DVD Reviews and more

The upcoming US release of the Wide Sargasso Sea (2006) DVD (by Acorn Media) gets reviewed on BlogCritics Magazine:

Wide Sargasso Sea — based on the 1966 novel by Jean Rhys, originally aired by the BBC in 2006 and finally releasing to U.S. audiences on DVD later this month — is a sensuous look at a descent into madness. Ostensibly presented as a prequel to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the story is about Mr. Rochester’s first wife, Antoinette Cosway, and how she transformed into that ghostly lunatic locked in the tower at Thornfield Manor.(...)
This production is gorgeous; filmed in Jamaica, the colors and textures are lush and saturated. A couple of times the director used trite, swirling camera work to indicate the characters’ unstable states of mind which I found annoying. He should have trusted the actors’ capable performances; Rebecca Hall, as Antoinette, and Rafe Spall, as Edward, are heartbreaking in their bewilderment and anguish as their lives spiral out of control. They certainly didn’t need whirling, stuttering shots of jungle vegetation and blurred faces to help convey their pain.
The DVD extras are a little skimpy: previews from other British television productions, a biography of Jean Rhys, the author of the source material, and the main cast’s filmographies. I did find the Rhys biographical information interesting, and one doesn't really expect a lot from the extras for a production like this anyway.
British television has long had a reputation for quality period drama, mining the wealth of classic literature and making these rich stories accessible to folks who might not be inclined to pick up the book. I think Wide Sargasso Sea is a strong entry into the field and am pleased that those of us in the U.S. finally have the chance to enjoy it. (Friend Mouse)

Curiously, the Indian newspaper Business-Journal also mentions Jean Rhys's novel in an article about Sebastian Faulks's new James Bond novel:

In the literary canon, most people could name two sequels so powerful and so ambitious that they are classics in their own right. Jean Rhys' The Wide Sargasso Sea didn't just retell Jane Eyre. Rhys reimagined Jane Eyre from the perspective of Mr Rochester's mad wife, creating a fiery, passionate relationship for Mr and Mrs Rochester the first. Bertha's descent into madness became her metaphor for the fractured minds of the colonised. (Nilanjana S. Roy)

DVD Talks reviews A&E's Romance Collection which includes Jane Eyre 1997.

Certainly the best thing going for this 1997 adaptation of Jane Eyre is the remarkably calm yet inwardly passionate central performance of Jane by the remarkable Samantha Morton. There have been almost twenty notable adaptations of this venerable story, and I've always been partial to the 1970 TV version (which later played in theatres) starring George C. Scott and Susannah York. But I have to admit that Morton surpasses York (who was a tad too old to play Jane) with a shaded interpretation of the character that's quite remarkable in its delicacy and strength. Bronte's famous character is a layered compilation of themes revolving around social inequities (Jane first viewing herself as unequal to Rochester due to her lowly position), her sex (obviously at this time, women were considered inferior and subject to pressing constraints on their individual freedom of expression), and her steadfast moral core beliefs (she'll marry Rochester, but not when she realizes he lied to her about his insane wife, locked away in the attic). It's a difficult role to essay without falling into the trap of a standard Gothic heroine, running around sets, alternating swooning after the blustering Rochester or hiding in terror from his mad wife. But Morton embodies these themes effortlessly in her subtle performance, giving this Jane Eyre a strength of moral action I've haven't seen in other adaptations.
I can't say I was as pleased with Hinds' interpretation of Rochester, which felt altogether too rushed and...out of control for lack of a better descriptive phrase. His Rochester seems far too "on the edge" in all his dealings, far too high-strung for the Rochester I always have in mind, coming off many times as hysterical (and making Jane seem far more practical and centered). It doesn't help, either, that much telescoping of the story occurs in the fast-paced script, with Rochester one minute welcoming Jane to Thornfield and in the very next scene, asking her if he's handsome. It's a jarring juxtaposition, made necessary no doubt by time constraints, but it has the effect of making Rochester seem far more flighty, more careening in his emotions. As well, director Robert Young indulges in moments of Gothic fancy that play poorly against Morton's measure performance (the slow-mo introduction of Rochester on horseback, with Morton goggling her eyes comically, is a real howler). But overall - and directly because of Morton's excellent performance - this Jane Eyre is well worth revisiting. (Paul Mavis)

The Yorkshire Post informs about new railway improvements in the Bradford district:

"The council is pushing the case with the Office of Rail Regulation to provide the Bradford district with the train services we need. And there are good opportunities for leisure travel to the district with the Brontes, Saltaire World Heritage Site, the National Media Museum and our unique landscape, towns and villages." (Fiona Evans)

Vulpes Libris interviews Edward Petherbridge:

VL- Finally … we like to ask our guests to name their five favourite books - and give reasons for their choices. What are yours?

I would name Wuthering Heights and Bleak House and Hardy’s Tess.
I loved reading EM Forster - Howard’s End AND Where Angels … for talking books - amongst the most involving and fulfilling of acting jobs - oh, and The Picture of Dorian Gray - (re-released on CD I think). All the above are miraculous creations it seems to me - they intensify one’s experience of life.
I was 23 when I read Wuthering Heights on a ship, returning from working in New Zealand. I remember particularly reading of the familiar Yorkshire landscape - so wild and yet close to my home, the then sooty industrial town of Bradford - as I looked out on sand and camels on our way through the Suez Canal. I heard some of the book again recently on a sadly defunct digital station called One Word - the book was even better than I remembered - in fact there were whole tracts of it I’d forgotten I add it to that lengthening list.

VL: Wuthering Heights is a book that gets better every time you read it, I think. It shouldn’t be forced on people too young - but that, as you say, is another story …

Free Listens reviews Lit2Go's reading of Jane Eyre's by Amanda Eland:

Amanda Eland has a pleasant girlish voice that suits the calm character of Jane quite well. The repartee between Jane and Mr. Rochester does not come across as engaging as perhaps it should be, but otherwise her characters are well established. Although I'm no foreign language expert, Ms. Eland seemed to have trouble pronouncing the French and German phrases in the book. Overall this was a good reading in a high-quality recording. The main fault I had was not with the recording itself, but how it is presented. To download each chapter, you have to follow a link from the table of contents to that chapter's page, then download the file for that chapter separately. The files are quite large in size, with some chapters weighing in over 90 MB. However, this large size translates into good audio quality, so if you have a fast connection and plenty of memory, this book is certainly worthy of a download. (Listener)

3 Questions ... and Answers posts about Anne Brontë and ...Beautiful Evil about Wuthering Heights (1939 film adaptation and Kate Bush's song). Oeil et plume publishes a beautiful picture named after Wuthering Heights.

Categories: Anne Brontë, Audio-Radio, Brontëites, In the News, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights