Costumed Perfection
Jan. 10th, 2006 04:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI 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.
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.
