Product Details

• Actors: Robert Burbage, Susan Edmonstone, Nicholas Farrell, Gorden Kaye, Sylvestra Le Touzel
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: October 17, 1995
• Run Time: 261 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (89 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300249824
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #139,416 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In 1983, the BBC made this 261-minute miniseries from Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park. Austen explores the well-tread theme of class distinction and the triumph of love, but Fanny Price (Sylvestra Le Touzel) is an original Austen creation. Fanny, from a large and poor family, is taken into the home of her wealthy uncle and aunt, the stoic Sir Thomas Bertram (Bernard Hepton) and the childlike Lady Bertram (Angela Pleasence, daughter of actor Donald). Also residing at the posh Bertram mansion are the oldest son, irresponsible Tom (Christopher Villiers), distant Julia (Liz Crowther), and the kindly Edmund (Nicholas Farrell).

If you can get past Le Touzel's odd mannerism of making little chopping movements with her open-palmed hand for emphasis, this is a faithful adaptation of the novel. It's much slower than Northanger Abbey and lacks some of the passionate drama of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, but it still depicts a strong yet very kind heroine who stands up for what she believes in. When popular philanderer Henry Crawford (Robert Burbage) actually falls for and proposes to Fanny, she rejects him, much to the surprise and disdain of the Bertrams--except, of course, for our hero Edmund. For trivia buffs: Jonny Lee Miller, who plays young Charles Price (one of Fanny's brothers), has the role of Edmund Bertram in the 1999 theatrical version of Mansfield Park. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's worth 5 stars to me..., April 7, 2001

By 

Betty Smedley (Canoga Park, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mansfield Park [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This version of Mansfield Park is worth 5 stars to me, but it will not appeal to everyone. For it is not a glossy big-screen-adaption which trades Jane Austen's genius for something else. I saw it on television during a Jane Austen marathon about 5 years ago, and have been hoping to find this video ever since. At first I was not impressed, but I kept watching it because I am such a Jane Austen fan. Gradually I became hooked. All the actors looked so real. The actress who plays Fanny Price is especially interesting. She is not movie star beautiful, but she has the eyes and complexion of a nineteeth century doll. She uses her looks to portray the Fanny I imagined; the Fanny who is the antithesis of Elizabeth Bennet. On the other hand, the actress who plays Mary Crawford is beautiful but her looks are almost spoiled by the awful (yet historically accurate) wig she is made to wear. More importantly, her Mary Crawford is true to Austen, and with my modern sensibilities, I liked her very much. The other actors are also adept. I am very much looking forward to owning this video. I know I will watch it again and again, just as I read the book again and again.

63 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just the way I imagined it!, July 11, 2001

By 

jumpy1 (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mansfield Park [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Contrary to the other reviewers, I find this version of Mansfield Park is exactly how I imagined it when I read it. I wonder what the others were expecting in a poor girl at the mercy of difficult relatives? And, did they expect it to be more romantic? I found the acting to be exactly what I'd expect for people of the type Jane Austen described in her book. Especially in England at that time. This is not a happy book, by and large. Perhaps the readers imposed their own world onto Ms. Austen's prose when they read it. Perhaps they are not aware of the difficulties of daily life, even for the leisure class, at that time. I've watched it many times, and showed it to my friends and sisters, and we all love it!

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Faithful to the book - but slow, also like the book, April 13, 2003

By 

Douglas K. Bissell (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mansfield Park [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I think that someone who hasn't read Mansfield Park is going to be bored by this production. And some that have read it, too. But if you have the time to invest, I think that this is about as faithful a rendition as we are likely to get.

Mansfield Park is my least favorite of Jane Austen's novels, partly because Fanny Price isn't the same kind of heroine that you find in P&P, S&S, or Emma. So - a producer could make a video with an exciting Fanny Price, but then you wouldn't have Mansfield Park.

I give it 5 stars because I believe this video does the best possible job with a complex plot, and because I believe that the actors were apt for the roles they were given.