Pride & Prejudice (1940)

Sparkling and witty, this black & white adaptation of Jane Austen's popular novel is lively and fun. A true classic!

Summary: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five unmarried daughters, and Mrs. Bennet is especially eager to find suitable husbands for them. When the rich single gentlemen Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy come to live nearby, the Bennets have high hopes. But pride, prejudice, and misunderstandings all combine to complicate their relationships and to make happiness difficult.

Script: Helen Jerome
Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard
Produced by: Hunt Stromberg
Length: Approximately 117 minutes
Release Date: 26 July 1940
Hair Designers: Sydney Guilaroff
Make Up Designers: Jack Dawn
Costume Designer: Adrian (gowns) & Gile Steele (costumes: men)
Original Music: Herbert Stothart

Cast:
  
Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet

 
Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy

 
Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Bennet

 
Mary Boland as Mrs. Bennet

 
Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane Bennet

 
Marsha Hunt as Mary Bennet

 
Heather Angel as Kitty Bennet

 
Ann Rutherford as Lydia Bennet

 
Bruce Lester as Charles Bingley

 
Frieda Inescort as Caroline Bingley

 
Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh

 
Melville Cooper as Mr. Collins

 
Karen Morley as Charlotte Lucas

 
Edward Ashley as George Wickham


Marjorie Wood as Lady Lucas

Quotes:

• Caroline Bingley: ...and her sisters Jane and Elizabeth were seen running down Market Street in an attempt to escape their disgrace. Isn't that exquisitely funny, Mr. Darcy? 
  Mr. Darcy: Exquisitely. Just think how you would roar with laughter if it happened to yourself. 
• Mr. Darcy: You must allow me to tell you how much I admire and love you. 
• Mr. Bennett: An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins. And I will never see you again if you do. 
• Lydia Bennet: Has anybody heard how Jane is this morning?
  Mrs. Bennet: Eh, Mr. Bingley sent a note over by his groom. She's much better. Such a happy idea of mine sending her off in the rain.
  Mr. Bennet: Yes, but to Jane must go all the credit for having caught the cold, my dear. 
• Mrs. Bennet: Look at them! Five of them without dowries. What's to become of them?
  Mr. Bennet: Yes, what's to become of the wretched creatures? Perhaps we should have drowned some of them at birth. 
• Mr. Darcy: Yes, she looks tolerable enough, but I am in no humor tonight to give consequence to the middle classes at play. 
• Elizabeth Bennett: Oh, if you want to be really refined, you have to be dead. There's no one as dignified as a mummy 
• Elizabeth Bennett: How clever of you, Miss Bingley, to know something of which you are ignorant. 
• Mary Bennet: Did you tell him you had five daughters, Papa?
  Mr. Bennet: Well, I told him if he ran into five of the silliest girls in England, they would be my daughters! 

Links of Intrest:

• IMDb's P&P Page
• Film Trivia
• Movie Goofs
• Music Used in Movie
• P&P at Classic Film Guide
• ACE Photo Gallery for P&P
• Read Review at The Jane Austen Centre
• Buy DVD at Amazon.com

Visit Our Pride & Prejudice 1940 Photo Galley!


Trailers & Clips:



Official Trailer