderfully acid tone. Of the younger group, only Sean Young went on to have a major career. Although she is very beautiful here,

there is little indication of the skills, both comedic and serious she would reveal in later years.

Marginally a comedy, there are few laughs to be had.

If you love lower Manhattan, you will enjoy looking at this, but it is certainly the weakest film in the Merchant-Ivory catalog.