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Rating:  - Beware, this is a cut version of Northanger Abbey (2007)
Of the 3 adaptations produced by ITV in 2007, Northanger Abbey was the best (or the least bad to be honest). I have received the DVD now and I notice to my disappointment, anger and outrage that PBS is cheating its public by selling a cut version of the adaptation. PBS had acknowleged it was going to broadcast a cut version, but it had also promised that the full and complete version would be in the DVD, and that is NOT true. They are selling the cut version only. So beware, do not order this DVD unless you want only an incomplete version. Furthermore, it is advertised as close-captioned, and that is not true, there are no subtitles nor close caption in this DVD
Rating:  - Best and most infectious of Northanger Abbey adapts.yet!
Short and sweet.I have never read Jane Austen's novel,but I have seen every screen adaptation.NORTHANGER ABBEY is the only Jane Austen adaptation that never worked for me.Andrew Davies' adaptation did! 93 minutes that moved along with excellent soundtrack and capturing the heart of the overly active and dramatic imagination of Miss Catherine Morland.This was not a static film.Much dialogue is couched in lots of movement and dancing, instead of dry as dust sitting around.As a screenplay, this NORTHANGER ABBEY works best FOR the screen.There is no lag or down time,and Davies knows that this is essential to hold people's attention.Highly recommended as the best screen adaptation available.
Rating: - Doesn't Do Justice To Austen's Wit
"Northanger Abbey" is the Austen novel that has received the least attention from adapters during the Jane Austen craze of this and the last decade. Perhaps the reason is that, even more than the frequently ill-adapted and much greater "Emma," it relies for its genius heavily on the ironic observations of the authorial voice. Without recourse to endless voiceovers, it threatens to devolve into just the standard Regency Gothic romance its witty author was largely bent on parodying. Not surprisingly, such voiceovers are largely missing here. While it is a vast improvement over the 1986 TV production, this adaptation remains as a consequence mostly deficient in capturing the youthful author's satiric wit and charm.
Further, Catherine Morland at the outset lacks the clueless nature that is a large part of her attractiveness for Henry Tilney. She sounds more like a would-be Elizabeth Bennet than a good-hearted but amusingly ignorant country girl on a first visit to fashionable Bath. Henry Tilney, in turn, lacks the sprightly wit of the novel's character, emerging as more of a sugarstick than a wonderfully clever clergyman. Catherine complains of his incessant teasing, but any noteworthy, verbally memorable example of such is hard to find. Consequently, their exchanges pretty much fall flat.
The adaptation is thematically faithful to the novel in an important way, though: its ironic insight that life IS truly horrible, though not in the manner the heroine expects. True horror in the England of the day doesn't involve ghosts and murdered wives in old abbeys replete with secret passages. It rests rather on "crimes of the heart," here those inspired by a shameless love of money before all else. General Tilney and Isabella Thorpe emerge for this reason as true comic monsters, but of a sort Catherine had least expected to find around her. Still, though, except for the General's shocking eviction of Catherine from Northanger, the treatment of these characters is far too heavy-handed, lacking anything of the "light, bright, and sparkling" that gives the novel its witty balance.
Rating: - FANTASTIC
I am in the US and have been anxiously waiting for the Jane Austen season to begin here. I had watched this on youtube in bits for the last month and was finally able to watch it on PBS last night. And I still found it to be amazing (though certain things were cut out). This being one of my favorites of Jane's books I was ecstatic to finally have a movie version of this book that I will actually buy.
JJ Feild is perfect as Henry Tilney and just made me fall in love with his character again. Carey Mulligan was also good as Isabella Thorpe. She made me despise her instantly which is necessary.
I highly recommend it.
Rating: - This movie is Great!
Many people have been giving these Masterpiece Theatre movies bad reviews, and I can almost understand why. I watched Northanger Abbey last night, and I was very pleased, as it was quite like the book, and very interesting, opposed to the BBC version in which you almost fall asleep of the bore. The characters had depth and it was very well acted. Kathy and Henry make a great couple, Henry being up there with Bingley, Darcy, (and, from Elizabeth Gaskell's books,) 'Hamley', and Thornton. Kathy is very loveable and innocent, especially when it comes to Isabella.
(Just one quick note of WARNING! For younger children, there is one scene with Isabella and Captain Tilney that is not in the book, but is after the fact, and is on the edge.)
I really enjoyed this movie and would advise all to see it, all women, that is.
+Though reading the bad reviews for my favorite Austen book, Mansfield Park, I intend to watch and hopefully to enjoy it, when it airs.+
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