Jane Austen Collection (Sense and Sensibility / Emma / Persuasion / Mansfield Park / Pride and Prejudice)

Rating:
Summary: Money,money
Review: I really like this box of films;But being a bohemian the preocupation with money was very annoying in these works. It seems the noblity had no redeming qualities except keeping pockets full of pounds and keeping the lower classes in their place. Living in 21 century it is hard to conceive of a world with out electricity and all that entails. It is truely amazing people whould talk to each other for entertainment where as today we have to be entertained and quality it of seems to be droping.
If I had to pick a favorite it would be "Mansfield Park" I like the characters and how the story ends.

Rating:
Summary: Great strories...bad presentation
Review: i am a strange combination perhaps. I am a man and i love movie Adaptations of Jane Austen's books. I was so excited to get this collection because it provided a significant addition to my viewing library. While the drama and poignancy is built into the stories, i was sorely, sorely disappointed with the production of the movies. I am sorry to say...they were absolutely terrible. I am no movie maker but this cinematography left ALOT wanting. If you are able to get past this, which i was not, then this may be a great buy for you!!!

Rating:
Summary: What a surprise
Review: I certainly didn't get what I was expecting with this purchase. I haven't even opened the box yet, and I'm greatly disappointed. It's probably my fault for not working through the fine print in the product notes, but this is not the BBC collection that I was expecting with Colin Firth and the gang from 1996. I suggest anyone thinking about buying this set be sure that they know what they are getting before pushng the "add to cart" button.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but there are better
Review: I enjoyed all of these movies, but they are all a bit more like watching a play than seeing a movie and could have done with quite a bit of editing to make them move along more quickly.
Emma is the best of this collection, just as good as the other two versions out there (one with Gwyeneth Paltrow and the other with Kate Beckensdale). I really like all of them. This Emma plays the part beautifully.
The Mansfield Park in this set is nice because it sticks so closely to the book and is less risque than the new version.
Northhanger Abbey will have to do until someone remakes it, enjoyable, but could be so much better.
You should know by now that there is a far superior version of Pride & Prejudice out there. This one actually does a few things better, but just drags on and on.
Persuation is very well done here, but the lead character cast is too old for the part even though she does a great job, it is distracting to have a woman who appears 10 years older than the character she is supposed to be playing. The other version of Persuasion (though the heroine is also a bit too old) is superior.
This version of Sense & Sensibility is quite good, but I still prefer the one with Emma Thompson.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Addition to Any DVD Collection!
Review: I enjoyed each adaptation (well, Northanger Abbey was a little silly). I found that there were so many scenes cut from the VHS versions of these films. There is so much more to enjoy with the DVD collection. I really appreciate how closely each film adhered to Jane Austen's stories.

Rating:
Summary: Thanks for releasing these movies on DVD!
Review: I love these movies, even though they remind me more of stage plays like a previous reviewer said. I have all of Jane Austen's movies on DVD now which is a relief because I was in the process of wearing out my video tapes of these movies especially Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice. This is a definite must have for Jane Austen fans.

Rating:
Summary: Unexpected surprise!
Review: I'm not going to try to convince people who aren't already familiar with the videotape versions that they have to buy these DVDs. However, if you already enjoy them, then you're going to have a nice surprise when you get the DVDs. The DVDs contain scenes not found on the videotapes. We saw that for ourselves when we put on Pride and Prejudice which is one of our favorites. In this case, there's 265 minutes in the DVD version, but only 229 in the videotape version. That's a big difference! Not only do you get more to enjoy, but the DVDs are going to last a lot longer than the videotapes. The picture and sound are fine. This is an outstanding bargain if you already enjoy these versions of Austen's works.

Rating:
Summary: I waited for this collection
Review: It's perfect that's possible to buy all the "old" adaption on DVD. I was so happy to find it out. The quality is very fine, especially if one knows the quality of the tapes. But there is a little sadness: as a foreign customer I would like to have subtitles, in fact I was so sure about subtitles. Now I'm a little sad. But it's simply a Musthave for Janeites.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Collection for Austen lovers!
Review: Let's quickly ammend what the previous reviewer said! First of all, this is an excellent DVD collection of excellent quality. The pictures are all crystal clear, the sound is striking, and the acting is fantastic. BBC and Warner Brothers did a fabulous job of remastering these films from the 70's and 80's and I am thrilled I bought the whole set. You can also buy each movie separately. As for side B of certain movies, the disc specifically says right on it "blank disc." This is because on some of them, the entire movie fits on the first side, thus side B is obviously unused. If the previous reviewer actually watched the movies, they would see that nothing is missing, so let's hope they give their collection another try! I for one am so glad I finally own these older, and more definitive version of Jane Austen's amazing works. Enjoy it, as I have and will continue to do so!

Rating:
Summary: content: yes, presentation: no
Review: The quality of these BBC classics has already been discussed (presumably the earlier BBC versions of Jane Austen are no longer available), but I criticise the packaging. Couldn't the films have been put on separate labelled discs? Couldn't the start and end credits of the longer films (shown on TV in instalments) have been edited out? (the V in DVD stands for "versatile"). Why is Col. Brandon from Sense And Sensibility shown on the Persuasion cover (perhaps he fancies Anne Elliot as well as Marianne Dashwood!)? Issuing these films as a package was a great idea, pity it wasn't done with more imagination.