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Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition Customer Reviews (193 - 195 of 229 Reviews)

I could watch this movie over and over and over...
A friend of mine told me a few years ago that I would love this movie since I have enjoyed other films such as Emma (w/ Gwyneth Paltrow), Sense & Sensibility (w/ Emma Thompson), and Mansfield Park. So, when I saw it on A&E as a remastered DVD edition, I decided to buy it from Amazon.

And I love this movie! I have only had it for a little over a week and have watched it twice already! The dialogue, the actors, the costumes, the settings, everything is wonderful. The only reason I give it four stars is that I hoped they would add more extras to the DVD menu.

I found nothing wrong with the color or sound as some reviewers mentioned. In fact, I could hear a clock ticking in the background (not my clock, one in the movie) in a few scenes. I highly recommend this movie if you're a fan of movies based on Jane Austen's wonderful stories. You'll love it! Just make sure you can set aside time for weekly viewings since watching it just once isn't enough! : )

That Wickham is a scallywag!
Jane Austin tends to fare well when translated to the screen. There must be a nice respect for the author, that people tend to be both careful and faithful. Costume dramas are always nice to look at, but preserving the essential Austin dialog gives it that extra bite.

"Pride and Prejudice - The Special Edition (1996)" is a lovely, funny, romantic presentation of a classic English novel. In terms of eye candy, the estates are grand, both inside and out, and the costumes are appropriately beautiful. The BBC definitely delivers when it comes to presenting England's splendors. The actors are all perfectly cast, and each delivers and outstanding performance. Collin Firth is excellent as the brooding Mr. Darcy. Alison Steadman and Benjamin Whitrow are a constant source of amusement and wit as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Julia Sawalha as Lydia plays the exact opposite of her Absolutely Fabulous character Saffron. Jennifer Ehle is really the perfect Elizabeth Bennet. There is a lot to be said for "a pair of fine eyes."

The DVD presentation is really superior for these types of shows. With such fantastic scenery, a widescreen presentation is necessary. The Special Edition fixes many errors present in previous offerings. Just try to put in the first disk, and not watch all six hours straight through!

Polite People Speaking With English Accents
The BBC's production of "Pride & Prejudice," starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, is one of the finest television mini-series ever made. It was released during the Jane Austen adaptation craze of the early- to mid-nineties. In terms of quality and entertainment value, it bests most of the theatrically released Austen adaptations of the past decade, with the sole exception probably being Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" (from Emma Thompson's screenplay).

UNFORTUNATELY, this DVD edition is so poorly produced that first-time viewers may find this 5-star production anything but. "Enigma," another English production, was initially released in a similarly execrable DVD edition, then later re-released with a far, far superior transfer. One can only hope this will happen for "Pride & Prejudice." For one, the video appears to be converted from PAL, the European video standard. The colors are horrifically washed out; the series now looks like it was shot in 1963. There is also some very obvious video artifacting and compression; the series needed another disc to maximize picture quality. Quite disappointing.

Despite the DVD's drawbacks, "Pride & Prejudice" is still a wonderful retelling of Austen's masterpiece, with consistently excellent performances from the entire cast. (Jennifer Ehle, interestingly, is not British.) On this DVD, however, it is now much less sumptuous -- hence the three stars.

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