Free preview tickets (U.K.) for P&P3 and info about film locations
Alert Janeite Alison wrote to tell us that Classic FM radio in the U.K. is giving away tickets to a special preview screening of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE on September 4 at various locations across the U.K. See details at the link above.
Alison warns that one must present oneself at a cinema on the list in person with the printed voucher from the Web site. They will not give out the tickets via e-mail or phone and each person will only be issued two tickets. Also she said that it took her a while to explain what she was talking about, so be prepared to deal with uninformed personnel, and be polite, as Jane would wish you to be!
We suggest that you take advantage of this great offer as soon as possible, as the tickets will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
In other P&P3 news, Alert Janeite Erandika sent a link to an article in the Telegraph about the stately houses used as locations for the film. We confess to being a trifle taken aback by the comments about Longbourn:
And what we get is not, as expected, the flower of England wrapped in celluloid. We get houses on Viagra - Chatsworth as Darcy’s Pemberley, Burghley as Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s country seat - but we also see the Bennet family and its surfeit of unmarried daughters squawking and giggling in an intimate, wonderfully chaotic, atmospheric house. This is a place where dresses are made in the kitchen, ducks and pigs snuffle in a muddy farmyard, old retainers look almost too arthritic to work, the paint is scuffed and the daughters’ bedroom walls are daubed with découpage, the 18th-century equivalent of the bedroom poster. A modern-day estate agent surveying the scene would raise an eyebrow and note: “In need of renovation.”
[. . .]
So while the Bingleys and Darcy inhabit houses of immense sophistication, Groombridge becomes the home of a family on the slide. The property had to be mussed up to reflect the shabby chic of the book’s Longbourn. “I would describe it as faded grandeur,” says Jill Todd, the house manager. “It took a number of weeks to change the house for gentry who were falling on hard times.”
We were amused by the commentary on Chatsworth:
Chatsworth, Derbyshire, as Darcy’s estate, Pemberley. A perfect choice, as the house - still owned by the present Duke of Devonshire - is designed to be seen across the Capability Brown parkland, its classical stone finery sitting in the bosom of the Peak District National Park. The 175 rooms are stuffed with marble, gilt, painted ceilings, alabaster carvings and statues, which Elizabeth Bennet ponders (lingering longer than she should on the naked male statues). Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, one of the Mitford girls, has always believed that Jane Austen modelled Pemberley on Chatsworth.
Many thanks, as always, to our alert readers for sending in these links.
August 24th, 2005 at 12:26 pm
Ok, since when is the Bennet family a family falling on hard times? Mr. Bennet is still alive isn’t he? I think they didn’t quite read the book right when it came to the Bennets. Sure the estate is entailed away from the female line and if the girls don’t marry they could BECOME destitute but, while Mr. Bennet lives, they are a family of 2,000 a year. I he wasn’t a man that saved as we all know, so they DID live like a family of 2,000 a year. Why do the film makers seem to think that the Bennets have all of a sudden become poor? I don’t think their estate home would be “shabby chic”. Oh well, I guess they weren’t going to get everything right.
August 24th, 2005 at 12:32 pm
I suspect it is a shortcut for letting the drooling idiots in the audience (i.e., us) know that there is a disparity in the classes between the Bennets and Darcy and Bingley.
I don’t care for it, but I can live with it. However, if they start trying to shine me on that it’s in the book somewhere, somebody is getting smacked with a trout.
August 24th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
Participating Cinemas in the free preview: Sunday 4th September 2005
UCI Whiteley’s 10.45 - 11am
UCI Greenwich 10.45am-11am
UCI Manchester 10.45am-11am
UCI Gateshead 10.45am-11am
UCI Portsmouth 10.45am-11am
UCI Poole 10.45am-11am
UCI Preston 10.45am-11am
UCI Swansea 10.45am-11am
UCI Edinburgh 10.45am-11am
UCI Norwich 10.45am-11am
UCI Maidenhead 10.45am-11am
UCI Lakeside 10.45am-11am
Showcase Nottingham 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Liverpool 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Reading 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Leeds 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Coventry 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Birmingham 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Glasgow 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Cardiff 10am - 10.30am
Showcase Derby 10am - 10.30am
Alison
August 24th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
They say there is an exclusive clip of P&P at the bottom of the article. It doesnt work on my computer…does it work on any of yours?
As to the houses…I adore Pemberley(Chatsworth?), it looks just like I pictured it. The lake in front of the house reminds me of the reflection lake on the mall in front of the washington monument. Lady Catherine’s home is stunning(literally). I suppose the homes reflect a bit on their owners’ personalities.
August 24th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
It works on mine, but I have a Pop-Up blocker that I had to remove from that page in order to see it.
August 24th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
Sylvia, is it a clip that you have seen before or is it new? I cannot open it either
August 24th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
All the houses look so beautiful, it’s too bad they don’t make houses like that in the USA. Europe has such beautiful buildings to admire.
Sylvia, could you please give a small description of the clip for those who can’t get the clip to work?
Jessica, I agree with you, while Mr. Bennet was living they had a confortable living. Though I can see where the film makers were going. The Bennets might have been a 2,000 a year family. But that money has to take care of seven people and servants. And Kitty, Lydia, and Mrs. Bennet come across as people who go overboard with their spending. Mr. Bennet does comment on how much money he will save now that Lydia is married and won’t need pocket money from him.
August 24th, 2005 at 2:46 pm
I haven’t watched it, but I’m pretty sure that’s one of the four clips released last week. The Telegraph was one of the hosts for the clips.
The Bennets, as Jane Austen wrote them, are not poor. The girls simply have no great fortunes. And they’re not getting anything till after Mrs. Bennet is gathered to her fathers. Miss Bingley and Georgiana Darcy are in possession of their fortunes because their parents are dead.
Also, Mr. Bennet isn’t going to save money by Lydia marrying; he still has to give her 100 pounds a year. He says that it is about the same amount that he already spends to support her, so he doesn’t have to spend any more, since she won’t be living with them.
August 24th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
I just managed to open the link. Nothing new unfortunately. It’s the “listening at the door” clip. Can November arrive sooner?
August 24th, 2005 at 6:07 pm
If I’ve got the energy I’ll drive over to Lakeside tomorrow and see if there’s any tickets.
I think I forgot to tell you that I took my class to Groombridge Place on our school trip last month! They’ve got a great ‘enchanted forest’ there - the kids loved it.
August 24th, 2005 at 6:38 pm
LOL @ somebody’s gonna get smacked with a trout! ha! I’m with you on that one Mags. I just hope we don’t see chickens and goats running around all over the kitchen!
P.S. Run Mad as often as you chuse but DO NOT faint!
August 25th, 2005 at 6:58 am
Ups… now, well… how shall I say it..
There are chicken.. and a pig as well…
The Bennets Estate is some kind of rural.
August 25th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
As Alison warned, no-one on the front desk at the cinema knew anything about the P&P screening, the manager had to be fetched.
The manager had huge book of tickets and, after worrying there’d be none left, it looked like mine were the first to be torn out.
Wish I’d printed another voucher off and sent Husband along a few minutes later to claim a pair for my friends!
August 26th, 2005 at 9:25 am
The manager had huge book of tickets and, after worrying there’d be none left, it looked like mine were the first to be torn out.
What’s he saving them for? His retirement?
Glad you got your tickets, Kirsty!