Alert Janeite Franka reports that one of the dresses worn by Keira Knightley in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is for sale at the very spendy price of £3,995 (US$6,629).

A dress worn by Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley) in the wonderful 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. This custom made, simple, empire line brown/maroon cotton dress has hidden buttons up the front and a paler coloured piece of ribbon detailing under the ‘bust’, also there is a green satin lining dress underneath. There is no size marked but it is labelled “Sands Films”. Keira has earned an Academy Awards nomination for Best Actress in a leading role for her inspiring performance in the film. She can be seen wearing this style of dress at the very beginning of the film as we seen her make her way home after enjoying some peaceful time away from the turbulent family. This dress also features on the cover of the DVD and for the promotional posters for the film’s release.

Proof positive that Keira Knightley could be beautiful dressed in a burlap sack.

Alert Janeite Julie T. reports that last Sunday’s New York Times crossword puzzle contained the clue (at 10 Down):

Mr. _____ , scheming vicar in “Emma”

Huzzah!

(Psst…since we’re getting people searching for the clue, the answer is the first name of the singer of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”)

Bob Mondello of NPR gets positively snarky, in a public-radio sort of way, over Becoming Jane.

Bio-pics are almost alarmingly common this summer. . .English novelist Jane Austen in Becoming Jane, a picture filled with sense and sensibility, pride and prejudice and lots of invented biographical details.

Glad to see the message is getting through.

Fellow-ette is annoyed by the trailer.

My ideal biopic would:

1-be somewhat feminist in that J.A’s life brings to light lots of interesting stuff about women’s roles
2-pay credit to J.A’s wit and powers of unobserved observation
3-not feature a pouting, dashing, dress-dragging through the woods gosh-darnit spunky heroine
4-not be a heavy-breathing inducing cliche designed to pander to J.A’s fan-club of YA/Romance writers
5-pride itself on its subtlety and merit a second viewing and
5-Be funny. The love story in Shakespeare in Love was a bit cliched and hackneyed, but what saved that movie was its full wealth of wit. It was a hilarious romp of literary in-jokes.

With particular attention to No. 5, we think.