Review: Adam Bede

Another movie in The George Eliot Collection, my mom and I saw this a while ago. We were going through the collection and wanted something short to watch before we went out for lunch. We saw that this was only 102 minutes long, so we decided to watch it. We were also interested in it because Susannah Harker, who played Jane Bennet in the 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, was in it.

Synopsis

The story starts in a court room with a woman named Hetty Sorrel (Patsy Kinsit) is on trial for murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to death, at which she faints.

The story flashes back to the countryside and we are introduced to our characters. Adam Bede (Iain Glen) is a hardworking farmer and has fallen in love with Hetty Sorrel, who lives on her uncle's (Mr. Poyser) property. Hetty's cousin, Dinah Morris (Susannah Harker), also lives with them and is a lay Methodist preacher. Hetty falls in love with Captain Arthur Donnithorne. The story revolves around this love rectangle between these four characters.

Characters
There are a couple of actors/actresses that you might recognize in Adam Bede. Iain Glen (who plays Adam Bede) was Mr. Preston in Wives and Daughters, Susannah Harker (who plays Dinah) was Jane Bennet in the 1995 miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, Julia Mckenzie (who plays Mrs. Poyser) was Mrs. Forrester in Cranford, and Patsy Kensit (who plays Hetty) was Eppie in Silas Marner.

Adam Bede (Iain Glen) and Dinah
(Susannah Harker)

The whole time I was watching this movie, I thought there seemed something wrong with Hetty. The way she acted throughout just seemed really strange to me. You could say that she almost acted childlike, but she even acted strangely for being childlike. Something just didn't seem right with her.

This next part is a Spoiler. I thought the whole Adam/Dinah relationship thing came on rather suddenly. The whole movie, they seemed like they were friends... only friends. Then all of a sudden at the end, they're going to get married? Adam really got over Hetty really quickly after being engaged to her and then once Hetty is sentenced to Australia and the engagement is over, all of a sudden he's engaged to Dinah? It just seemed too sudden. End of Spoiler

Costumes
The costuming wasn't too bad. The story takes place in 1799, which would be during the early Regency Era, but the clothes seemed to resemble some earlier clothing. Considering that the characters are farmers, it would be understandable that they don't have the latest fashions.

Hetty (Patsy Kensit) with
Arthur Donnithorne (James
Wilby)

Dinah is very plainly dressed; she always wears the same black dress with a white kerchief and a white cap. This goes with her humble attitude. Since she is a lay preacher, she is trying to live her life simply. You can compared Dinah's attire to Hetty's, which had much more color. There was a red dress paired with a white kerchief that Hetty wore that I thought looked nice. Considering that Hetty is not as humble as Dinah, her clothes being more colorful would go with her personality.


Music
The music didn't really stand out to me. There are some miniseries/films which you hear the music and it immediately stands out in your memory for a long time. In the case of Adam Bede, I can't remember there being any outstanding scores.

Overall: 2/5
I didn't care for this movie. It seemed like the movie was more about Hetty than about Adam. There was a bit of a mature scene, so if you do watch this movie, be warned. Susannah Harker did do a nice job of acting, so she is a plus to this movie. I probably wouldn't watch it a second time...

Adam Bede is available on DVD in The George Eliot Collection or sold separately. It runs for about 102 minutes on one disk.

New Banner

After so long, I finally made another banner!

It's a little darker colorwise than I anticipated, but I think it was blended nicely.

Review: Mill on the Floss

Haven't watch movies from The George Eliot Collection in a while. My mom and I had some time this weekend to watch Mill on the Floss, which neither of us had heard of before we got The George Eliot Collection. We were able to watch it in one evening, even though it was a miniseries.

Box Art

Synopsis

Mill on the Floss follows the story of Maggie and Tom Tulliver, two siblings who live at a mill by a river. When their father, Mr. Tulliver, loses the mill to Mr. Wakem, a lawyer, he suffers a stoke. Mr. Tulliver stays at the mill as Mr. Waken's manager until his death, though he despises working for Mr. Waken. Meanwhile, Maggie grows fond of Phillip Waken, Mr. Wakem's hunchbacked son.

Characters

Watchers of Keeping Up Appearances will notice that Judy Cornwell, who was Daisy in Keeping Up Appearances, is much seen as Mrs. Tulliver, Maggie and Tom's mother. Other than her, I didn't see anyone else that I would have recognized. But, on to the characters...

What was up with young Maggie? The girl was positively nuts! Between randomly cutting her hair and abusing her doll, this girl was crazy. She also would change moods very quickly: she would go from being glad to see her cousin, Lucy, and asking her to stay with them for a while to pushing her into the mud. Thankfully, she does grow out of this very wild behavior; if she was going to be like that the whole miniseries, it would have been less enjoyable.


Adult Maggy reading outside.



Adult Maggie really mellowed out. She seemed much more likable than she was when she was younger - she was less... crazed. She still would have her tiffs with Tom, but they didn't seem to last as long as the one when they were younger. What bothered me a little was that her and Tom seemed to fight a lot, but then it seemed like they were best friends only a short while later. There was no period after the fights where they wouldn't talk to each other a while. I'm not saying that they shouldn't talk to each other, but it's natural to not talk to someone you were fighting with for a while.

Tom always seemed to want to starts fights all the time. I would understand this if he was always a boy, but even when he grows up, he always seems to start fights with Maggie. It got a little annoying after a while.

Scenery
Some of the outdoor scenes were nice, but since this was made in the late 70's, the miniseries comes across as more like a play (which seems to be common for BBC adaptations prior to the 90's probably due to the lack of technology that we have today in filming). Obviously, the colors aren't going to be as striking as some of the more recent period dramas. There were a couple of nice outdoor scenes, though. Scenes took place outside along the river or in the forest or indoors in country houses, barns, or a warehouse. There was one scene in a conservatory in a fancy house, which was nice to see.

Costumes

Lucy and Tom seated while Maggie looks under the sheets
in the background.



Some of the costumes were nice. The dresses looked like they were from the 1830's or 1840's. Some did include the big sleeves popular during the 1830's period, so those dresses I did not particularly like, but some of the others I did.



Adult Maggie had a couple of nice dresses. One dress in particular was a blue dress that she wore when Phillip Wakem was drawing her portrait. I thought the color was a nice blue.



Young Lucy looked so sweet. She seemed to wear a lot of white dresses, and her hair was always very nicely arranged. It was a shame that young Maggie pushed her into the mud and ruined her lovely dress!



Maggie's aunts' dresses I did not like very much. They had the big sleeves of the 1830's period, which I never really cared for. I suppose because they had money, they could afford the latest fashions, but 1830's fashions never really impressed me too much.

Music

Not much music to speak of. The only significant song was the theme song. It can be a little piercing if you have the volume up on your TV too much. Other than that, there wasn't much music.

Overall: 3.5/5
Overall, I didn't hate it, but it's not my favorite. Spoiler This could have something to do with the fact that this story has a sad ending, and I always preferred happy endings to sad endings. Spoiler It was okay to watch once, but I don't know if I would watch it again, not because I disliked it, but rather because I have already seen it.

Mill on the Floss is available on DVD either as a part of The George Eliot Collection or can be bought on it's own. It is made up of eight half-hour episodes and runs for about 212 minutes.

King's Speech DVD release date?

I happened to look at Amazon and saw that The King's Speech is supposed to come out on DVD on April 19th. Whether or not the date will change (which is always possible) remains to be seen, but at least there's an approximate date.

Link at Amazon

If anyone is interested and didn't read it before, I posted a review to The King's Speech a while back. To read it, click here.

I recommend this movie! It's been a long time since anything in the theaters really interested me (I haven't been liking the movies that have been coming out lately). Very well acted!

Poll Closed!

The poll is now closed. Thank you everyone for voting! Here are the results!

To the question "What is your favorite Jane Austen novel?", 32 voters answered (and could pick more than one):

Pride and Prejudice with 23 votes (71%)

Persuasion with 10 votes (31%)

Sense and Sensibility and Emma tied with 9 votes (28% apiece)

Northanger Abbey with 8 votes (25%)

Mansfield Park with 5 votes (15%)

Juvenilia with 1 vote (3%)

Pride and Prejudice is the winner! I have two polls up now: one about Pride and Prejudice, the other a random topic.

The Pride and Prejudice poll question is "Which adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is your favorite?" You will be able to pick from the 1940 movie (Greer Garson), 1981 miniseries (Elizabeth Garvie), 1995 miniseries (Jennifer Ehle), 2005 movie (Keira Knightly), or another version. For this poll, you can only choose one option.

The random topic question is "What are some of your favorite adaptation/novel authors of classic literature?" You will be able to chose from more than one out of the following: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, the Bronte sisters, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Shakespeare, and an other option.

Thank you again for voting! Feel free to vote in both polls! Voting for both of these polls will be open from now until April 2nd.

More Blog Buttons!

It's been a while, but here are some more blog buttons!

These are now available at the Blog Buttons tab; you can go to the top of the page to get there, or click this link. Check them out!

Another Award!

I won the "Stylish Blogger Award" for the second time from Katy at Legacy of a Writer. Thank you very much, Katy!

Here is a link to the first time I recieved the award. Thank you so much, Katy!

Review: Wives and Daughters

I've heard about Wives and Daughters, but I didn't know anything about it other than it was written by Elizabeth Gaskell, who wrote Cranford. My mom bought the DVD and we watched it over a couple of weekends.

Box Art

Synopsis
Seventeen year old Molly Gibson's (Justine Waddell) life gets turned upside down when her father (Bill Paterson) remarries the selfish Hyacinth Clare Kirkpatrick (Francesca Annis), a widow. When Hyacinth's daughter, Cynthia (Keeley Hawes), comes to live with them, Molly forms a quick friendship with her; however, Cynthia harbors a secret that could ruin her reputation.

Characters
You will recognize a couple of actors and actresses in Wives and Daughters. Justine Waddell is, I believe, in a verision of Great Expectations (though I have never seen it). You will also find Michael Gambon (Emma and Cranford), Francesca Annis (Cranford), Barbara Flynn (The Barchester Chronicles, He Knew He Was Right, Cranford), Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Pride and Prejudice) among others.

Update 8/1/11: Maria Elisabeth from Miss Georgiana Darcy also noted that Rosamund Pike from Pride and Prejudice (2005) was also in here as Lady Harriet. Thanks Maria Elisabeth!

Molly (Justine Waddell) and
Cynthia (Keeley Hawes)

I absolutely found Hyacinth's character very irritating! She is oblivious, selfish, condescending, and incredibly silly. She was just very irritating to watch. Spoiler When Squire Hamley came to ask if Molly could visit the very ill Mrs. Hamley, Hyacinth says that she can't go because Molly has to accompany her somewhere! How absolutely selfish and uncaring! End of Spoiler I had to feel sorry that Molly has to deal with her condescension. I suppose her irritating character was intended, but still I had to feel embaressment for Molly.

It was interesting to see Molly's and Cynthia's friendship form, since they both have different personalities. Cynthia, since she is much more worldly than Molly, can be a little more outspoken, while Molly is a little more quiet (but she does voice her opinions when needed). I actually liked Molly better than Cynthia; there was something in Cynthia's attitude that I didn't like (whether she sounded too fake or something else). Molly seemed more genuine to me.


Scenery

Molly and her father (Bill Paterson) overlooking
the scenery.

You get some very nice scenery in Wives and Daughters. Most of the scenes take place in the English country side, but some scenes feature Africa. The colors are very nice and bold, and the houses are very pretty and nicely furnished. Overall, Wives and Daughters is very pretty to look at.

Costumes
The costumes were a hit and miss with me. Some of them I really liked, but others I hated. I'm not really a fan of big-sleeved fashions of the 1830's, which could have something to do with the fact that I didn't like some of the fashions.

Molly reading a book; I love this jumper/undershirt combo!

Probably it was Molly's wardrobe that I liked the best, though I didn't like all of her dresses. I particularly liked the blue jumper dress and under-shirt that she had on; it was so cute! I also liked the white dress that she wears at Hamley Hall; it almost reminded me of some of the Regency Era dresses that I've seen in other miniseries. Some of her other dresses, however, I disliked. There was the plaid dinner dress that she wore at Hamley Hall: wrong fabric or wrong pattern, but either way plaid did not work for that dress.



Molly and Lady Harriet (Rosamund Pike) going to Mr. Gibson and
Mrs. Kirkpatrick's wedding. Featuring one of Lady Harriet's hairstyles
throughout the miniseries.



I liked some of Lady Harriet's dresses. The dress that she wore for being an amateur bridesmaid was very pretty. I also thought that the outfit that she wore for riding was a good color. Throughout most of the miniseries, I liked the way that she arranged her hair. However, towards the end she had a very short haircut which I did not like at all. I thought that it was a little out of place for the period; it seemed too modern to me.



I did not like Hyacinth or Cynthia's wardrobe. Their dresses had the big sleeves that were fashionable at the time, so that could be why I don't particularly like their dresses since I don't care for dresses from that time period. I will say that Hyacinth's wardrobe fit her perfectly; it was outlandish.

I will say that the trims, fabric prints, and embroidery on all of the dresses were very lovely!


Music
The music shifts back and forth between very flowing, beautiful pieces to more serious pieces. The more serious pieces are usually played when Cynthia is involved in something. A couple of the dance numbers were very bouncy and fun, but others were more flowing and smooth. There are some nice music pieces in here.

Overall:  4/5
Overall, I enjoyed this miniseries. I didn't particularly care for some of the dresses, but there are a couple that caught my attention and that I liked. The acting was well done (though Hyacinth made me cringe). A good miniseries, in my opinion.

Wives and Daughters is available on DVD. It is divided into four episodes, each one hour long.

Golden Globes and Jennifer Ehle in The King's Speech

Well, Emma or Cranford didn't win an award (though one of them should have), but on the plus side, Colin Firth did recieve an award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for The King's Speech.

I also happened to find this clip from The King's Speech featuring Jennifer Ehle. Jennifer Ehle plays the wife of King George VI's speech therapist, Lionel Logue. Here, she meets Queen Elizabeth for the first time, however, Lionel hasn't told her that he is treating King George VI. There may be a brief, possible double meaning in one of the lines... maybe...

Cranford or Emma?

I never do this (or really cared all that much), but since The King's Speech was up for many awards, I was looking through the nominees for The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Then I noticed under "Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television", both Romola Garai for Emma (2009) and Judi Dench for Cranford (2007) were nominated.



Judi Dench as Miss Matty of Cranford vs. Romola Garai as Emma Woodhouse of Emma



I gotta say, I'm really stuck! I liked both miniseries. Which do you think should win?

Photograph from Felder-Felder S/S '11 leather production - Suede dye bath - DESIGNED AND PRODUCED BY ANGELA HOOKER In collaboration with Felder-Felder

 

London 01/11

My First Award!

Wow, my first award! I want to thank Charity U at Austenitis for awarding me with this! It's such an honor!

Yay! Now for seven random facts about me:

1. I taught myself to sew, embroider, tat, crochet, and cross-stitch.
2. I'm fairly good at math.
3. My favorite author is Jane Austen; my favorite books are in fact Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey.
4. I love computers!
5. I love BBC period dramas.
6. I like reading classic literature (I find most books published after 1900 to not be very good)
7. I also like to cook.

I'm suppose to award this award to 15 other bloggers. I'll do a couple; three seems like a good number:

1. Photographer at Heart
2. Peering Out My Window
3. Regency Delight ~Jane Austen, etc.~

Now, what you should do:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award fifteen recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact the named bloggers and tell them they're awarded!

Wishbone: Pride and Prejudice

As a kid, I used to watch the TV show Wishbone. I loved that show. I recalled a while ago that there was a Pride and Prejudice episode, and when I searched for it on YouTube, there it was!

Wishbone was a series during the 90's about a Jack Russell Terrier of the same name who lived with his owner, Joe, and Joe's mother, Ellen. As something would happen between Joe and his friends, Wishbone would be reminded of a classic work of literature. The episodes would shift back and forth between the modern story and the classic literature story.

While the Pride and Prejudice episode (called "Furst Impressions") was a condensed version of Pride and Prejudice and the costumes weren't all that great (let's face it, BBC has spoiled me: lol!) , I would still say it's good to introduce children into the world of Jane Austen. Below is part one of the episode; the other two parts are also on YouTube.



Part 2
Part 3

I hope I brought back some great memories of your childhood! :-)

Review: Northanger Abbey

Sorry everyone that this review is a little late. It got a little hectic this weekend, so the review is a day late. I apologise for this.

I remembered hearing about Northanger Abbey... A couple of times I would try to watch it on YouTube, but something would always get in the way and I ended up watching only part of it. Then my mom bought the DVD and we watched it together all the way through.

Box Art

Synopsis
Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones), a seventeen year old girl who loves to read, is invited by her neighbors, the Allens, to Bath for the season. While in Bath, Catherine meets the handsome Mr. Tilney (J.J. Field) and later his sister Eleanor. She also meets Isabella Thorpe (Carey Mulligan), the sister of Catherine's brother's friend, and the two become quick friends and become fans of Gothic literature. Catherine gets invited by Mr. Tilney's father, General Tilney, to visit them at their home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine is determined during this visit to Northanger Abbey to find herself in some sort of Gothic novel plot.

Characters
The TV movie starts with Catherine's birth and a voice-over of Jane Austen (Geraldine James) saying the first few lines of the book. Here, I didn't particularily care for this. The voice over just didn't seem to fit: it seemed almost cheesy to me. The first sentences of the book really set up the plot, but it just didn't work for me here.

I thought that Felicity Jones did a good job as Catherine. She acted Catherine's honest and naive nature well. The only problem I have (and this probably has more to do with the script than anything else) is all the dream sequences that Catherine has, some of which are a little suggestive. Since Catherine is so young and naive, I don't think she would be having some of the thoughts and dreams that she has.

Could they have picked a creepier actor to play John Thorpe? When I read Northanger Abbey, I pictured John Thorpe as more irritating and full of himself, not looking like a creeper (for lack of a better expression). He was so creepy, I can't believe that Catherine would agree to go out on a carriage ride with him even if Isabella and her brother were there.

Scenery

Mr. Tilney, Eleanor Tilney, and Catherine Morland out for
a walk in the woods.

You get to see two sets of scenery: city scenery in Bath and country scenes at Fullerton (Catherine's home) and Northanger Abbey. I noticed that the scenes at Northanger Abbey were darker than those in Bath. It could be to give the overtone of a Gothic novel, though it is a parody of Gothic novels. There are a couple of scenes that take place in the woods, which are very nice to look at.

Costumes
There are some very lovely costumes in Northanger Abbey. Catherine is very nicely dressed: I love her ball gowns: their so clean and elegant. She is mostly dressed in light colors, save one dark blue spenser. She is probably dressed in light colors to show that she is young. The only complaint I have about her wardrobe is that she only seems to have one bonnet, and it looks kind of old. I think while she was buying new clothes in Bath, she should have sprang for a new bonnet.

Another well dressed character is Miss Tilney. If I had to pick one word to describe her attire, it would be classy. The only thing I would saw about Miss Tilney's attire was that she needed to wear more white. In the book, Mrs. Allen remarks "Miss Tilney always wears white." I think that they needed to make most of her wardrobe white or, if need be, pastel colors. Not a big deal, but something that was on my mind.


Catherine Morland and Isabella Thorpe talking.

 One character whose dresses I disliked: Isabella Thorpe. The necklines on most of her dresses were so low, it was terrible! I guess it was to show what kind of character she was, but even still it was a little much. I understand that some Regency era evening dresses were a bit low, but low necklines during the day? Her dresses were a bit much.

Music
There are some very good pieces in Northanger Abbey, most of them being dance numbers. I love the dance numbers in here! If you really listen to the songs, you might recognize a couple of the songs from Pride and Prejudice (1995). Other than the dance numbers, the other song didn't really call much notice from me.

Catherine Morland enjoying a book

Overall: 3.5/5
I do like this version of Northanger Abbey, but I just wish it had a little more of some things and less of others. There were just some changes from the original novel that I thought were unneccessary (like some of Catherine's dreams). There is also a scene that, while not graphic, is suggestive and was not, if I remember correctly, in the novel.

I have heard that the 1987 version of Northanger Abbey was fairly bad (I have also seen a couple of clips and could tell already that it didn't look good). Since those two are the only version of Northanger Abbey out there currently, people tend to prefer this one. It was a good movie, but recognize that there are differences from the book.

Northanger Abbey is 93 minutes long and is available on DVD, though the DVD version available in America was cut from the original, so it is shorter.

Milestone!

As you might have noticed, Elegance of Fashion has reached a milestone... There are now over 20 followers following Elegance of Fashion! Thank you, everyone, for following my blog!

I can't forget my Facebook fans, either! There are also 20 followers that have joined the fan page at Facebook. If you are interested, you can join the Facebook fan page. I post a link to the new post there whenever I post something new.

As you can see, I have put the like button up on this post. You can also find this same like button on the side bar.

Again, thank you everyone for following my blog!

House of Eliott

My mom and I started watching this series from the early 90's called The House of Eliott.

It's really interesting. It's about these two sisters, Beatrice and Evangeline Eliott (also known as Bea and Evie), who, after their father died and left them no money, have to go into business in order to make a living. They have only their sewing skills and their love of fashion. They open up a fashion house called The House of Eliott, where they make dresses for women. Throughout the series, the sisters have to work through scandal and deal with things that go on in a business.

The costumes in here are very nice! 1920's era dresses are featured and some of the headdresses that are worn are very pretty.

You might also recognize a few of the actresses as you watch through the series. Bea is played by Stella Gonet, who you might recognize as Mrs. Musgrove from Persuasion (2007). Louise Lombard, who plays Evie, is in the TV series CSI. In a couple of episodes, Elizabeth Garvie, who was in the 1980s version of Pride and Prejudice, was Lady Elizabeth Montford. Phyllida Law  was in an episode; you might recognize her from the Gwenyth Paltrow Emma and as the mother of Sophie Thompson (Miss Bates from the same Emma) and Emma Thompson (Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility).

It's a really interesting series. I might review it at some point. I haven't watched all of it yet (I'm almost at season 3), so it might be a while before I review it. There is some suggestive language and one scene in one episode that was a little mature, but the scene was very brief.

This series really holds your attention as you watch through the episodes. There are three seasons in total, which you can buy separately or in one collection.

Review: The King's Speech

Months ago, I had heard that Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle (both from Pride and Prejudice) were going to be in a new movie called The King's Speech. Since I am a big fan of Pride and Prejudice, I was interested in it. There was limited information out there at the time about it, so I waited for new information to come out. Months later, the media became full of articles about The King's Speech. I was glad that a theater not too far away from me was playing it, as it was only released to limited theaters.

Synopsis

Promotional Art

When the future King George VI, Prince Albert/Bertie (Colin Firth), delivers a speech that doesn't go well because of his stammer, his wife, the future Queen Mum, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) enlists the help of the controversial speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffery Rush), to help Bertie overcome his stammer. The two eventually become close friends, and Bertie's stammer gets better and better.

When King George V (Michael Gambon) dies, the crown is passed to Bertie's brother, David (Guy Pearce), who becomes King Edward VIII. However, David wants to marry the twice divorced Wallis Simpson: this will, however, cause complications with the crown due to a law that says that a king cannot marry a divorced woman.

Characters
The cast if full of well known British actors and actresses: Colin Firth (Pride and Prejudice) as Bertie, Geoffery Rush (Pirates of the Carribbean) as Lionel Logue, Helena Bonham Carter (Alice in Wonderland) as future Queen Mum Elizabeth, Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice) as Myrtle Logue (Lionel Logue's wife), Michael Gambon (Emma) as King George V, Derek Jacobi (The Old Curosity Shop) as the Archbishop among others.



The acting was splendedly done and appeared well on screen! Whoever did the casting for The King's Speech did a really good job for picking actors and actresses that looked like the real people. I posted a picture below so you could see the comparison. Some people have complained that Colin Firth did not look like the real Bertie, but I don't think they look too different from each other. I'll discuss this more in the costuming section.



Left to Right: Lionel Logue (Geoffery Rush),
Myrtle Logue (Jennifer Ehle), and King George VI (Colin Firth)



Colin Firth was absolutely wonderful as Bertie! In an interview, he said that twice before this role, he acted as a character with a stammer, and that for each role it was different. I thought he did a very good job.

I would have liked to see more of Jennifer Ehle's character. My mom and I were saying that it would have been awesome to have her as Queen Elizabeth so that her and Colin Firth would have been married like in Pride and Prejudice (hehehe!). She was in there for a couple of scenes and did have some speaking parts. In fact, she and Colin Firth were in one scene together where they meet at the Logue's house. I had to smile because of the fact that they were in Pride and Prejudice together.

Scenery

The Royal Family.
Left to Right: Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth,
King George VI, Princess Elizabeth (later to be Queen Elizabeth II),
and the Archbishop.

There wasn't much country scenery to speak of. There was a little, but most of the scenes took place in London. Indoor scenes took place in Bertie's home, in Buckingham Palace, in Lionel Logue's office or home, and one scene in a Scottish castle. The royal buildings were very nicely furnished and decorated. I didn't particually care for the walls in Lionel Logue's office; it was painted in odd, dark pastel colors. It just didn't look right to me.

Most of the scenes had a bluish tinge to them, probably to illustrate that it is more of a serious movie (thought there were some parts that were funny). Towards the end, there was more color in the scenes, but for most of the scenes in the movie, there was that bluish tinge.

Costuming
While I am not used to reviewing modern costuming, I thought the costumes were very nice, indeed. I liked the fur trimmed coats that Queen Elizabeth wore; they were very classy. The men were dressed in suits, since they have to look nice as they are constantly watched by the press. Lionel Logue throughout most of the movie wore a pinstriped suit, while the royal/government men wore a classic black suit.


King George V (Michael Gambon) reading the Christmas
message over the radio.

As I mentioned before, the casting was well done to make each character look like their real life counterpart. From a portrait that I saw of Queen Elizabeth, they did a good job of making Helena Bonham Carter look like her. They also did a really good job at making Wallis Simpson look like the real Wallis Simpson; the way that they did her make-up and hair made her a dead ringer for her. After I saw the film, I looked up what King George V really looked like, and once I saw the pictures, I thought that he looked just like Michael Gambon did in the film. I thought that they did a really good job with casting and make-up.

Music

The music is very nice! There are more serious pieces (since the film is more of a serious film), but the pieces are beautifully done. There is a lot of piano and string instruments used. There are a couple of pieces that are Beethoven, but the rest is, I believe, all original music.

The soundtrack is available on CD; you can listen to samples of the song at Amazon.

Overall: 4.5/5
Wow! This was a good movie! For the longest time, nothing in the theater's interested me too much. I found that most of the movies that Hollywood released were remakes of older TV shows (in which case, I prefer the original), very inappropriate movies, or movies that were too young for me. Finally, a movie that actually appealed to me! It was well acted, well scripted, and just simply well done!

Now, the concern might be among many, as it was for me for a while, is the R rating. I saw that and was like "What was in here that it got that?!" Then I saw that it was for language. I thought that I should comment on it. There are only two scenes throughout the whole movie where bad language was heavily used; both times, however, it was a part of a speech exercise. This may be a possible spoiler, but in the movie, Lionel Logue notices that Bertie doesn't stammer when he gets angry; so as an excersie to relieve stress, he tells Bertie to swear and to let it all out. End of Possible Spoiler. The F word is dropped quite a few times during that particular scene among some other words, but those words were not aimed towards anyone, rather it was a speech exercise to relieve stress. The second scene does drop the F word a couple of times, but again, it was to relieve stress. Other than the swearing, there wasn't really anything too bad in the film. There was some talk about a scandal, but nothing is shown and is only spoken of briefly.

The King's Speech is currently in theaters. It is a limited released movie, so you might need to check with your local theaters to see if it is playing there. It is rated R for language.



Below are compairson pictures/portaits of the real people and the characters from The King's Speech. What is your opinion? Did they do a good job with casting similar looking actors/actresses?



New Buttons!

I've added new blog buttons, just as I promised!

Regular Sized Buttons (150 x 150)



And, as also promised, I put up a longer button size! There are three in the Banner Size.

Banner Buttons (350 x 150)



I thought I would make a new button size. They're made to resemble banners and are longer in width than hight. I'm not sure how many would prefer the banner style, but I thought that I would make it available.

You can follow this link to the buttons or simply go to the top of the page and click on the Blog Buttons tab.

Happy New Year! and The King's Speech

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful beginning to 2011.

I just thought I'd do an update. I added blog buttons to Elegance of Fashion, which you can find here or at the top of the page at the little tab that says Blog Buttons. There are only a few so far, but I will be adding more and some in a little longer size (so it's like a mini banner). Keep an eye out for new blog buttons; they are in the making!

On another note, today I went and saw...

The King's Speech!

My mom and I went to the theater this afternoon to see it. We both enjoyed it! Pride and Prejudice fans might be interested in seeing it: it features both Colin Firth (who was Mr. Darcy) and Jennifer Ehle (who was Elizabeth Bennet). And, briefly, also seen from Pride and Prejudice in The King's Speech was David Bamber (Mr. Collins). I didn't recognize him until my mom pointed it out to me. He was in there for about two or three minutes. Fans of Emma and Cranford will recognize Michael Gambon (Mr. Woodhouse in Emma, Mr. Holbrook in Cranford); he was in there for a couple of scenes. The King's Speech is rated R for language (there is heavy language in two scenes, but not so much in the rest of the movie). I think I'll review this movie for my weekly review, so keep an eye out for the review of this movie.

That's it for the update. Again, I wish you a Happy New Year!

More fabulous backstage photos from www.fashionising.com and livingcool

LONDON FASHION WEEK - FELDER FELDER SPRING SUMMER 2011
 

THE COLLECTION WILL BE IN SHOPS FOR THE NEW YEAR!

SHOWING ON THE CATWALK AT SOMERSET HOUSE, THE OFFICIAL LONDON FASHION WEEK VENUE AND HAVING AN AMAZING AUDIENCE; COCO SUMNER, THE XX, PALOMA FAITH, SHINGAI SHONIWA (NOISETTES), JIMMY CHOO, AMBER ROSE, RANKIN AND MORE.

PRINTED TOPS TRIO available in Black&white, combat blue and fucshia.

 

LILAC PRINTED DRESS
Photos by Emanuele D'Angelo http://emanueledangelo.tumblr.com/