Movie Review- Mansfield Park (1983)

Mansfield Park is probably my third favorite of Jane Austen's novels behind Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion. The heroine in it is very quiet, very sweet, very humble, very selfless and very ill-used for it. As far as Austen's character goes that I most wish I could be like, it wouldn't be Lizzy Bennett, it would be Fanny Price. Realistically, I think I have a better chance of being like any other of Austen's characters, but if I could be like any of her characters, it would be Fanny. Fanny's reserved qualities make her very hard to portray on screen and really I am not sure if it should be attempted. There are two other adaptations that I know of besides this one which in short neither are good. This one is better, but still fails in some aspects.

Characters

The casting was good. Not great, but good. The Fanny was okay, but really I don't think her's is a character that can be portrayed on screen correctly. The Edmund was good but too old I think. I really liked the Mrs. Norris, in that I thoroughly detested her as you are supposed to and I also that Lady Bertram was done quite well. The rest of the casting was adequate. 

Other

The storyline was pulled off well enough. It was a BBC drama and I have a lot of the same complaints about it as I do with the 1980 Pride and Prejudice BBC drama. The scenery is too dark, production quality less than good, scenes somewhat disjointed, and the lines more quoted than acted. 

It's hard to put into words how I felt about this version. It is the better version to watch. It's not as exciting as the other versions but it's truer to the book. However, the long and short of it is that I do not think there will ever be a good film version of Mansfield Park, it just isn't meant to be a film. It is an amazing book though so I recommend you to read it and then try this film out. 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.