I just got the A&E DVD version of "Pride and Prejudice" (with Ehle and Firth). I was very excited, having watched my videos of it till they are all but worn out. BUT, I was disappointed because the color picture on the DVD is SO much blander and weaker than in the videos.
My husband ordered the DVDs thru Ebay, and they came to us "unopened," but I am wondering. Has anybody else noticed this on their "P&P" DVD? If I hadn't watched the videos so many times, I probably wouldn't have thought much of it. But all the actors look like ghosts (so white, like the light is overexposed)!
I realize some may point out this question doesn't belong here, but this is really the only forum I ever write in, and I didn't want to try to find some new place to ask this. Thanks!

I think you got a pirated version, I have owned it on VHS and now on DVD, and have not noticed any color wash-out problems.
I'd contact the ebay seller.

I know exactly what you mean, sarallison. My DVD copy is also "bright" and kind of washed out, unlike my sister's VHS copy. And I bought my copy for full price from a respected retailer. I guess I should have taken it back, it's a year or so now since I bought it. I still watch it occasionally and it always bugs me for about the first 20 mins or so.

BTW did you know there is a new movie version coming out soon November I think with Keira Knightley as Lizzie and Matthew Mc Fadyean (sP?) from "Spooks" as Darcy?

I saw a trailer for the new film the other day. As far as I'm concerned, the Ehle/Firth version is definitive, and recent, can't see why they're remaking it again so soon. What I really hope is that they're not going to modernize it; didn't Keira Knightley play a warrior-like Guinevere a few years ago? It would be a different story indeed if modern sensibilities are added, and Keira's Elizabeth chooses not to get married but decides on a business career in London instead.

elaine, I agree, I don't see how they could top the A&E version. And modernizing it would certainly ruin the story! In addition to the wonderful casting, I liked how closely the A&E version followed the book.

I am not much of a fan of films that change the works of Austen, especially to modernize them. The "updated" Masnfield Park of a couple of years ago was hideous. In contrast, a few years before that the film version of Persuasion was pefect.

However, I have to say that Clueless, the modern take on Emma, is one of the most fun and watchable films I know of. It is completely modernized, but still amazingly true to the spirit of Emma. I love Clueless.

And all this has nothing to do with the OP's original question. Sorry. ;-)

I also own the DVD version of the film, which DH and I watched last week in honor of our upcaoming trip across the pond, and my version has no color problems. I agree that your version is likely a pirated version.

Good luck straightening it out/getting your hands on a clean version. It's too great a film to be watched with any of the technical aspects below par.

Just gotta chime in. We're big fans of the original film of P&P, but we fell head over heels for the A&E production. Absolutely the best, in all regards, and difficult to imagine anything improving on it.

tuscanlifeedit, I agree with you about Persuasion. Of all the Austen adaptations that came out around that same time, it was the one I felt most captured the look and feel of life at that time.

Sorry, I don't know anything about the OP either.

My favorite version is the original A&E one, with David Rintoul as the quintessential Mr. Darcy. But the new one is good also.

Underhill

I believe I may have rented the version of P&P you refer to. Isn't there a scene where Lizzie talks about kissing? That threw me off, and I didn't think the adaptation (if I am referring to the correct one) was true to the book in spirit.

Also, did A&E produce two versions? I thought the David Rintoul version was a public television production (or BBC?) but if I am thinking of something else, please let me know. I would not want there to be a film of P&P out there that I haven't seen!

I resisted liking the Colin Firth version--for a long time I still preferred the David Rintoul version (BBC) and in fact I own both. The Firth version grew on me, and over time, the superior film production values won me over, beside it the older version, to me, looks stagey and low-budget. They are different from each other, but the acting (and looks) in each are excellent.Rintoul looked closer to the right age, I have to say that Firth looked a little older (in appearance, not necessarily in actual age) than Darcy is described in the book.

I don't mind takeoffs, like "Clueless" that try to spin off the plot into a modern story. What I mind, is misguided contemporary attempts to endow characters from a long-past historical period, with modern motivations and behavior.

I loved the "Persuasion" film as well,thought it quite faithful to the book, especially since that vies with P & P for being my favorite Austen book.

Always nice to find other Janeites here.

Persuasion was ruined for me by the ending where Anne and Wentworth kiss in the street.
In an age when even writing to a man was improper, Anne's reputation would have been destroyed.

Period is difficult to get right in our present ignorant age. I've seen films where "Victorian gentlemen" don't remove their hats when coming indoors, where clergymen are referred to as "Reverend Smith" etc. etc.

Miss Prism, funny you should mention that kiss, I too have always thought it inappropriate at a time when ladies in a drawing room weren't even supposed to approach gentlemen, they were supposed to wait for the gentlemen to approach them.

Were clergymen not referred to as "Reverend"? I didn't know that.
Still, the rest of the film was quite good I thought.

By the way Miss P, did you ever leave a baby in a handbag in a railway station?

Oh, elaine! The original film of THAT is certainly never to be beat!

"To lose one parent may be regarded as misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness."

I can't get at the Rintoul P&P just now to look--it certainly could have originally been a BBC production, then shown later on A&E. (Speaking of A&E, what happened to the arts part? All that seems to be on now is re-runs of network shows.)

As for Rintoul vs. Firth, I just think Rintoul displays the most pride of self.

this exchange prompted me to pull out my Rintoul P & P
It's a BBC production, says 1985 but frankly I thought it was older

Thanks for that info on the Rintoul version of P&P... I thought it was BBC.

On the kiss at the end of Persuasion: it seems to me to be a very minor concession when put in the context of the entire film. To my mind this is probably the least romannticized and most accurate adaptation on film of any Austen novel.

Did no one else see the horrid Mansfield Park I referred to above? It is so "adapted" that my stomach churned! I have a BBC version of film that is quite nice.

And how about "Emma"s? The Gwyneth Paltrow version is very weak, IMO, compared to the Kate Beckinsale BBC production. Anyone?

How funny. Today at "March of the Penquins" I saw a trailer for the new Pride and Prejudice. How many times are they going to try to remake this film? Although I'm sure Judy Dench will be great. Hasn't it been done enough already?

I can't dislike the Gwyneth Paltrow "Emma" too much, because Jeremy Northrup was in it, and that's almost enough for me.

Patrick, I think it was at "Penguins" here in NYC that I saw the P & P trailer myself. I thought "Penguins" was endearing, and certainly amazingly well-photographed and edited, but I was glad it wasn't any longer than it was. I do recommend it, though.

To saraallison11, I also agree that something is wrong with your copy. You can buy the DVD on the Barnes & Noble website. I bought mine at Best Buy and the picture is MUCH better than my VHS tape.
elaine, I agree with you. Enjoyed March of the Penguins but was happy that it did not last longer. Were there many children in the theater? There were several young children in the showing I went to. Was just curious if the parents realized it was a documentary...
I told my 8 year old cousin that I went to see it and all she asked was: "Do the penguins talk?"