The Silver Screen Oasis

So. Judith. I shouldn't send you that invitation to the Joan Fontaine Fan Club just yet, eh?

Has anyone else seen the 1983 A&E version of Jane Eyre? Timothy Dalton was the best Rochester, EVER (imho). Zelah Clarke was Jane, and she was perfect. Small, mousy looking, but with great spark. I remember getting my well-thumbed book out while watching it, and the dialog in the movie was almost word-for-word from the book. Tal about a romantic movie. Zowie!

Well, goodness, wouldnt it be dull if we all liked the same films and the same performers?

I was just going to mention the Timothy Dalton Jane Eyre. I saw you beat me to it. It's so perfect. It has been released here as a region 2 DVD. Timothy Dalton is the perfect Mr Rochester. He just lifts him off the pages and brings him to life. He has the right dark brooding presence. When Jane encounters him for the first time, he's moody and more than a little scary. Zelah Clarke is mousy enough to carry off Jane but passionate enough to show the firm resolve that Jane has and also the abiding love for Rochester. I've never seen her in anything else.

It stands as my all time favorite TV adaptation of a classic novel along with Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. It's that good and because it's an adaptation you get a feel for the structure of the book, which is the best IMO of the Victorian novels. The romance of Jane and Rochester is one of the most slow burning and sexiest ever commited to paper.

This is why I've never bothered with the Orson Welles/Joan Fontaine Jane Eyre. Although I can see that Orson could carry off Rochester and might watch from sheer curiosity. He'll never top Timothy Dalton, just like no one will play Mr Darcy as well as Colin Firth

Judith, I agree with your taste with Orson Welles, you can have him this time. I'll take Mr Dalton

I'll have to seek out the Timothy Dalton version of Rochester. He always seemed to be so wasted in movies for the most part. I always thought that he would have been the perfect Vronsky in Anna Karenina, being truly believable as a somewhat dissipated but appealing character who could tempt a respectable woman to abandon her stable life. I do remember thinking his Heathcliff was very effective back in the '70s production of Wuthering Heights with Anna Calder-Marshall, but I haven't seen it in ages, though maybe it holds up? Maybe he was born too late?

I watched Wuthering Heights with Timothy Dalton a couple of years ago. he was the best thing in the movie. A very good Heathcliffe

moirafinnie wrote:So. Judith. I shouldn't send you that invitation to the Joan Fontaine Fan Club just yet, eh?

No, and don't bother inviting me to any de Havilland Appreciation Days, either.

I have seen very little of Timothy Dalton's work -- I'll have to take a closer look. Thanks for the tip.

Alison, we apparently have the same tastes Nobody can touch Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. He is brooding, shy, reserved, funny and woo-hoo sexy as Darcy. (Wasn't too bad in the Bridget Jones Diary movie, either)

The Dalton Jane Eyre and Firth P & P are two movies I will pull off the shelf and watch on a stormy day. That and a mug of Earl Gray....perfect!

Two cents more from me. You know how I feel about O'Wells. He may have been a genius but I think he was a genius in the way that an autistic person can be a genius in specific things - as Dustin Hoffman with numbers. O'Wells may have been a genius with photography as shown in the opening scenes of both Kane and Touch of Evil among others. As for writing and acting, most of his stuff is mish-mosh, disconnected horse feathers. I've never seen him act any other role than that of Orson, including Rochester. Finally, I have never found his double chin and pudgy cheeks even minimally attractive. I'll take jdb1's invitation to deHavilland days though.

Anne

Well, I got us off track and hijacked this thread....sorry! Guess as we get older, we tend to drift a bit...

knitwit:

You can't talk too much about Colin Firth as far as I'm concerned - I was just catching up.

Anne

knitwit45 wrote:Alison, we apparently have the same tastes Nobody can touch Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy. He is brooding, shy, reserved, funny and woo-hoo sexy as Darcy. (Wasn't too bad in the Bridget Jones Diary movie, either)

The Dalton Jane Eyre and Firth P & P are two movies I will pull off the shelf and watch on a stormy day. That and a mug of Earl Gray....perfect!

I couldn't agree more.

As Anne said you can't talk about Colin Firth too much for me either.

Have you seen "Love Actually"? His story line is the best one, well actually they are all terrific, and wind up being interwoven. Lovely movie. I walked out of the theater saying "How soon can I buy this movie!"
If you like Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth.....you will love this movie!

Back to "Citizen Kane", the first two times I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. I managed to stay awake for the third viewing. I still couldn't get into it. Beautifully filmed, well-acted, innovative, yes, but the storyline just wasn't strong enough to keep me interested. For me, the story is most important, unless it's an actor/actress I absolutely adore.

By the way, I've loved Orson Welles in everything else I've seen (even the old Paul Masson wine commercials), and can listen to that voice all day.

My husband hated Love Actually, I quite liked it. Colin Firth was the highlight for me. He makes Bridget Jones Diary too.

Back to Citizen Kane. I think I've seen it three of four times, to try to see why it is often tops the polls in film votes. To me it looks good, Charles Kane is a good character, the script is good, Orson Welles is a great actor. Then I get lost. It's like not quite being in a joke or piece of knowledge that everyone else gets. One day it might dawn on me until then it's a good film but would never make my top fifty.