Mixed bag!
Mind u, these Jane Austen adaptations were done on BBC tv in the 70s and 80s, ergo, the camera work is minimal, more stage-like rather than film-like. it's more like they set the camera in certain places and didn't add many angles. now that I explained that to the best of my ability, i'll rank every one of the adaptations from best to worst:
1) Pride and Prejudice.
All the actresses who are the Bennet sisters are awesome! they are all almost exactly as u would imagine them. Mr. Darcy and the Bingleys are very well cast, the script is overall, quite amazing. it stuck to the book very well, while also adding some new good lines here and there. it had the best direction of the adaptations, and overall is very good. this also had the best costuming of this collection.
2) Emma
the cast, once more, is very good! the script is also very true to the novel, and it has the second best direction of them all. this had the third best costuming.
3) Mansfield Park
the truest adaptation to the novel as there will ever be. And this is coming from someone who actually really likes the Frances O'Conner version. Mansfield Park's direction is as good as Emma's, if u want a faithful adaptation, this is it! somehow, they found an actress who makes Fanny's character quite endearing. the actress who plays Mary Crawford is not how I expected her to look, but her acting was perfect. she made you like Mary, despite her flaws. overall, very good adaptation, and the production value and costuming was good as well.
4) Persuasion
I actually really liked this adaptation as well. people sometimes sneer at pretty actresses, (this actress who is Anne is actually very beautiful), but I thought this actress who played Anne Eliot was very good. this had the second best costuming of this collection. that being said, due to the lack of fancy camera work, some people might wish to stick to the Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds version. this is faithful to the book, but due to the cameras being mostly stationary, it doesn't ever feel like much energy is in the shot. but I was still fine with it, despite that it is NOT for everyone.
5) Sense and Sensibility
this was really PAINFUL! U know why? bc the actors were great, the script was quite good (I like how this adaptation allowed Elinor to have Sense, but she still could start and hold conversations. the latest BBC S&S outing was beautiful, but it didn't allow Elinor to be capable of conversing with people sometimes). but with this production, everything else was AWFUL! This had the worst costuming for most of the female characters, the cameras were awful, some scenes were fuzzy, and it was obvious that this production had the smallest budget of them all. it was such a pity, since the cast and script were very good.
I confess I have not watched Northanger Abbey yet, so I do not have a ready opinion on that one. I hope it's good.
but if u love Austen, I still would recommend this collection, bc ur curiosity about it will never be satisfied until u see it.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned