the audience applauded

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is an excellent version of Pride and Prejudice second only to the lauded and beloved 1995 production. Elizabeth Garvie's "fine eyes" and bright performance is a standout. She is lovely and likable. I would put it on par with Jennifer Ehle's interpretation. Unfortunately David Rintoul's performance is a real hindrance. He is as stiff and expressionless as a board. He moves through the film as a Zombie. This would have been fine for most of the production, but he almost never unbends to show us his true colors at the end. He only smiles when he is inviting Mr. Gardiner to go fishing, and even then he looks like his face would crack from the effort. Darcy must be shown to have evolved into someone Elizabeth could love and like. Colin Firth revealed Darcy to be shy as well as proud and it was a charming portrayal. For much of his portrayal, I was looking forward to the change when Darcy finally melts. I was very disappointed. What a lost opportunity! It was very vexing! All of the other actors stand up quite well to the classic, especially Jane, and Mr. Collins. Jane is, in this version, much more of the beauty she is described. Susanna Harker in the 1995 version is attractive and interesting looking but she is not really a beauty, in my opinion. I do prefer the more comedic performance of Alison Steadman as Mrs. Bennet. Julia Salwaha killed as Lydia, and unfortunately this one was not up to snuff by comparison.

This early BBC mini-series of "Pride and Prejudice" is the first production to flesh out most of the significant characters of Jane Austen's novel. Of course, it needed the nearly 4 ½ hours to do that. The production values are very good. The scenery and filming are excellent. The cast is very capable, but only a couple of the performances seem exceptional. Those would be Sabina Franklyn as Jane Bennett and Judy Parfitt as Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Irene Richard also was quite good as Charlotte Lucas. David Rintoul made a striking figure for Fitzwilliam Darcy. But, in his transformation at the end, his character still seemed to be dour. There was no apparent warming and enthusiasm with his love for Elizabeth. Elizabeth Garvie is good as Elizabeth, but I think her character was too uncertain at times. She sometimes seemed wishy-washy. Whether this was from her interpretation of the role, or the director's lead, it seemed to weaken the character. I don't think that's the image of Elizabeth that Austen had in mind. Overall, I just didn't sense much life or enthusiasm in the characters. Before this 1980 mini-series, the BBC had made three other mini-series of P&P — in 1952, 1958 and 1967. But those were all in the 3-hour range, with 30-minute installments. They barely touched on some of the characters. The interest has been there for Jane Austen since at least the last half of the 20th century. So at intervals the BBC would put out a new production. Yet, none seemed to improve on the story. By that I mean, succeeding versions didn't add much more from the story than the earlier ones. And no exceptional stars or role insights emerged. So, the preferred version for many movie buffs over four decades was likely the 1940 film with its cast of big name stars – Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edmund Gwenn, and Edna May Oliver. But, with the 1980 mini-series, we had the first flushing out of characters that were ignored or barely mentioned in the movies and shorter series. While it's not a particularly exciting rendition, the 1980 mini-series production is a good wholesome treatment of Austen's great novel of pride and prejudice. And, it would retain the foremost position of P&P films until 1995 and the last great mini-series on the story. A word to the wise – for those who may want to acquire or watch all the various versions of Pride and Prejudice. Watch this 1980 mini-series version before you watch the 1995 version. The difference will become pleasantly clear when watching the second series. To do it in reverse invites awareness of the differences that will be not so pleasant and may even lead to uneasiness or lack of interest when watching this series last.

I have had a soft spot for this version ever since I saw it when I lived in Canada. Eventually I acquired the NTSC VHS version while in Canada, and it has stayed with me when I had a residence in France and later in UK. Colin Firth was somewhat softer and more plausible than David Rintoul in some scenes but the wet shirt scene was nonsensical and Jennifer Ehle unbelievable as Elizabeth. In despair at finding a region 2 DVD I hung onto the VHS until it and my player were well worn out.Luckily I recently found a Dutch DVD Region 2 version available from Amazon, so can enjoy it again in better picture quality. Highlights are the superb Mr Collins and his wife Charlotte in addition to the leads. Fay Weldon does take a liberty moving some of Mr Bennet's best lines to Mrs Bennett but no major harm done.To my mind one of the all time great moments in TV or Cinema is the camera work as Elizabeth reads the letter handed to her by D'Arcy. As she reads the letter justifying his arrogant and insulting first proposal of marriage and distancing himself from her, the camera crosscuts to the ever increasing distance as he walks away. Meanwhile Elizabeth begins to have a glimmer of understanding of his character. A case of special harmony between the visual images and the interior emotions of the characters.One other note. The region 2 DVD issued by BBC Worldwide has English soundtrack but the only subtitles are Dutch. A curious case of both racial and disability discrimination against English speaking people who are hard of hearing. I hope such customers claim damages from the overpaid managers of the organization.

I'm not saying the other adaptations of Pride and Prejudice aren't good; they are. However, this one was the one I saw first (other than perhaps the Lawrence Olivier version), and I love it. It's done very sympathetically to the period, I think with my uneducated eye, and the actors aren't conventional or modern looking, and the script is brilliantly portrayed. David Rintoul is the perfect Darcy, old fashioned and haughty, and Lady Catherine is just splendid. Miss Elizabeth Bennett is the right combination of attractive, intelligent and with her own type of feminine arrogance, applicable to the day. All the characters are so amplified yet not so much that they are caricatures of themselves, which makes for memorable watching. Other versions are sort of watered down versions of this one. Watch it, the only problem is that it's quite hard to get hold of - I got my copy on DVD from the US on Amazon having only the video before. It's great easy watching for a mini series, and it's both touching and hilarious in equal part. It's a little cheesy in places but that's intentional I think.