the blue blog archives: knitting with miss bennet

Knitting on the candy stripe jacket continues. I'm almost twelve inches in on one front panel, thanks, most recently, to Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice. I was watching an old favorite, the 1940's version with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson and lo and behold, there's Lizzie and her mother winding yarn.

Greer Garson made a beautiful Lizzy Bennet and Olivier is still my favorite Darcy. And then there's the cashmere, of course, mmmmmm....

posted by alison at 2:22 pm | in spud and chloe

Comments

It's been a while since I've seen that one. I agree that Greer Garson and Olivier made a fabulous couple (how could they NOT?), but they made so many story changes for that movie, it frustrates me when I think about it too much!

Posted by: --Deb at July 26, 2009 6:33 PM

I always wondered exactly what era they set the film in, as their costumes are beautiful but completely not what would have been worn in early 19th century England. :-)

Still can't beat the 1995 BBC version. And it's 6 hours long - so much knitting can be done in that time. ;-)

Posted by: Kate at July 27, 2009 3:34 AM

Laurence Olivier does make a fine Darcy. Its a classic. But gotta say I enjoy Colin Firth as well :)

Posted by: Bridget at July 27, 2009 4:04 PM

that jacket just looks more & more yummy - the bigger it gets the yummier it looks! Laurence Olivier was incredible in just about every movie he was in (altho I can't watch that movie where he played the evil Nazi who extracted teeth from some younger star who I can't remember now!)

Posted by: Donna at July 27, 2009 6:00 PM

I thought I remembered the movie: Marathon Man - also starring Dustin Hoffman: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/plotsummary

Posted by: Donna at July 27, 2009 6:03 PM

I just got a whole heck of a lot of knitting done watching BBC America's "Torchwood: Children of Earth" miniseries. You shoudl check it out, really good!

I am trying to finish my Norah Gaughan "Ashbury" pattern before the summer is up!

Posted by: Jeanne Kaliszewski at July 27, 2009 7:03 PM

I did enjoy Greer Garson as Lizzie, but was also annoyed at the changes from the book, including the period costumes used. Though it makes sense when you remember the movie was made during the great depression. The costumes were reused from Gone With the Wind, made in 1939, to save the studio money.

Posted by: Rylla at July 27, 2009 10:52 PM

Luckily, I saw this version first when I was quite young and had never read the book. If you aren't missing that 1/3 of the book (the entire Pemberley part!), it's much easier to admire this version. It's really a very sweet story and still touching, even in this lighter, shortened version.

I've enjoyed all the Darcys I've seen (including even Elliot Cowan) except David Rintoul, who I suspect played the part the most faithfully to the actual character. But I think Olivier is perhaps the only Darcy I could actually fall for.

Rylla, I always wondered why they decided to use such anachronistic costumes in the movie. Thanks for explaining about the gowns!

Posted by: ALISON at July 28, 2009 12:31 AM