Period Drama Week Questions: second half

Click here for the first half.

11. Which period drama which you haven't seen yet do you most want to watch?

Good question! Probably The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982). So many people adore that movie I feel like I’m missing out!

12. Which period drama has the prettiest soundtrack or background music?

I must choose the soundtracks from Anne of Green Gables (1&2) by Hagood Hardy. Very beautiful.

13. Which period drama has your favourite screenplay/script? Why? (e.g if it is similar to the original text, if there is one, or if it has been improved in some ways)

That’s a hard one! I do love the script for Pride and Prejudice (1995). Very faithful to the book – even if it is not quite the same and Mr. Darcy didn’t go swimming in the pond and a few scenes I really like in the book are excluded –  but the quotes are extremely close to the book, if not exactly the same.

I also love the script for Emma (2009); some of the quotes are not as close to the book as I would like them to be, but I think the flow of the movie etc. is great.

14. Do you like having multiple versions of some period dramas? Do some period dramas need a newer version? Or are the older versions better?  

Yes, I do like having multiple versions. It’s a hobby of mine to watch them and compare. Some do need a newer version, but most of those ones do have a recent(ish) version that just isn’t any good and needs a replacement.

15. What is the longest period drama you've seen?

Bleak House (2005) – the mini-series is 8 ½ hours long. But (almost) every minute is really interesting! A very intricate plot, and deserves all 15 episodes.

16. Who are your favourite actors/actresses from period drama?

I like to be a lot more involved in the characters the actors portray rather than the actors themselves, but I do enjoy the acting of Romola Garai (Emma Woodhouse tops my list, but I’ve seen her in 3 other roles). I usually enjoy the roles played by Keeley Hawes (Cynthia Kirkpatrick from Wives and Daughters, Lizzie Hexam on Our Mutual Friend) and although I’ve only seen her in the one role, I really enjoyed Claire Foy’s performance of Amy Dorrit. And I love Jonny Lee Miller’s Mr. Knightley.

17. Do you prefer watching a regular-length movie or a more in-depth mini-series? Why?

I almost always prefer a mini-series. They are usually MUCH more accurate to the story and allow time for the plot to develop as it should. Some people like to sit down and watch something all at once, and so they don’t like long things – but I do; I like to be able to spread things out and not have it be over all at once.  

18. What period drama has one of your favorite actors/actresses in it?

Emma (2009) has a lot of actors I like & have seen in several things – Romola Garai namely; also Johdi May and Michael Gambon.

19. Which heroine from which movie was your least favorite? Why?

From what I can think of right now, I’d have to say Estella from Great Expectations. She was very snobbish and self-centered.  It wasn’t completely her fault she was that way – it was what she was taught – but that doesn’t make me like her any more.

The movie I saw was from 1999, and Estella was played by Justine Waddell (whose acting though, I do enjoy).

Most other heroines I don’t like at first improve a great deal and I end up liking them by the end (such as Bella Wilfer from Our Mutual Friend).

20. Which three period dramas are your least favorite?

That’s a tough one! From what I HAVE seen (there are several I haven’t, and don’t want to, that I wouldn’t like; including Becoming Jane, Miss Austen Regrets, Mansfield Park (1999), and others) I’d probably include:

Great Expectations (1999)

   The whole thing seemed depressing to me, didn’t have a satisfactory ending, and (unlike most other Charles Dickens movies) had only two parts in the whole thing which made me laugh. I don’t like the hero much – I don’t really dislike him, but he needs to gain wisdom – and the main girl character, I mentioned in question 19. The whole thing with the old lady was spooky and dark – and burning to death because her train catches on fire? Ugh. *shudders*.

   I didn’t hate it so much that I won’t try the new adaptations coming out next year, though. We shall see.

The Young Visitors

   I saw this quite a long time ago, before I was really into period dramas. I remember not liking it at all though. The way they made it was very silly (because it the story was supposed to be written by a young girl, they made everything strangely exaggerated) and it only went downhill. The only reason I’d be prevailed upon to see it again is because it has several recognizable actors in it.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

   Okay, I needed a third…don't get mad at me. Also I’m speaking only from seeing half of the movie (or maybe a little less), but from what I did see, bluntly speaking, I thought it was a failure, as well as way too modernized. Jane Austen does not need modernization, or strange drama added; a lot of the characters were not at all the way they were in the book. I think it could have been better – for instance, when I saw Matthew Macfadyen as the hero in Little Dorrit, I thought he did an excellent job. But he was not Mr. Darcy. The costumes were all wrong – very dull as well as the wrong style (late 1700s rather than early 1800s…or Georgian, and not Regency).

   But I’ll stop now. haha

NOTE - after reading Miss Laurie's answer to this question, I was reminded of Gone With the Wind... which I really REALLY didn't like. Ugh. So, if you so choose, you can replace that in your mind with any one of the movies I put up there - I dislike it above them all.

The end! I look forward to reading everyone else's answers. =)

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