Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is one of the great works of English literature. It has also been adapted a hundred different ways by a hundred different artistic voices, from the extremely faithful miniseries on the BBC to the Bollywood inspired Bride and Prejudice. Each brings their own specific ideas to the story and their own approach to the timeless source material. As such, the classic 1940s adaptation of the book must be considered both as a film in its own right and as a member of this august club of adaptations.

As a film, it has plenty to recommend itself. For starters, it features an excellent cast. While most would recognize the famously talented Laurence Olivier (Mr. Darcy), and some may recognize Maureen O’Sullivan (Jane), the rest of the less famous cast is no less enjoyable and talented. Period pieces from this time in Hollywood can sometimes come across as slightly cheesy or melodramatic and the performances in this film avoid any such traps. The script is also very solid. While it makes some changes from the original story, what it retains is done better than many other adaptations I’ve seen. For example, this version does a better job of preserving the witty barbs, pointed quips, and observational humor of the original text. These are not always given their due in film and stage adaptations, to allow more time to explore the romantic side of Austen’s classic, but here they are not just present to punctuate the occasional scene with a juicy little bon mot but to be genuinely funny and give the film an overall lighter tone.

As a faithful adaptation of the original book, however, this solid screenwriting doesn’t entirely make up for the numerous changes being made. The most obvious, and upsetting to a Pride and Prejudice purist, is that the film largely drops the Darcy, Wickham, Elizabeth love triangle in favor of a tighter focus on the hot and cold, opposites attract romance of just Darcy and Elizabeth. Wickham is present, but is never really presented as a serious suitor to Elizabeth. Instead, his role is largely diminished to that of an amiable flirt who catches the interest of Elizabeth’s younger sisters in order to keep the final act the same. Other characters have had their role shifted greatly, too, changing the tone of relationships. Lady Catherine’s purpose in the narrative, and general demeanour of screen, has been completely reworked here in ways I won’t enumerate here so as to not spoil the film.

Still, that is a much better fate than befell others from Austen’s original. Whole characters are excised, presumably to streamline the story; creating greater focus while accommodating a film’s restrictive run time. Mr. Darcy’s sister Georgiana, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and Colonel Fitzwilliam, all of whom play relatively important roles in the book are eliminated as part of this streamlining process. Georgiana, for example, is mentioned in relation to Wickham’s past, as in the book, but she never appears on screen and the entire meeting between her and Elizabeth has been removed.

The setting of the film has also been changed, in terms of the era in which it takes place. As far as I can tell, this was only done so that it could ride on the coattails of Gone with the Wind’s success; trading the relatively plain and conservative dresses of the Georgian era for something puffier and more glamorous. This also allows the use of a more varied set of situations and locations than in the original work and most adaptations. For example, one of the pivotal sniping flirtations that normally happens at a ball, happens at a garden party instead. I actually like this change, as the new venue didn’t seem out of place for the setting, didn’t come across as not trusting the material, and added some stimulating variety to break up the long march of staid dances that often occurs in the middle act when the lengthy novel is condensed to a film’s limited runtime. However, I do acknowledge that a purist will probably find the change rather upsetting.

While the location changes are sigificantly rarer, this kind of time shifting is extremely common, as the 2005 version starring Keira Knightly also moved eras, supposedly to avoid direct comparisons to the (considered by many to be peerless) BBC miniseries from 1995. As such, your mileage may vary on whether this seems inoffensively typical for an Pride and Prejudice adaptation, or that the accompanying changes in dress and setting read like a weak attempt to cash in on the popularity of fancy-dress period pieces that were succeeding at the box office at the time.

With or without the changes, the film has the distinct feeling of being rushed. The characters and their relationships don’t seem to have time to breathe. This is particularly odd because the film has a very similar runtime to the 2005 adaptation, which never feels rushed as is able to capture a naturalistic tone with aplomb. Maybe this is still the fault of changes being made, as several plot elements are moved around in time, most notably the introduction of Wickham being much earlier, which gives this sense of a desire to accelerate the narrative unnecessarily. It seemingly does less in the same amount of time while also feeling like it is trying to cram in more than will fit.

In the end, I have mixed feelings about Pride and Prejudice. It is far from the best version of it I’ve seen, but it really isn’t all that bad either. For a real lover of the source material, it is probably offensively removed from the work it is trying to adapt. For someone who goes in with an open mind, many of the tweaks are likely explained by quirks of Hollywood of the time, and for those who come in blind, it is a perfectly good period romance with great performances and beautifully constructed sets and costumes. So really, it comes down to what you want from it. Do you want Pride and Prejudice brought to life on screen? Or are you happy with an enemies-to-lovers period piece loosely based on the works of Jane Austen?

Would Recommend: If you are happy with an enemies-to-lovers period piece loosely based on the works of Jane Austen.

Would Not Recommend: If you want nothing less than Pride and Prejudice brought to life on screen.