comparing the 2 versions

I think that Northam was cast perfectley! Here's why:
In the book, if you are trying to go by the book, Mr.Knightley had his serious moments and his joking around with Emma moments. In the end at his proposal in the book, Mr.Knightley does get softer and shows his more comassionate side while his is proposing, because he is in doubt as to whether Emma will have him or no. In the 1996 film version, Northam does ust that. He is loving and romantic in the end, just like Mr.Knightley was in the book. In the 1997 television version, Mark Strong was just cold through the entire movie, and showed no symptoms of love whatsoever. In the 96, you can see Mr.Knightley's obvious jealousy of Frank Churchill, and the 97 version rushed through the movie way too quickly. When I first saw the 97 version, I couldn't understand it at all, because I hadn't read the book yet. But even without reading the book, the 96 version was much more clear, and abroriously funny!

i disagree

He had just finished filming Trainspotting, in which his hair was all buzzed off. He wore a wig (albeit, a bad one) in Emma.

The Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow is just atrocious! I can't even sit through it. I love Toni Colette, but she is NOT Harriet Smith. Now, sweet little Samantha Morton made a wonderful Harriet Smith. The Kate Beckinsale version was so much better. It was more faithful to the book and the time period. I was happy to see the presence of servants, working, struggling servants, and dark candle-lit rooms -- really dark! Oh, it was good. And the thing I LOATHED about the Gwyneth Paltrow version was how, at the end, it showed that Mrs. Elton had been narrating the whole time. WHAT? The abominable Mrs. Elton? I think NOT. No, it was a travesty.

i watched the tv version on tv yesterday. i can't believe that it has the same producer & writer as pride & prejudice - it was horrible :(

i re-watched the film last week & am currently re-reading the novel :)

the tv version was just so heavy & dark (i don't mean the lighting of the evening scences). i really enjoy emma - to me it's a fun book with some serious stuff. kate beckinsdale was just a sulking little cow.

samantha morton was better than toni collette (not very patriotic am i?) as hariet though - the only thing i thought was better.

i'm not surprised that sue birtwistle hasn't done any thing much since - i've lost my faith in her, i wouldn't fund her projects.

for those that enjoy the tv version - i'm glad someone gets some pleasure from it.

regards

sue

This is a great discussion. I agree there are good things about the A&E version too. But there are just one too many little things about it I didn't prefer. Yes, Knightley is supposed to be a bit "cold," but in the TV version he was angry 99% of the time. I did like Mark Strong the times he warmed up and loosened up.

To me, Kate and Mark's acting were not nearly as good. Every time Kate says "Oh Harriet!" it is just so fakey that I cringe.

I DO like the deeper development of the Jane-Frank relationship. And I DO greatly like Samantha as Harriet, although she does not really change over the course of knowing Emma, the way Toni's Harriet does. Toni had much more transition of character---from giggly/shy to refined and mature at the end. And, I don't even remember the A&E Harriet "mourning" over Mr. Elton at all--?? Maybe I missed it.

Both Miss Bates were great; both Mrs. Eltons were great, although the A&E one had the most bizarre non-British accent.

I can't get enough of Raymond as Frank. :)

I liked both Miss Taylors/Mrs. Westons, but prefer Greta much more.

I just watched the TV version, after watching the screen version a few days ago. I think the person who played Mrs. Elton in the TV version was terrible, exactly for the same reason you did (her accent). She seems to be an American who couldn't do an English upper-class accent if her life depended on it.

Sophie Thompson's portrayal of Miss Bates is absolutely brilliant in the screen version (Prunella Scales really doesn't do a very good job of playing Miss Bates in the TV version). I think Ms Thompson probably had the best performance in the whole movie. Her acting in the scene at Box Hill was amazing. However, overall I prefer the Box Hill scene in the TV version, because the wittiness of the Frank Churchill character is much better brought out. I prefer the screen version's "Badly done, Emma" scene, though. (This may be because the TV version's Knightley is such a curmudgeon, that it wasn't a huge surprise to see him berating Emma yet again. In the screen version, you really get a sense that Emma has blown it big time.) Raymond Coulthard's Frank Churchill is much more charming and true to the book than is Ewan McGregor's portrayal. I also prefer Olivia Williams as Jane Fairfax.

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I LOOOOOOOVE Kate Beckinsale's role as Emma much more than Paltrow's. It was the first version that I had seen. It used to be rented out at Blockbuster....it disappeared a few years ago. I tried the Paltrow version and I was very disappointed. I think that the BBC version has the actors that fit more to the parts. So all in all... I love the BBC television version much much better. But I love Jane Austen. I prefer the book.

We are all fools in love ~Pride & Prejudice~

Well said. Overall I'm a bigger fan of the Gwyenth Paltrow version, but I think that has something to do with watching it first. But Jeremy Northam is a much better Knightly. However not having read the book I suppose I can't make a fair judgment, but on pure performance, I prefer Northam's Knightly. I can't work out Kate Beckinsale as Emma either, it just doesn't fit. That sounds strange doesn't it? I totally agree that the Frank/Jane affair is much better portrayed in the Kate one. So I think we should combine it. Also the Kate one makes the story so much easier to understand, like the picnic bit is better and the end when they are all together and you realise that Frank Churchill is a complete slimeball! Out of interest, what other Jane Austens do you like?


*I don't like Cricket*
And that's why I don't like cricket!

I agree with rabyhook.

Having watched both adaptations on numerous occasions, I find that I much prefer the KB version.

This is based on the following reasons:

I believe the GP version was too Hollywood-ised. I felt they glammed it up to appeal to a wider audience whilst sacrificing that inherently Jane Austen/Regency feeling. It just felt cheesy to me.

GP was, to steal a phrase from Bridge Jones's Diary, like a big American stick insect in this. Next to Jeremy Northam, she seemed huge - all legs & tentactly arms. I generally don't mind GP in movies (loved Sliding Doors), but in this - yicko!

And since when has Muriel Heslop been able to time travel?!?!? I'm certain that it wasn't really Toni Collette in that movie but Muriel Bloody My-Name's-Marial Heslop. They should have left Muriel in her wedding movie instead of infiltrating her into Emma under the guise of Harriet Smith. Kudo's to Samantha Morton for a much more realistic Harriet Smith.

Ewan McGregor's wig - need I say more. Disaster, disaster, disaster. Poor man will NEVER live that down. He looked a total goose. Also, he gave me the impression of being a human labrador. All bounding around and floppy blondish hair. I'm sure if you'd thrown a ball near him, he'd have bounded off after it!

Now, for Mr Knightley. I love Jeremy Northam, but Mr Knightley in the KB version worked for me big time. I never doubted his interest for Emma the entire way through the production. He always watched her with these big mournful eyes. And whilst not outwardly dashing as JN, I still found MS to be pretty hot. I'd go him anyday before JN. Well, no. I'm greedy. I'd have them both. But as Mr Knightley, I'd go MS.

I also preferred the KB Mr Elton. He was far more realistically sinister than AC. AC's Mr Elton seemed like a cartoon character. He reminded me so much of the guy he played in Circle of Friends. Plus he was so smarmy and slimy that I can't imagine Emma trying to hoist her friend upon him to marry.

The big, huge NO in the KB version was Mrs Elton. As everyone on these boards have pointed out - what is the go with her accent?!?!? She sounded like an American!!! Weird, odd and completely bizarre.

Generally, both productions had good and bad aspects. I just preferred KB's. It just seemed more authentic, more Jane Austen. Better Frank Churchill, better Harriet Smith, better Jane Fairfax, better Emma, better Mr Knightley.

But each to their own. Those are merely my opinions on the two adaptations.