Customer Reviews

Mansfield Park [VHS]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

Though not my favorite Austen, I have watched this movie again and again and I appreciate it more with each viewing. The characters are excellently portrayed and believable within the context of the mores and manners of Jane Austen's era. Robert Burbage was masterful in the role of Henry Crawford. His attraction to Fanny Price was an appeal to what was still fine and honorable in his dissipated soul, perhaps his last chance to redeem himself.Her refusal, though perfectly understandable even if her heart were at liberty, sealed his reckless fate. Fanny Price, played by Sylvestra Le Touzel, grows from a shy, repressed, vacant-eyed girl into a young woman of firm mind and stellar character. In the end she gets what she well-deserves - the honest and upstanding Edmund Bertram, the man she loves. Perhaps she overplays her part. Her expressions and gestures are rather off-puting at first but, with patience and exposure, you will grow to appreciate her. The wordly and witty Miss Mary Crawford ( Jackie Smith-Wood) is a perfect foil for Fanny's innocence and delicacy. A rival for Edmund's heart, she prevails until he discovers her true character and compares it to that of his cousin and dearest friend Fanny Price. Like her brother she is forsaken at last in favor of real goodness and decency. The supporting cast, especially Anna Massey and Bernard Hepton, are wonderful and a delight to watch. I recommend this film to all avid Austen fans. Please take into consideration, however, that BBC productions often appear more like stage-plays than your typical American movie productions and the action tends to be slower and more elaborate than you may be used to.

This production is notable for its faithfulness to the novel. However, its main strength is also its main handicap, resulting in a production that adheres so strictly to the book that it feels drawn-out and slow at points. The exception to this is the end scene, which wraps up the story too quickly.

Like the other "early" BBC Austen productions, there are occasional swerves into silliness that aren't intentional and can be distracting. Sylvestra Le Touzel, as Fanny, emphasizes her speeches with odd hand gestures. Mr. Crawford looks like a bipedal mouse in pants, and his sister, Mary, who is supposed to be so lovely, looks about the same except in a bad `80's wig and a dress. I giggle just thinking about Mr. Yeats's wig.

Still, there are some good points. On the balance I liked Le Touzel as Fanny, and Alison Fiske did very well as Mrs. Price. Angela Pleasence's Aunt Bertram reminded me an awful lot of Jessica Tate from SOAP, but I still liked her very much. The costumes and sets are fine but not remarkable, and the sound for the outdoor scenes is mediocre to poor.

On the whole, I'd say that this is a solid, but not great production. It's not a bad choice, but don't expect it to be as attractive or interesting as other, more recent Austen productions such as A&E's Pride and Prejudice or 1995's Sense and Sensibility.

This BBC miniseries is far truer to the book than the recent film from Miramax staring Embeth Davidtz. I suppose, unhappy with Fanny, the screenplay writer, Patricial Rozema, rewrote the main character to reflect Jane Austen, which simply is hard to swallow. However in this version (BBC) the script is close to the character and point of the book, the only thing lacking is the acting, the cast simply seems to have missed the characters at points. The actress who plays Fanny, Sylvestra De Touzel, looks like a china doll through out much of the film and seems insipid (but many readers find Fanny insipid as it is); however, the finial scene does her credit. If you are a sympathizer with the Crawfords from the book, this is a very good adaptation since Robert Burbage and Jackie Smith-Wood do the best acting in the film, if you can over look their terrible wigs. I also find Mrs. Norris to be particularly well acted and interpreted. I agree that this novel could do with a similar adaptation as Pride and Prejudice wonderfully received in 1995 by A&E/BBC in 1995 - but in comparison to the major motion picture this miniseries is far preferable to Austen enthusiasts.

For my money, this is the best, most accurate dramatization of a Jane Austen novel.

Why?

- The dramatizers based it heavily on the book. Much of the dialogue is taken straight out of MP, and very few liberties are taken with incident or language.
- Where dialoge HAS been added, it is well-written and consistent with what Miss Austen wrote, and with the characters of the story.
- It unfurls itself at a slow pace, almost as if you were reading the novel. For some this might be tedious--but if you don't like this production, you probably won't like the MP the Novel, either.
- Sylvestra Le Touzel does a nice job of bringing Fanny Price to life. I felt that the little eccentricities that she added (the "chopping" that one reviewer referred to, starts & shrieks, and even that hysterical bout of crying in the East Room) were a believable part of those "awkwardnesses that were...as good as graces" that Austen describes in her. They show a repressed 18 year old girl in an uncomfortable social situation, muddling through. I thought she made Fanny likeable and believeable.
- Robin Langford IS Mr. Yates! It's worth the price of the DVD just to hear him say "theatre".

Best characterizations are Edmund, Sir Thomas, Tom Bertram, and Mrs. Norris. While the latter is certainly more strident in the novel, it's easier to understand Sir Thomas' keeping her around when her poisoned barbs are delivered with a veneer of pleasantness.

Less ideal is Lady Bertram. While anyone who has read the novel might interpret her strange, slow speech as Langour, to someone who hasn't she might well come across as mentally ill. However, she is funny, if you can get past the mannerisms.

I was disappointed with the Crawfords, though. The actress who played Mary Crawford is very good, but doesn't look the part. And that dark wig is very distracting. I would rather see her natural color. The black hair is too obviously wrong for her complexion.

The actor playing Henry Crawford looks far too young for the part, and doesn't have the mature confidence and subtlety that Henry Crawford exudes in the book. He looks like he's trying too hard to be seductive, and about as much of a threat to Maria Bertram as a high school boy coming on to his teacher. Conversely, the actor who plays William Price looks too old for the part, trying to act young. In those scenes where he's hugging Fanny, I kept thinking, "Get your hands off her!" I wonder if the drama would have been better if they had switched the two--had Robert Burbage play William Price and Allan Hendrick play Henry Crawford.

NEVERTHELESS, I think anyone who appreciates Jane Austen ought to at least see this lovingly done version of Mansfield Park. It's a relic of the good old days of BBC production--intelligent, authentic, and skillfully acted.

I have read all the reviews and I just can't believe what people have written. This was a great movie. Yes it had terrible cinematography and the clothing was not that eye-catching but it was extremely well-written and I found the acting more than tolerable. I didn't have a problem with Sylvestra's portrayal of Fanny. I thought she did a good job even if she was not handsome. Fanny was not supposed to be a great beauty. I love the actor who played Edmund. He made me fall head over heels in love with the character. I think the storyline adhered well to the book. I also liked the portrayals of Fanny's uncle and Mary Crawford even though I despised the character. The ending I will admit was disappointing. After a long movie it was not enough of a payoff. Otherwise, this is highly recommended.

This is a stylish, well-costumed, and soulless version of a great book. It left me absolutely cold. It looks like one wooden stage set after another, with acting to match. If Austen's Fanny Price is irritating, Sylvestra LeTouzel makes her positively infuriating -- whining, complaining, sanctimonious -- what could Edmund or anyone else see in this person? The only memorable performance is by Jackie Smith-Wood as Mary Crawford, who brings out all her superficial charm, her shallowness, and, finally, her amorality. In this movie, she comes off as a much more sympathetic character than Fanny. Henry Crawford seems like a dressed-up fashion plate reciting his lines. The movie stayed fairly close to the book, but the ending in the movie seems more of an afterthought, tacked on in a few lines of narration.

The definitive movie version of Mansfield Park is yet to be written. The movie currently showing bills itself as a 'wicked comedy', and Jane Austen never intended Mansfield Park to be read as a comedy. And while Frances O'Connor is a delight in the current movie and a much better actress than LeTouzel, her Fanny Price isn't Austen's; O'Connor's Fanny is strong, spirited, animated, nothing like the weak, spineless Fanny of the book. I hope someone makes a movie version of Mansfield Park that is worthy of the book and soon, because it's one of the best novels in the English language and deserves a version that finally does it justice.

After reading all the reviews from others who have seen this movie, I was hesitant to buy it - but unfortunately live in a small town and could not rent it. It completes my collection of Austen movies, and I am very happy that I purchased it. It is certainly not up to A&E's Pride and Prejudice, nor Emma, but I would rank it right up there with Sense & Sensibility. It is true that you must decide in advance that it is not going to be your typical Hollywood product - here we are more dependent on the actors than background music and cinematography to impress us and tell their story. Curiously, I found Fanny's hand gestures to be a natural expression of her character. I was left, however, with wondering why Edmund married Fanny - but I was left pondering the same thing after reading the book. The movies that need to be re-done are first Persuasion and second Northanger Abbey.