Jane Austen in Film Poll

I love Jane Austen movies. I love her books. I'm not a great reader and I find pleasure in many things. I admit that Jane is the only author that has kept my interest. I only got through two and a half of the Harry Potters, I only read two of the Spiderwick chronicles, I only read 2 Agatha Raisins books, but I always go back to Jane. I'll read a book, watch a movie or even just put on a pair of head phones and listen to a book on CD.

Here is hopefully the most complete list of Jane Austen movies you can find in just one click. There are more than twenty movies that are based on or inspired by author Jane Austen. Some of which were never released on DVD, such as a 1948 version of Emma. This Lens is crafted to help you learn more about Jane Austen's films.

I drew this a few years ago.

Pride and Prejudice is maybe the most famous of Jane Austen novels. Mrs. Bennet is determined to find suitable husbands for her five daughters. Their estate in entailed away, because their is no male heir. The house goes to a Mr. Collins, a clergyman who lives 50 miles away.

The main story centers around Eliza the second eldest. She meets Mr. Darcy, he's rich, handsome, prideful and a bit of a jerk. She's pretty, poor and is prejudice against him because of his coldness and misconceptions about him. Her sister Jane is shy, quiet and in love with a Mr. Bingley. He cares for her deeply, but is convinced by his friends and family that she doesn't care for him and he removes himself for London. Their youngest sister is a silly flirt who almost shames the family out of any chance of a respectable matches.

Love eventually wins out over all.

Emma is determined never to marry. Partly because she worries about her aging father and partly because she has never been in love. What Emma does is play matchmaker to everyone else, and she does a terrible job of it. It makes sense, how can you think to know everyone's heart, when you don't fully understand your own heart? Her poor friend Harriet Smith is the subject of her attentions. She attempts to fix her up with almost every single gentlemen in their small county. One of her best friends and her brother in-law Mr. Knightly tries to stir her away from her matchmaking.

Once the man she is truly in love with is endanger of falling for someone else, she is plagued by the fact that she could lose him forever.

This portrait is by Sir Thomas Lewrence and is in public domain.

Sense and Sensibility is about the Dashwood family. Mr. Dashwood dies and through no fault of his own is forced to leave his family with nothing. His son who promised to look after his stepmother and three half sisters fails to live up to obligations, because he is lead by his snooty wife who wouldn't know charity if it bit on the face. Elinor the sensible one, becomes friends with and then falls in love with her sister in-law's brother Edward. What Edward didn't tell her. What he couldn't tell her, because he was bound to secrecy over it, was that he had been secretly been engaged for the past four years. The family has to move to a small cabin with very low rent faraway from their old home. Mariann meets and falls in love with a young man named John who came to her aid after she took a tumble. John seemed to be on the verge of asking her to marry him, but a terrible secret of his own sent him away from her.

You see the differences between the young women. One who laments over her lost love to the point of making herself ill, while her sister quietly mourns over Edward who's fiancee befriended her and told Elinor the whole story about their engagement.

As in each Jane Austen story they get their happy ending, but not in the way they thought that they would.

Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen tale. It is the only tale about an older heroine. Of course people died at 50 back then, so Ann Eliot is the tender age is all of 27. Ann fell in love with a penniless sea captain in the royal navy, when she was only 19. She was persuaded to give up the match by her family who did not approve of him. Fredrick Wentworth returned in glory, rich and even more handsome than he had been eight years before. He dedicated himself to ignoring her and flirting with her friends. She quietly mourned their lost relationship. After she is removed to Bath another rich handsome man tries for her affections. What will she be persuaded to do? Will she marry for love or will she be persuaded by her family once more?

This tin plate was based on Cassandra Austen's watercolor in the early 1800s, it is now in public domain.

This was the first novel Jane ever wrote. It was supposed to be printed in 1803, a full eight years before her first published novel. The publishers backed out with never a stated reason. Jane and her brother later bought the book back. It was published after her death in 1818. It was her first novel written and her last book published.

Northanger Abbey is a dark creepy place with many secrets. The perfect place for a young heroine who is completely engrossed by strange Gothic novels. Which is why she lets her imagination get the best of her when a rich older friend from her village asked her to go to Bath with her and her husband. She meets two men, again both of them trying to get her attention. One is a gold digger who believes that her friends will leave all their money to her, when they die. Another who is a clergyman from a rich family. Secrets and lies are all around in Jane Austen's own version of a Gothic novel.

Mansfield Park centers around a rich family who take in a poor relation named Fanny Price. She is treated differently from the other children, though they are raised together. She has two male cousins and two female. Julia is to marry a very rich idiot of a man, when the Crawfords move nearby. Mr. Crawford is a bit of a cad. He flirts with Julia and her sister at the same time. Realizing that he is attempting to seduce both the girls, Julia pushes up her wedding and takes her sister with her on her honeymoon. Miss Crawford is trying to get into the good graces of Edmund, the cousin who is best friends with Fanny. Fanny is sad because she feels neglected by Edmund the one family member who always looked out for her. He made sure that Fanny was given a horse, but then let Miss Crawford ride it. Mr. Crawford with no other girls to cast his attentions on turns to Fanny. Going as far as to ask her to marry him. Even when the girls return he is attempting to gain her hand. Her uncle is angry with Fanny for her refusing Mr. Crawford. He sends her to her family's home as a punishment. Though they are her family, she is one of ten children, she has little in common with them. She realizes that even though she is far below her family in Mansfield Park, she is far better off there. There is a horrible illness with her eldest cousin and she is sent for right away. That is when her family realizes how much she is needed. And in time, the right time Fanny marries the man she is meant too.

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