Product Details

• Format: Box set, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: American Home Treas
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 156 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 157875075X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #194,211 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's unlikely that there's a more comprehensive collection on the life of novelist Jane Austen than this boxed set of three one-hour videos. The first video, Life, takes viewers to the locations where Austen lived her abbreviated life. The film looks at her birth, as one of seven children born to a country curate, how she lived and wrote, and her unfortunate early death. There's also a look at her relationships, notably with her elder brother (who assisted in the publication of her novels) and her sister Cassandra. A visit to the family's Chawton cottage home gives a nice image of the environment in which Austen found herself.

The second video, Society, explores the Regency era in which Austen lived. It's a thorough, historical, informative perspective that puts Austen in the context of her time. There's a look at what people wore, what they ate, and the change in English society from the reign of King George III to the Regent's turn, pre-George IV. Society also examines the political state at the time and the caricatures and cartoons that populated the newspapers.

Works presents narrated excerpts of Austen's writing, as well as insight into her personal life, through letters (although Cassandra is said to have destroyed those letters with too personal an insight). What's most fascinating is the speculation and examination of the real-life people who inspired the now-classic heroes and heroines in Austen's novels. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

80 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A slide show on the DVD, May 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: "Jane Austen's Life, Society, Works" (DVD)

This 2-disc DVD is nothing but a slide show with audio commentary. We see green meadows with dogs running, seashores, flowers, and more meadows while listening to a commentary. No reference to the meadows, etc. was ever made until Bath, England. It was more like a travel DVD than a documentary of Jane Austen. I thought I would see the Jane Austen Centre at the very least. Instead, there were more shots of modern day Bath with no reference to what we were seeing. I was disappointed in this dvd set to say the very least. There was nothing new or interesting in this DVD in my opinion.

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "Not at all what I expected.", September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jane Austen's Life, Society, Works [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This video series was rather boring. So boring that I returned it. They keep showing mostly the same pictures over and over again. They also show current pictures of various places in England and if you are trying to visualize say what Bath looked like in her time, the bus going by and the people in modern dress throw you off. The narrator, while somewhat informative, has a very monotone voice. I just couldn't wait for this set to arrive and after I made it through the first tape, there was nothing that prompted me to watch the second and third right away!

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Jane Austen Video Review, March 24, 2000

By 

Michael Horvath (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jane Austen's Life, Society, Works [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I found this video set to be boring and very uninformative. The video was not very sophisticated and appears to be shot by a hand-held videocamera. The lighting in many of the scenes was atrocious and unfocused. The same images (most of them still images) were used in all three tapes. The analysis of Ms. Austen's life, society, and works were puerile and very simple. Some of the information was downright incorrect.

On the whole, I was truly disappointed with this video and would suggest borrowing it from a poor soul who had the misfortune to purchase it rather than purchasing it yourself.