dangermousie | Costumed Perfection

I kept on reading the Jo Beverley book "Tempting Fortune" at lunch and it's definitely better than "Devilish."

Also, unconnected but I went Amazon shopping. I love love LOVE long sprawling BBC adaptations.

Here are one of my favorite literary couples: John Thornton and Margaret Hale, from the BBC adaptation of Mrs. Gaskell's "North and South."

And here is a list of 10 I would love to own on DVD or have just acquired.

North and South: I just bought it actually. I haven't seen it yet but I've heard amazing things and I love the book which is a more realistic and nuanced Pride and Prejudice. I like all the Gaskell books I've read so far (all 6 of them) but this, a story of a up-and-coming mill owner and an impoverished lady of gentility is by far my favorite. Angst, and passion and mill production.

Tess of the d'Urbervilles: This is the one with Justine Waddell, not a 1970s movie. I love the book and its haunting lyricism and sense of doom. I think Tess is one of my favorite heroines, and unfashionable as it is, I like Angel (yes, he is young, yes, he is an idiot, but the key is he repents and comes back and goes on the run with her). The scene where he sees Tess again is one of my all time literary favorite. The 1970s version fell flat in conveying what I love about the book: the beauty and the passion and the loss of hope. This version is perfect. And hey, Oliver Milburn as Angel is gorgeous. I have it on VHS but would love a DVD copy.

Our Mutual Friend: This is my favorite Dickens novel and I love my Dickens. I still remember giddy college days, sitting on the lawn in front of the campus store, burying myself in the book, falling madly in love with Eugene Wrayburn (one of my Top 10 book crushes), laughing affectionately at Bella, admiring Lizzy, and wishing the mysterious John would finally find happiness and win Bella's heart. The adaptation lived up to the wonderfulness of the book. While Paul McGann wasn't how I imagined Eugene, I liked his air of a tired passionate intellectual and the way he looked at Lizzie made me swoon. But it was Stephen McIntosh who stole my heart as John and fostered my obsession with blonds, what with his husky voice, quiet demeanor and passionate eyes. I remember watching OMF with a friend and staying up till 6am to finish. She didn't read the book and was dying to see what happened to John. Just bought it on DVD, too.

Middlemarch: This was my first period BBC drama. I own it on VHS as well, but one of these days I am definitely getting a DVD. A complicated story about the goings-on of a small town, following the separate stories of Dorothea, a young idealistic woman and Lydgate, an equally idealistic doctor, I fell in love with the myriad of supporting characters and drooled over the very passionate and very forbidden love between Dorothea and Will (played by the hot Rufus Sewell), her husband's great-nephew.

Martin Chuzzlewitt: I really like the book. But then I can say the same for most Dickens. A story about a selfish and self-involved young man who matures, it also has great characters and this is a very very good adaptation.

Bleak House: Shocking. A famous Dickens book I haven't read. But since I just bought the series, I'll read it afterwards.

Wives and Daughters: Another one of Mrs. Gaskell's novel adaptations. This book is better known than N&S and though I prefer N&S, it's a wonderful study of relationships between women and the heroine is strong, smart and ends up with the man she deserves.

Pride and Prejudice: The one with Colin Firth. Come on, do I need to explain this?

Jane Eyre: with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. Actually, this was the first BBC adaptation I saw. It was shown in USSR when I was a kid and since by that point I'd already fallen in love with the book, imagine my delight. I think this is the perfect JE adaptation.

Nicholas Nickelby: The filmed play version. I adore the book, and all the other adaptations of course cut bits out (much as I like them). So I want to see this quite badly.

Also, pics from BSG ep 2.14 are on Dark Thoughts. There is some nice Lee pic there.

Guuuuh. No shirt. And h/c. Yay.

Current Mood: geeky

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

ayn-rand-fan-13.livejournal.com

I was raised on the BBC Pride and Prejudice, I swear. I used to be the only one that knew when the episodes began and ended, so I wouldn't tell my family and I'd get to watch two or three at a time. Good memories. (probably more interesting if you were there, but whatever.)

Oh, and this is waaay off topic, but I watched the first season of Buffy, and I'll admit that Angel was really hot back then. I guess David Boreanaz just didn't age well.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

Good memories

Heee.

guess David Boreanaz just didn't age well.

How ironic for an actor playing a vampire.

From:

winterspel.livejournal.com

I love Justine Waddell as Tess - I've loved her from the first time I saw her in The Woman in White (which I also love).

You have a terrific list here! I have seen about half of them and the others I'm also interested in. I adored Bleak House - it's brilliant, and one of the best series I've ever seen. I can't wait to hear what you think when you get to see it (it's on PBS later this month).

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

I haven't seen TWiW. Do you know how it compares with the book? Because I do like the book quite a lot. And this reminds me of Moonstone which is another BBC production I adore, also based on a Wilkie Collins novel.

And then there is Moll Flanders with Alex Kingston and the New James Bond, and the old Sense and Sensibility (not as beautiful as the Ang Lee movie but good nontheless and they kept the Willoguhby confession scene), and Tenant of Windfell Hall, with the yummy Rupert Graves and

queenofthorns's favorite Toby Stephens. Guuuuh...So much good stuff.

I just bought N&S, Bleak House and W&D. I own the other ones on VHS (except for NN which is way too expensive), so if you ever want to borrow any of them, let me know.

From:

winterspel.livejournal.com

Unfortunately I've not read either of the Collins books, but I've seen both The Moonstone and tWiW. I like them both, but I like the latter better (might be partly because of the cast, though). MF & ToWH are both terrific, I agree, but I can't remember if I've seen that version of S&S. Thanks for the offers of the loans! Maybe one of these days when I work my way through the enormous backlog I'm sitting on right now. :) In fact, I have some of those on VHS myself, somewhere, and I've never gotten around to them...

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

Moonstone is very close to the book. Of course, tWiW is considered Collins' masterpiece but while very good, the hero kinda annoys me. My favorite of his books is actually one that involves a blind girl and a set of twins. I am trying to remember the name but it's very good if sad.

From:

girlintheattic.livejournal.com

The Bleak House adaption is stunning. I could never get into the book, just too much work for me, you know it's got over 40 characters? I had a hard time keeping track of them on the bloody tv!

I also loved the North and South adaption although it's not one of my particular favourites and I've watched or read Pride and Prejudice so many times that I think I actually know some sections off by heart.

Okay I'm gonna be honest: The BBC hasn't made a costume drama in the last five years that I haven't seen. I've got a problem!

(Also love Tess of the d'Urbavilles and I think the version your referring to is the one I've seen although I can't be sure.)

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

Unless the Tess version you've seen is called simply "Tess" and is made in the 70s, then it's the version you've seen. So good.

Yeah, I am a sucker for BBC period dramas.

you know it's got over 40 characters?

One of the fun aspects of Dickens for me :P I just never got around to reading it, but I am thinking I really should before watching the show. Hmmm.

From:

ex-beautyof.livejournal.com

I love love LOVE long sprawling BBC adaptations.

Oh god me too.. It all started with Pride and prejudice (colin firth version) for me. Love all of Jane Austen's books, especially Mansfield Park. Sense then I've watched so much else but my favourite bbc adaptations are the Jane Austen ones, they truly do it better than anyone else...

I've heard so much about North and south, I badly want to see it. However I grew up watching the famous mini-series, with Patrick Swayze, under the same name. I still dig that show. I used to catch it on TV every summer. Good memories! However that's totally off-topic... LOL

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

owever I grew up watching the famous mini-series, with Patrick Swayze, under the same name. I still dig that show

I used to like it too. I even have a post about it somewhere. All that fun melodrama :P

From:

ex-beautyof.livejournal.com

I used to like it too.

I will always like it :)

I even have a post about it somewhere.

Yes I think I replyed to it back when you posted about it...

All that fun melodrama :P

Very true :D

From:

crumpeteer.livejournal.com

I LOVED Wives and Daughters. The guy she ended up with was a cutie too, at least my foggy memory remembers him that way. And Iain something or other was in it as the bad guy, because he always plays bad guys except in Wyvern with Naomi Watts, I think it was. Memories...

Woman in White is extremely good too, I must say. Is the Nicholas Nickelby you're referring to the one with James D'Arcy? I've only seen the significantly shorter, but still likable version with Charlie Hunnam and Jamie Bell. I wanted to consistantly give Jamie cookies while watching him in that movie. Poor Smike...life sucks and then you die.

And Mr. Thornton is quite dashing in that picture.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

And Mr. Thornton is quite dashing in that picture.

And he is angsty and intelligent and strong-willed and yet Margaret teaches him a thing or seven. He is the way Mr. Darcy was in the Firth version (as opposed to Darcy in the novel who wasn't as broody and forceful IMO).

The NN I am referring isn't either the D'Arcy version, which is very good, or the Charlie Hunnam version, which I adore, not the least for Jamie Bell's Smike who I just want to take care of so badly. I almost cheered in the theater when Nicholas freed him. I've always felt sorry for Smike, in any incarnation, but the Jamie's Smike just broke my heart. And of course there is the minor fact that Charlie Hunnam is one of those rare guys so gorgeous that I just want to stare and drool and my higher brain functions cease working. The version I was referring to is a very long one from 1982. It's over 8 hours long. It's also a play that ran in West End under Trevor Nunn's direction (people bought tickets to come back) and despite everything was a huge smash. BBC filmed the performance and it's out on DVD. It's supposed to be the most faithful and the best adaptation of the story out there.

Wives and Daughters was very good and Roger was cute. And smart.

From:

crumpeteer.livejournal.com

He is the way Mr. Darcy was in the Firth version (as opposed to Darcy in the novel who wasn't as broody and forceful IMO).

I agree. I watched the BBC version before I read the book and kept thinking "he's a lot more polite in here". A little taciturn, yes, but not that intense. I actually think Macfadyen's version is more booklike.

I've always felt sorry for Smike, in any incarnation, but the Jamie's Smike just broke my heart.

I know. Jamie just has this fragile quality to him that makes me feel like mothering. He made me violently hate anyone who did anything the slightest bit mean to Smike. That includes the sister who broke his poor little heart.

And of course there is the minor fact that Charlie Hunnam is one of those rare guys so gorgeous that I just want to stare and drool and my higher brain functions cease working.

Quite true. The part where he punched the guy and his whole interaction with Smike...I. Loved. Him.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

I actually think Macfadyen's version is more booklike.

Hmmm. Maybe I really should get around to watching this. I am so uncertain about this.

I know. Jamie just has this fragile quality to him that makes me feel like mothering.

Oh yes. For some reason, when I was reading Harry Potter and before the movie were even made (and he was of course, much younger), I kept imagining him as Harry. Because he has that "intense, intelligent and you still want to protect him" vibe.

He made me violently hate anyone who did anything the slightest bit mean to Smike. That includes the sister who broke his poor little heart.

Yup. And when he ran away and they brought him back. I was tempted to peer through my fingers.

Quite true. The part where he punched the guy and his whole interaction with Smike...I. Loved. Him.

Oh yes. I love it when he swears to Smike never to abandon him. And I love how you can feel his whole being blaze with indignation when he sees the horror of the school.

He is actually an excellent actor because the one other thing I've seen him in was "Green Street Hooligans" and there was nothing of Nicholas about him. I think I need a NN icon.

From:

crumpeteer.livejournal.com

I honestly think Jamie is one of the best up and coming actors out there. There's a depth to him that you rarely run into with actors his age. It makes him seem a lot older and mature than he actually is. He can break your heart in a way that I rarely see young actors do.

And I love how you can feel his whole being blaze with indignation when he sees the horror of the school.

I was actually quite impressed by his acting since I'd considered him someone who just had model good looks that got into acting. He really has talent though. Shame I haven't seen him in more. I think he might possibly have the same problem as Jensen in the fact that they're TOO good looking for them to be cast a lot, since people have a hard time believing anyone is really that good looking. Or perhaps they need to switch agents.

Maybe I really should get around to watching this. I am so uncertain about this.

Here's the thing with it. If you just take it at face value of a movie, it's not that bad. The BBC version is the definitive one, but just as a stand alone movie, I sort of liked it. It showed you how poor the Bennets really were, something I think the BBC version failed at, and I did feel Macfadyen was more novel Darcy than Firth was, as Macfadyen isn't strikingly handsome but has a nobility about him and self possession and straightforwardness that I remember the book version having. And his first failed proposal, even people who hated this version had to admit that scene was sexy. Macfadyen has a VOICE to him...could listen to him forever.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

He can break your heart in a way that I rarely see young actors do.

Oh yes. I've loved him in Billy Elliot (which was the first movie with him I've seen) but I thought like a lot of child actors he'd just fade away as he grew up. I am so glad to see that's not the case (and I was on the edge of my seat worried dinos were going to munch on him in KK). Is he in any upcoming movies, btw? Oh, and love the icons.

think he might possibly have the same problem as Jensen in the fact that they're TOO good looking for them to be cast a lot, since people have a hard time believing anyone is really that good looking.

Yes, past a certain point, when you are that good-looking, it somehow makes you look unreal. And unlike Orlando Bloom (who also falls into that category), I think both CH and Jensen have a more intense vibe.

Macfadyen has a VOICE to him...could listen to him forever.

Hmmmm. I am almost sold. Re: Bennets being poor. They weren't. By the gentry standards maybe but by no one else's. And not even that, not really, not when Mr. B was alive.

From:

crumpeteer.livejournal.com

Perhaps I don't mean so much poor as country-fied. Everything isn't all pristine and beautiful like it is in the BBC version. Elizabeth's clothing is sometimes drab looking, there's mud, the rooms are very small. I'll say Rosamund Pike is a glorious looking Jane as well. Much better looking than the BBC version. You can understand why Bingley fell head over heels for her.

I was on the edge of my seat worried dinos were going to munch on him in KK

I know. I had more trauma worrying over him than anything else I think. He's always the ideal one to get killed off, so I brace myself. My heart did sing a little when he danced with Naomi Watts though.

Is he in any upcoming movies, btw?

He's in the Clint Eastwood directed flick Flag of Our Fathers about the battle of Iwo Jima and the flag raising there. His movie The Chumscrubber just came out on DVD as well. I've got it in my rental list. It's about a kid who finds his friend has hanged himself at a party and instead of saying anything he goes on the run and about what happens afterwards. Pretty bleak from what I hear.

Yes, past a certain point, when you are that good-looking, it somehow makes you look unreal.

It's unfortunate that something like that would slice your credibility since had they looked a little different they might have carved out bigger careers for themselves.

And unlike Orlando Bloom (who also falls into that category), I think both CH and Jensen have a more intense vibe.

Yeah. That's completely right. Orlando can get away with being that good looking simply because he has a naive innocent quality to him. Jensen and Hunnam don't. Hunnam also falls in that "ice god" category where they look better angry or intense than they actually do smiling. It puts an untouchableness to them that is hard for casting directors to get over, I think. Garret Hedlund, another one who has striking good looks (to me anyway) when he cleans up gets around it by projecting the same fragility or awkwardness that Jamie Bell and the like have a tendency to use. The "ice gods" seem to have more trouble than anyone else. Sad, because I really like their intensity.

From:

iheartpotatoes.livejournal.com

I think it was the adaptation of Wives and Daughters with Justine Waddell that got me interested first in Gaskell, and then in Austen. I love them all!

Molly Gibson and I have the same birthday :-P.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

I love your icon. Where is the quote from?

And love Molly. She is so wonderful.

From:

iheartpotatoes.livejournal.com

It's from a poem by Pablo Neruda.

m_jade8 made it for me.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

Thanks! It's beautiful.

From:

vierran45.livejournal.com

I loved North and South and the Colin Firth version of P&P is, of course, the definitive one.

I've had the book North and South for ages, but never got around to reading it. After seeing the BBC adaptation, which N&S was shown on local tv a couple of months ago, I felt I really must read it soon.

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

The book is excellent. I actually recommend all of Gaskell. She was an excellent author.

From:

koalathebear.livejournal.com

I would have loved to have seen the Trevor Nunn Nickleby which from all the interviews was the precursor for Les Miserables. *sigh*

I know you didn't LOVE the James D'Arcy version so I suspect you may not be a fan of him like I am but I did a Nicholas Nickleby pic spam the other day in case you're interested - nice images of Sophia Myes in any case. Have you seen the Abduction Club?

Martin Chuzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend I adore and Middlemarch will always be a favourite. I loved Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton - I remember when that was on tv I watched it on the ABC (Australia's BBC :) every week although I remember his hair was a little large. I still haven't seen Bleak House yet so might watch then while I'm back in Australia as I suspect the chances of finding it here are slim.

Colin Firth's P&P is great but I also enjoyed the earlier BBC version with David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvey although David Rintoul was a little stiff :)

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

Offfff to see pic spam. I prefer the CH version, but I do like the JD'A one as well.

Haven't heard of addiction club, what is it?

I didn't care for the Rintoul/Garvey P&P, probably because I saw it after the Firth/Ehle one. I did like the earlier version of S&S though.

Re: TD's hair. Well, it was the 70s :P

From:

grace-om.livejournal.com

To sort of go off-topic, but in a similar vein, I woke up this morning to a radio commercial for "The White Countess"--which I wouldn't have heard of, except I remember you mentioned it!

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

I can't wait to see it, but have no idea when it's coming out in wide release.

From: (Anonymous)

Hi, I found your LJ from Bollywhat.

I'm a fan of historical novels as well, so here are my recs, FWIW.

I don't like Jo Beverley either - she came highly recommended by a friend, and like you, I started with Develish and was bored by it. Nowhere as good as Heyer and I recognized the refs/tributes, so it jarred!

Some better recs:

Dorothy Sayers - the Lord Peter series. So Ok, they are, strictly speaking, mysteries, but the series ends with two of the best romance novels ever written, IMO: Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. I'm only counting the ones written by Sayers herself, not the ones completed/written by Jill Paton Walsh recently. I don't know if you like Mystery novels at all, but I do recommend that you read the series in order, so that you get the complete back picture for the protagonists. The last one is set in 1939 (I think - late 30s anyway).

Rosamund Pilcher - NOT all of hers are good - in fact, most are pretty dire, but two are particular favourites: The Shell Seekers and Coming Home. Both are more family sagas than true romance novels, but the romances in them work for me.

Eva Ibbotson's romances - they're sweet, set mostly in the time between the wars. A Countess Below Stairs is one of the best ones. They all seem to be out of print, though I did find a few in my local library and Amazon seems to have some for sale, used.

Kate Fenton - hers are fun! Modern stories, set in England (mostly), but they're good. She has a web page, so google her. Also hard to find in the U.S. I bought mine from U.K.

If you don't mind trying pure fluff, some of Nora Roberts' romances are good. Her Chesapeake Bay trilogy (though I think a fourth one came out last year) is decent, as is her Born-in-Fire/Ice/Shame trilogy.

Regards,

Bitterlemons (from Bollywhat)

From:

dangermousie.livejournal.com

I adore Dorothy Sayers. Lord Peter...sigh.

I've also read Kate Fenton (bought a couple of her books when I was in the UK). She's good.

The rest I am going to try to find :)

Thank you.

From: (Anonymous)

I realized that I didn't mention that Eva Ibbotson has two incarnations - she has written quite a few childrens books that are readily available - if you look for her on Amazon, it is her kids books that come up first.

Those are good reads too, only not romances :-)

Also remembered another author who has some good romances: Mary Stewart - the one who wrote the Arthur trilogy - some of hers that I liked are Touch not the Cat, Airs above the Ground, Madame will you Talk and Prospero's Cell. Be warned though, some of her heroines tend to be a little on the small-and-helpless side, which drives me crazy! :-)

Lord Peter...Oh yes! I must say - you have Excellent taste...Heyer, Dunnett, Sayers! (All my favourites as well :-) :-)

Bitterlemons