Good morning, all! The BBC version of EMMA ended around around 2 am, so I slept in until 9 am. I've bathed, had my first cup of coffee and I will shortly begin my final round of receipt tallies for 2009. I have until Thursday at noon to finish them, so I will take my time and pull no allnighters.
I had enjoyed the one PBS episode of EMMA that I caught, but the series was shortened by PBS. The 4-hour DVD set is the complete BBC broadcast, and I think it has now become my favorite adaptation of the novel, with CLUELESS running a close second choice. I liked the A&E version with Kate Beckinsale much better than the one with Gwyneth Paltrow, which has moments but also has many of the same problems I find with the Greer Garson version of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: too pretty, too cuddly, too coy, more Hollywood than Regency England, and lacking too much bite. I remember liking it in the theatres but I've lost a lot of patience with it. Of the four differnt casts, I still prefer the A&E cast: I think Mark Strong is the best Knightley and Beckinsale the best Emma, but I like Michael Gambon in the 2009 version as Mr Wodehouse as much as I like Bernard Hepton in the A&E. Emma's protege Harriet Smith is best in the new version, but I felt that the actresses playing Miss Taylor and Jane Fairfax looked so much alike that I had a hard time telling them apart. As for poor Miss Bates, I think I prefer Prunella Scales, because she's one of my favorite actresses. I think I will work for a bit, and tonight watch the Paltrwo and Beckinsale versions again.