Langton, Simon

Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition (A&E, 1996)

The timeless themes of love and marriage in Jane Austen's superb romantic comedy Pride and Prejudice have captured readers for generations - the novel has sold more than 20 million copies and has never been out of print. Now A&E and the BBC have brought this beloved classic to life in a compelling production directed by Upstairs Downstairs' Simon Langton. This stunning production captures the celebrated beauty of the English countryside and its glorious stately manors. It features lavish costumes and an exquisite soundtrack from noted composer Carl Davis.Pride and Prejudice is the story of the lively and rebellious Elizabeth Bennet one of five unmarried daughters living in the countryside of 19th Century England. IN a world where obtaining an advantageous marriage is a woman's sole occupation Elizabeth's independent manner threatens her family's future. Will her romantic sparring with the mysterious and arrogant Darcy end in misfortune - or will love's true nature prevail?System Requirements:Starring: Jennifer Ehle Colin Firth David Bamber Crispin Bonham-Carter Anthony Calf Anna Chancellor Susannah Harker Julia Sawalha Alison Steadman Benjamin Whitrow. Directed By: Simon Langton. Running Time: 310 Minutes Color. This Film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 2001 A&E Television Networks. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 733961702545 Manufacturer No: AAE-70254

Jane Austen's classic novel of 1813, Pride and Prejudice, still wins the hearts of countless schoolgirls with its romantic story of Elizabeth Bennet and her Mr. Darcy. Now, the 1996 BBC miniseries is winning over adults, with its faithful adaptation, gorgeous scenery, and superb acting.

The essence of the story is the antagonism between Mr. Darcy, a wealthy single man who believes Elizabeth to be beneath him, and Elizabeth, who upon being insulted at a dance by the aloof Darcy refuses to associate with him in any manner. Austen evokes incredible tension with the wit and flirtation of the two characters, and director Simon Langton (who also directed Upstairs Downstairs) successfully translates the repartee and conflict in this six-hour miniseries. Dialogue, for the most part, is painstakingly replicated, except when fleshing out and smoothing for modern sensibilities was necessary. Darcy, for instance, is drawn out, giving his personality significantly more depth. The acting sweeps you away to Regency England: Jennifer Ehle (of Wilde) is convincing as the obstinate Elizabeth, who, despite her mother's attempts to marry her off, spurs the attentions of Darcy. And Colin Firth (of The English Patient) will have women everywhere longing for a Mr. Darcy of their own.

For those who have been on an Austen binge--enjoying such excellent adaptations as Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion--this miniseries will round out the ultimate Austen video library. For those new to these romantic period pieces, this version of Pride and Prejudice will have you hooked and longing for more. One caveat, however: plan to watch it in an entire day, because very few have the self-control to not watch all six hours in a single sitting. --Jenny Brown

Pride and Prejudice (10th Anniversary Collector's Set) (A&E, 1996)

From Jane Austen's classic novel about the morals and mores of the class system in Georgian England.The intelligent and spirited Elizabeth Bennet is one of five daughters -- which during that era meant trouble: because women cannot inherit upon her father's death her family's home will become the property of their nearest male relative. Only marriage preferably to someone wealthy can ensure her security. But the proud young lady instantly takes offense when Mr. Darcy a promising newcomer in town doesn't seem quite admiring enough and she spurns his advances.Slowly and painfully Elizabeth realizes her error but not before it seems she has lost Mr. Darcy forever.System Requirements:Running Time 300 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 733961753684 Manufacturer No: AAE-75368

Jane Austen's classic novel of 1813, Pride and Prejudice, still wins the hearts of countless schoolgirls with its romantic story of Elizabeth Bennet and her Mr. Darcy. Now, the 1996 BBC miniseries is winning over adults, with its faithful adaptation, gorgeous scenery, and superb acting. The essence of the story is the antagonism between Mr. Darcy, a wealthy single man who believes Elizabeth to be beneath him, and Elizabeth, who upon being insulted at a dance by the aloof Darcy refuses to associate with him in any manner. Austen evokes incredible tension with the wit and flirtation of the two characters, and director Simon Langton (who also directed Upstairs Downstairs) successfully translates the repartee and conflict in this six-hour miniseries. Dialogue, for the most part, is painstakingly replicated, except when fleshing out and smoothing for modern sensibilities was necessary. Darcy, for instance, is drawn out, giving his personality significantly more depth. The acting sweeps you away to Regency England: Jennifer Ehle (of Wilde) is convincing as the obstinate Elizabeth, who, despite her mother's attempts to marry her off, spurs the attentions of Darcy. And Colin Firth (of The English Patient) will have women everywhere longing for a Mr. Darcy of their own.

For those who enjoy excellent Austen adaptations such as Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion--this miniseries will round out the ultimate Austen library. For those new to these romantic period pieces, this version of Pride and Prejudice will have you hooked and longing for more. One caveat, however: plan to watch it in an entire day, because very few have the self-control to not watch all six hours in a single sitting. --Jenny Brown

On the DVD
There's a lot to love (and a lot lacking) on the 10th anniversary limited edition. It comes in a tall, embossed green case that's out of place on a DVD shelf but blends right into a library of volumes. The three discs fit snugly in a sleeve, accompanied by a 120-page deluxe companion book. The main attraction, a retrospective documentary, features interviews with key cast members with the sad exceptions of Jennifer Ehle (who played Elizabeth) and Colin Firth (Mr. Darcy), which is bound to disappoint fans. Nonetheless, there are some amusing anecdotes from Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (played by Benjamin Withrow and Alison Steadman), Mary Bennet (Lucy Briers), Mr. Collins (David Bamber), Mr. Bingley (Crispin Bonham-Carter) and Mr. Wickham (Adrian Lukis), who all look drastically different--and younger--without their period costumes and hairstyles. One producer recalls that casting Colin Firth in the role with which his name is now synonymous was not an easy feat: he auditioned having gained weight and dyed his hair blond for another role, looking like "an unmade bed." Even Firth's own brother doubted his ability to pull off the dashing Darcy: "Isn't he supposed to be sexy?"

The special features also include a walking tour of the shooting locations with Lukis and Briers and an A&E Biography episode on Jane Austen that focuses largely on the onslaught of mid-1990s film adaptations of her novels. If it's your first time purchasing Pride & Prejudice, this collector's edition is a nice one to own. But if you already own the movie, you're not missing out on anything here. --Ellen A. Kim

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Poirot - The New Mysteries Collection (Death on the Nile / Sad Cypress / The Hollow / Five Little Pigs)

Portly, mincing, gracious, and unrelenting, Hercule Poirot rivals Sherlock Holmes as the greatest sleuth of the English murder mystery genre--a form as strict as a sonnet that's part logic puzzle, part magician's misdirection, of which Agatha Christie remains the undisputed queen. The New Mysteries Collection pulls together TV-movie adaptations of four Poirot novels, each a compendium of eccentric characters, intricate plotting, sleek storytelling, and sprinklings of wit (such as a dotty matriarch's declaration, "Murder is a very awkward thing--it upsets the servants so").

Death on the Nile sets an entire boatful of suspicious character afloat in Egypt, where Poirot's vacation is disrupted by a splash in the night, falling rock, missing pearls, three murders, and a boozing gargoyle named Salome Otterbourne. The plot is one of Christie's more preposterous, yet also one of her most popular. Sad Cypress opens with a murderess on trial, then flashes back to young lovers, a wealthy but stricken dowager, a spiteful anonymous letter, and a pretty young blonde. A wonderfully creepy dream haunts Poirot as he struggles to redeem the wrongly convicted killer. In The Hollow, Poirot's vacation in the English countryside gets disrupted by a philandering doctor apparently shot by his adoring wife, his blood trickling into a swimming pool clotted with leaves. But the best of the lot is Five Little Pigs, a story told almost entirely in flashback, as a young woman hires Poirot to clear her mother, who was convicted of murdering her father. Not only are the clues deftly planted and the solution cunningly worked out, it's one of the rare mysteries that inspires a genuine sorrow for its characters.

Scattered throughout are a wealth of recognizable faces, though not many recognizable names--among the better known are James Fox (The Remains of the Day), Edward Fox (The Day of the Jackal), Paul McGann (Withnail and I), Sarah Miles (White Mischief), Lysette Anthony (Husbands and Wives), and David Soul (Starsky & Hutch!). But it's David Suchet as Poirot who keeps everything in motion, his beady eyes glittering under heavy lids, constantly tending to one of the most ridiculous mustaches in literature. Poirot has been played by such stars as Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney, but Suchet has made the fastidious Belgian detective his own. He's simply magnifique. --Bret Fetzer

This set will contain the following four Poirot movies (A&E September 2004 premieres): Death on the Nile, Sad Cypress, The Hollow, Five Little Pigs

Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete First Season

P.G. Wodehouse's much-loved stories about Bertie Wooster and his brilliantly clever valet, Jeeves, were brought faithfully to life in Jeeves and Wooster, starring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry as master and servant. The scripts of this perfectly cast production retain all the sparkling wit of Wodehouse's prose, and it's hard to see how any future adaptation of his work could surpass this wonderfully funny series.

This boxed set contains the entire first season of Jeeves and Wooster. In "Jeeves Takes Charge," young man-about-town Bertie Wooster employs a new valet called Jeeves, and not a moment too soon. Thanks to his Aunt Agatha, Bertie faces the terrible prospect of marriage to the statuesque Honoria Glossop, and only Jeeves can save the day. "Tuppy and the Terrier" finds Bertie in trouble again when he loses Aunt Agatha's dog. Further aunt-related complications arise when Bertie's chum Tuppy falls for our hero's cousin Angela. Aunt Dahlia is not amused. An uncle in love with a waitress, a trip to the country, a speedy choirboy, and a secret betting syndicate all lead to trouble in "The Purity of the Turf." Jeeves, of course, is the only one who can put things right.

Jeeves and Wooster really hits its stride in the final episodes of the first series, "The Hunger Strike" and "Brinkley Manor." When Bertie visits Aunt Dahlia, he is called upon to solve the romantic problems of his friends Tuppy Glossop (in love with cousin Angela) and the delightful Gussy Fink-Nottle (in love with Madeleine Basset, a young lady who believes the stars to be God's daisy chain.) Unwisely, Bertie decides to cook up his own plan and before long disaster strikes. Aunt Dahlia's superb chef Anatole gives his notice, and Bertram is to blame. Thank goodness for Jeeves. --Simon Leake

I Remember Nelson

The classic Masterpiece Theatre drama

Recollections of a hero's life

Worshipped as a national savior, Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson masterminded the naval victories that thwarted Napoleon's plans to invade Britain. Yet, in the midst of public adulation, rumors swirled about his private life. Nelson took a friend's wife as a mistress and even fathered a child by her in secret.

Starring Kenneth Colley (Monty Python's Life of Brian), Geraldine James (The Jewel in the Crown), and Tim Pigott-Smith (V for Vendetta), this lavish historical drama examines Nelson through the eyes of four people close to him: his wife, who feels bitter and betrayed but ultimately loving; his friend, who helplessly loses his wife to a hero; his captain, who admires Nelson's bold leadership but disdains his lifestyle; and an ordinary seaman, who turns to his commander for inspiration while facing death. What emerges is an unconventional portrait of a complex figure and a study in the effects of fame.

DVD bonus features include photo gallery and cast filmographies.

Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete Third Season

When he realizes that Honoria Glossop may once again have her sights set on his precious bachelorhood, Bertie Wooster sets sail for the New World. In spite of the change of scene, our hero continues to get into the most terrible scrapes, and it falls to the faithful Jeeves to save the day, frequently.

The first three episodes of this third season of Jeeves & Wooster take place in Manhattan, where Bertie helps old pal Tuppy to make a business deal. At the same time he has to keep Motty Malvern on the straight and narrow, while helping two writer friends deceive their prying relatives. The final straw comes in the shape of Cyril Bassington-Bassington, the stage-struck son of Aunt Agatha's closest friend. Back home in England, Bertie and Gussie Fink-Nottle switch identities, the lunatic Roderick Spode reappears, Bertie is forced to commit burglary (again!), and there's a spot of trouble with a tin of treacle and some communists. The unflappable Jeeves is Bertie's only hope.

Although the humor in this collection sometimes feels a little less assured than in earlier episodes and the new actor playing Gussie is a disappointment, the central performances of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are as good as ever. Few actors have ever brought such beloved characters so convincingly to life. --Simon Leake

Shades of Darkness - Six Mysterious Tales of the Paranormal

One of the most intriguing mysteries is whether or not there is another plane of existence beyond our own. Shades of Darkness delves into the world of the supernatural with six bizarre, inexplicable and frightening ghost stories as told by some of the greatest mystery authors of all time. (Elizabeth Bowen, C.H.B. Kitchin, May Sinclair, Edith Wharton)

Bewitched
Eileen Atkins (She Fell Among Thieves) plays the wife of a once robust man who seems to be wasting away to nothing. She knows why: He's having a love affair with the restless ghost of another villager's dead daughter. The local minister takes her seriously because he knows the villagers once burned a member of the same family for witchcraft.

The Intercessor
John Duttine stars as a young historian who seeks a quiet place in the country where he can write in peace. His sole stipulation: he can't abide children because they're so noisy. So naturally, he's kept awake at night by the eerie sound of a child's ghostly crying.

The Lady's Maid's Bell
Joanna David (Rebecca) stars as Hartley, the new maid to Mr. and Mrs. Brympton, whose household is believed to be haunted by the spirit of their last maid, Emma. Sure enough, the ghostly Emma soon turns up, drawing Hartley into the scandalous gonis-on between Mrs. Brympton and her randy next-door neighbor, Mr. Ranford.

Afterward
An unusual twist on the standard story of young newlyweds who buy a beautiful old house only to find that it's haunted. In this case, a young American husband and his wife come to England, purposely looking for a grand old haunted house. They get the house and are assured a ghost will make an appearance before too long. For once, the real estate agent didn't sell them a bill of goods. There is a ghost all right, but its' one the husband hoped he'd never have to face.

The Maze
Francesa Annis (Partners in Crime) plays Catherine, a woman who comes back to her ancestral home after many years. Her 8 year-old daughter, Daisy, is fascinated by the maze of hedges in the garden, but Catherine is deathly afraid of what might lurk there. One day Daisy takes the hand of a strange man and follows him into the maze.

The Demon Lover
When a young man sets out to fight in the First World War, his lover vows that they will be reunited, no matter what might happen to him. She soon comes to regret her noble sentiments.

Rosemary & Thyme - Series One

American detectives are usually played by tough guys and busty babes, but the British have more esoteric tastes: The sleuths of Rosemary & Thyme are a pair of middle-aged ladies with a horticulture business. Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendal, star of the classic Britcom Good Neighbors), a former academic, teamed up with new divorcee (and former policewoman) Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) over a murder case involving poisonous weeds and oozing red sap--plants and murder have been intertwined ever since. A dying lawn leads to a pretty Polish blonde pushed from a roof; while Rosemary tosses off tidbits about Victorian gardening techniques and the Latin name for the early spider orchid, the bones of a buried racehorse reveal other secrets. In one clever episode, flowers are the murder weapon themselves (though to say how would spoil the fun). Some mystery aficionados may find Rosemary & Thyme a bit abrupt; the hour-long format doesn't allow for the elegant unfolding and deft misdirection of an Agatha Christie adaptation. But the interplay between rambunctious Rosemary and pragmatic Laura is addictive, and the suggestion--spoken aloud in one episode, but underlying the entire series--that English flora respond to the evil deeds of humankind lends an almost metaphysical air to the pair's dual pursuits. Gardening fans will also appreciate the many lovely gardens, which the series lovingly displays. --Bret Fetzer

Laura Thyme, a former policewoman and garden-loving housewife, has just lost her husband to a much younger woman when she meets Rosemary Boxer, a plant biologist who has just lost her university teaching post. A suspicious death brings them together, and they combine their gardening skills and natural curiosity to dig deeper. Despite the success of their first "case," Laura and Rosemary hope their blossoming friendship will lead to gardening commissions, not detective work. But mysteries have a habit of following them around in this appealing series that combines two British specialties: gardening and mystery.

Shot on location in stunning countryside settings, Rosemary & Thyme stars the dynamic acting duo Felicity Kendal (Good Neighbors, The Camomile Lawn) and Pam Ferris (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Matilda).

DVD special features include an interview with Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris, production notes, photo gallery, and more.

Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete Second Season

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse's immortal characters are brought to glorious life in this hilarious series starring Hugh Laurie as the chinless but charming Bertie Wooster and Stephen Fry as his valet and frequent savior, Jeeves. Superb period detail, performers who seem to have been born for these roles, and a hearty helping of Wodehouse wit make these shows essential viewing for anyone in search of a sophisticated chuckle.

This collection comprises the second season of this delightful show, including the following six episodes: "Jeeves Saves the Cow-Creamer," "A Plan for Gussie," "Pearls Mean Tears," "Jeeves in the Country," "Kidnapped!," and "Jeeves the Matchmaker." --Simon Leake

Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete Fourth Season

Jeeves is the ultimate gentleman's gentleman, a silent, cerebral and engagingly protective butler with a steadfast dedication to his master. Wooster is the classic British young man of means, blessed with a touch too generous a heart and a slight deficit in the noggin department. Their adventures together, chronicled in P. G. Wodehouse's classic tales, have charmed generations of readers. And the TV adaptations of these enchanting stories, starring Hugh Laurie (Black Adder, Sense and Sensibility) and Stephen Fry (Wilde, Cold Comfort Farm) won dedicated audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. The acclaimed JEEVES & WOOSTER programs have finally come to DVD. This eagerly anticipated set includes these exquisite escapades:

Return to New York
The Once and Future Ex
Bridegroom Wanted
The Delayed Arrival
Trouble at Totleigh Towers
The Ties that Bind