Pride and Prejudice (1940)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Jane Austen (novel)
Aldous Huxley (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

The Gayest Comedy Hit of the Screen! Five Gorgeous Beauties on a Mad-Cap Manhunt! With the Stars of "Mr. Chips" and "Rebecca"...and a Superb Cast!

Plot:

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five unmarried daughters, and Mrs. Bennet is especially eager to find suitable husbands for them...

Plot Keywords:

Pride | Cousin Cousin Relationship | Family Disapproval | English | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Greer Garson	...	Elizabeth Bennet
Laurence Olivier	...	Mr. Darcy
Mary Boland	...	Mrs. Bennet
Edna May Oliver	...	Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Maureen O'Sullivan	...	Jane Bennet
Ann Rutherford	...	Lydia Bennet
Frieda Inescort	...	Caroline Bingley
Edmund Gwenn	...	Mr. Bennet
Karen Morley	...	Charlotte Collins
Heather Angel	...	Kitty Bennet
Marsha Hunt	...	Mary Bennet
Bruce Lester	...	Charles Bingley
Edward Ashley	...	George Wickham
Melville Cooper	...	Mr. Collins
Marten Lamont	...	Mr. Denny

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The studio's first choice for Darcy was Clark Gable.

Goofs:

Continuity: When their cousin Collins is expected to dinner, the butler comes in to light the candles. The mother asks about Collins and when we cut back to the butler, all the candles are lit.

Quotes:

Mr. Bennet: Well, we're hoping Elizabeth can manage to catch a cold of her own and stay long enough to get engaged to Mr. Darcy. Then, if a good snowstorm could be arranged, we'd send Kitty over. But if a young man should happen to be in the house - a young man who likes singing, of course, who can discuss philosophy - Mary could go. Then, if a dashing young soldier in a handsome uniform should appear for Lydia, everything would be perfect, my dear.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Little Britain: Hard-Boiled Egg Eating (#1.3)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Comin' Thro' the Rye

Austen with a sugar coating and no bite

Jane Austen's novel 'Pride and Prejudice' was probably ripe for MGM adaptation during WWII, even with the inevitable changes and rewrites from what she intended (for example, there are hints of romance for all the Bennet daughters by the end, even Mary).

What's good about it? Mainly the casting - Greer Garson is a feisty and cheeky Elizabeth (and this was more than 50 years before Jennifer Ehle played her in a similar way for BBC TV); Laurence Olivier never looked more attractive or brooded with greater effect than here as Darcy; Edna May Oliver is a memorable and prickly Catherine de Bourgh; Edmund Gwenn and Mary Boland are the Bennet parents; and the other Bennet girls are eye-catching and fun (Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, Ann Rutherford as flighty Lydia, Heather Angel as Kitty, and Marsha Hunt as Mary).

Austen's barbs and fangs are removed from this adaptation, making it a romantic sugar gloop like many other films of the period. Still, providing you expect this, enjoy what's on the screen. MGM did this kind of thing better than other studios of the time, after all.