Austen Efforts: Persuasion (1971)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Persuasion (1971)

Quite an old recording with a very complete and lengthy adaptation of Jane Austen's last completed novel. Hairstyles and costumes often have a 70's style feel to them. An interesting film for the true Austen fan.

Summary: Jane Austen's last novel provides the plot for this earlier Granada miniseries. Set in pre-Victorian England, this movie tells the story of Anne Elliot, who now having lost her "bloom" is re-united with the dashing Captain Frederick Wentworth whose advances she had refused seven years earlier. Now that he has gained both connections and fortune in the Napoleonic Wars, she regrets that her neighbor, the meddling Lady Russell persuaded her to refuse his proposal of marriage. Now as she watches him woo the young Louisa Musgrove, she suffers terribly while he appears to have forgotten entirely his earlier attraction to her. Manners and moires often thwart her strong desire to tell her true feelings, but his true emotions too, are masked by fear and the lasting pain of her rejection.

Read My Review!

Visit The Persuasion 1971 Photo Gallery!

Script: Julian Mitchell
Directed by: Howard Baker
Produced by: Howard Baker
Length: Approximately 60 minutes (5 episodes)
Release Date: 18 April 1971
Make Up Designers: Victoria Morgan
Costume Designer: Esther Dean
Music Arranger: Steven Hancock

Cast:

Ann Firbank as Anne Elliot

Bryan Marshall as Captain Wentworth

Basil Dignam as Sir Walter Elliot

Valerie Gearon as Elizabeth Elliot

Richard Vernon as Admiral Croft

Georgine Anderson as Mrs. Croft

Marian Spencer as Lady Russell

Morag Hood as Mary Musgrove

Rowland Davies as Charles Musgrove

Mel Martin as Henrietta Musgrove

Zhivila Roche as Louisa Musgrove

Noel Dyson as Mrs. Musgrove

William Kendall as Mr. Musgrove

Charlotte Mitchell as Mrs. Clay

David Savile as Mr. William Elliot

Mr. Shepherd