The Long Winter with Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Little Dorrit

Don't gape! There is not a bizarre Ingalls Wilder/Austen/Dickens mash-up on the shelves. 

 The long winter refers to the recent two weeks in which Mother Nature slammed Oklahoma with three back to back ice/sleet/snow storms--  which is just overkill,  in my opinion.  It was downright freakish really:  temperatures dropped  to -24 degrees, cars stranded in four foot snow drifts and highways closed  We missed seven days of school, for heaven's sake!

  

 Personally, we survived fairly well. The water pipes did freeze for three days the first week but no power loss this time, thank goodness. Since our home is all electric with a well, when the power goes, we truly are the little house on the prairie! Not as charming as in the books, that's for sure!

Are you wondering how one occupies oneself during seven unexpected days of hunkering down at home?  Rearrange furniture? Organize drawers/cabinets? Clean out closets, perhaps? Oh no, no, no---   warm sunny days are crucial for projects like that!

Proper hunkering activities include snuggling, eating comfort food, guzzling hot tea, reading, playing games, and watching movies. (blogging is not a proper hunkering activity since the mouse hand tends to freeze)



Here we are in all our unwashed glory!  We read  picture books galore!


A hunkering novice might assume reading would rule as entertainment but actually watching movies comes out on top. Like blogging, books keep the hands cold. With films, the hands can stay nice and toasty under a blanket. 

Now do you see where this going in a rambling, roundabout, Lesa-esque way? Yep,  films from books!   Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Little Dorrit to be exact. 

Persuasion and Mansfield Park arrived in the post in the nick of time on the day of the first storm . How fortuitous! Especially since we didn't see the postman for three days afterwards.   

Persuasion is one of my favorite Austen novels and I loved this 2007 adaptation-- it is delightfully fresh and fun. If you aren't familiar with the story, it is about the relationship between timid Anne, who is perpetually out of sync with her shallow status oriented family, and Captain Wentworth, the man whose proposal she was 'persuaded' to refuse eight years ago.

I liked that Anne and Wentworth look younger than in the 1995 version. And the actors playing the Elliot family are a hoot! I had forgotten that the Elliots rank right up there with Mr. Collins, the Dashwoods and the Eltons in the social foible department.  

 It is a regular length film not a miniseries which means there is no dillydallying in the story-- so you might even entice your Austen-phobic friends to watch it with you. 

 I haven't read Mansfield Park but the story of poor relation Fanny Price longing for her cousin Edmund seemed familiar so I may have watched an earlier version. This 2007 adaptation is very enjoyable and worth seeing but it has received very mixed reviews on Netflix.

An Austen purist might not like it but since I haven't read the book I can't complain in any particular way.   There weren't any truly obnoxious characters but I liked it. In fact, I would watch it again. After reading the book and watching the other adaptations, of course.

One funny thing: the actor who plays awful Mr. Elton in the recent Emma miniseries plays good cousin Edmund in Mansfield Park-- I kept expecting him to get the roles mixed up but he did an excellent job. ;o)

Now for the creme de la creme: Little Dorrit!  I haven't read this book either but based on this fabulous miniseries, Mr. Dickens deserves a whoop and holler!!  It is stunning: the set, story and characters.  I'm still stunned by the spectacularity of it all! You must watch it if you enjoy period films!

So what is the story?  Well, it is complicated to explain with the various subplots and all but the main gist is about a mysterious secret affecting the fortunes of two families: the Clenhams and Dorrits.  The secret is withheld from the pertinent parties by a cold fanatical old woman  (Mrs. Clenham). She is a real piece of work, that one!  

Little Dorrit is at turns satirical, funny, poignant and suspenseful veering on melodramatic at the end. It takes place in and around the Marshalsea Debtor's Prison in London with sojourns to the Alps and Venice. And it all looks real-- creaky, dark, grimy-- even the characters are grimy--not cleaned up for modern tastes.

Speaking of the characters, they are portrayed by a very talented cast.  All of the characters, from the leads to the supporting roles are incredibly vivid and a joy to watch. Such distinct idiosyncrasies and I can't wait to read the book to see how each chararcter is described.  Is the French murderer Rigaud/Blandois as jovial and sociopathic as portrayed?   Does the good hearted, not a bully boy after all, Mr. Pancks really snort constantly? If you've read the book, please tell me.

Little Dorrit is about a secret but it is also about societal shortcomings, the aggravating inanity of bureaucracies (the Circumlocution Office is too funny)  and prisons, real and self-imposed. Dickens story is surprisingly modern. Several times I thought: Hmm, not much has changed...

Little Dorrit arrived in the post just in time for snow storm number three-- only the first two discs though. Then, hubby and I were left hanging for discs three and four-- maddening!  There are mini-cliff hangers all along.  Apparently, Dickens wrote Little Dorrit as a serial over a two year period and I can just imagine folks of the time chattering over the latest edition and eagerly anticipating the next.

Have you read or watched Little Dorrit? What about Persuasion or Mansfield Park? I love to hear what you think about the films as compared to the books.

Please recommend more period films from books: I fear I am addicted!  And don't worry about enabling, it is a hopeless longstanding addiction but I always read the books... eventually.