MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

The Romance Collection: Special Edition features eight perennial favorites in an extraordinary 14 DVD set sure to delight all fans of sophisticated entertainment. These lavish realizations feature star studded casts and lavish period costumes and settings to capture every nuance of the following celebrated stories: Pride And Prejudice, Emma, Victoria And Albert, Tom Jones, Jane Eyre, Lorna Doone, Ivanhoe, and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

DVD FEATURES:

• Number of Discs: 14
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Screen: Color
• Features:
  • Author biographies
  • Cast biographies and filmographies
  • Behind-the-scenes featurette: "The Making of Pride and Prejudice"

AWARDS

• Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

•     Won Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseri - 1996 (Dinah Collin)
•     Nominated Outstanding Individual Achievement in Choreography - 1996 (Jane Gibson)
•     Nominated Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Miniseries or a - 1996 (Andrew Davies)
•     Nominated Outstanding Miniseries - 1996

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts

•     Won Best Actress - 1996 (Jennifer Ehle)
•     Nominated Best Actor - 1996 (Benjamin Whitrow, Colin Firth)
•     Nominated Best Drama Serial - 1996

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Director:

  Simon Langton, Diarmuid Lawrence, Robert Young, Mike Barker, John Erman, Metin Huseyin, Stuart Orme

• Producer:

  Sue Birtwistle, Greg Brenman, Deidre Keir, David Cunliffe, Suzan Harrison, Jeremy Gwilt

• Screenwriter:

  Andrew Davies

• Book Author:

  Jane Austen

• Screenwriter:

  Kay Mellor

• Book Author:

  Charlotte Brontë

• Screenwriter:

  Peter Wright, Adrian Hodges

• Book Author:

  R.D. Blackmore

• Screenwriter:

  John Goldsmith, Simon Burke

• Book Author:

  Henry Fielding, Walter Scott

• Screenwriter:

  Deborah Cook

• Composer (Music Score):

  Carl Davis, Richard Harvey

• Executive Producer:

  Michael Wearing, Simon Lewis, Sally Head, Chris Parr

• Costume Designer:

  Dinah Collin

REVIEWS:

• This adaptation of the classic Sir Walter Scott novel presents 12th century England in all of its chivalric glory, intrigue, and violence. Viewers who relish the whiz of arrows and the clang of swords will enjoy this five-hour romp through the age of castles and kings. The acting is strong, in particular the performances of James Cosmo as Ivanhoe's father, Cedric; Susan Lynch as the exotically beautiful Jewish healer Rebecca; Ciarán Hinds as Brian de Bois-Guilbert, the arch villain bewitched by Rebecca; and Sian Phillips as Eleanor of Aquitaine, the mother of King Richard (Rory Edwards) and Prince John (Ralph Brown). Filmed on the North York moors, and at five dimly lit castles in England and Scotland, the five-hour miniseries captures the aura of the age in every way, but of course the story is heavily romanticized. The combat scenes are realistic, although, for the most part, the production spares the viewer the gore of lopped limbs. The script, in modern British English, leaves little room for character development. For example, Prince John and Lucas de Beaumanoir (Christopher Lee) remain unflinchingly sinister throughout the film while Ivanhoe and Rebecca remain noble and pure of heart. But such flat characters are to be expected in films of action and adventure, and this production has plenty of both: swordplay, jousts, narrow-escapes, and last-minute rescues by Robin Hood (Aden Gillett) and Richard the Lion-Hearted. The only other major flaw in the film is the depiction of the Templars, a religious order of warrior knights, as unremittingly corrupt. Still, the film is a wonderful production that deserves more attention than it received when it debuted in Britain and America. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
• After presenting highly acclaimed adaptations of fictional works such as Pride and Prejudice and Lorna Doone, A&E debuted this docudrama in 2001 -- and again earned favorable reviews. The production centers on the romance and marriage of the last of the English Hanover monarchs, Victoria (1819-1901), Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and empress of India, and her first cousin, Albert (1819-1861), prince-consort of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in Germany. The script skillfully intertwines the main plot, the love affair of Victoria and Albert, with subplots about political and familial discord that threaten to undermine Victoria's ability to choose a husband and rule independently. Victoria Hamilton and Jonathan Firth are delightful as Victoria and Albert. Portraying the royal couple as reserved and dignified but with minds of their own, they animate the film with memorable scenes, in particular one in which they play a lively piano duet and another in which diffident Victoria proposes to diffident Albert. Peter Ustinov is superb as crotchety King William IV, who dotes on his appealing niece and heir presumptive, Victoria, and vilifies her overbearing shrew of a mother (Penelope Wilton). The dinner scene, in which attendants carry the ailing king through a receiving line, serves up an épée de combat of verbal thrusts and parries that foretell hard times ahead for young Victoria. Then the king has the decency to die to allow Victoria to assume the throne, discover herself, and work against her nefarious mother and the scheming Sir John Conroy (Patrick Malahide). The plot thickens into a robust soup when, after the wedding, Albert discovers he has no purpose, no duties, and throws a royal tantrum while Victoria's protective lady-in-waiting, Baroness Lehzen (Diana Rigg), smiles wryly. Nigel Hawthorne is wonderful as the queen's sympathetic prime minister, Lord Melbourne, who coaxes common sense and giggles from the young queen, and David Suchet is equally engaging as young Victoria's mentor, Baron Christian Friedrich Stockmar, M.D. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
• England is merry and mischievous in this delightful 1997 adaptation of one of literature's greatest and most important novels, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding (1707-1754). Throughout its six-hour length, the production effervesces with romance, comedy, and knavery while also satirizing the hypocrisy and greed of Fielding's age. In keeping with Fielding's plan, the actors portray the heroes as admirable but flawed and the villains as incorrigibly bad. Max Beesley acquits himself well as the handsome, happy-go-lucky Tom, a good fellow who has a knack for getting into trouble. Samantha Morton, too, performs ably as Tom's true love, Sophia, a sweet young woman with a fiery temper, while James D'Arcy masters the art of lurking in his portrayal of Tom's dark and dastardly rival, William Blifil. But it is beefy Brian Blessed as Squire Western who turns an already good production into a superior one. He enters scenes like a thunderstorm, full of boom and bluster, gulping wine, slapping backs, pushing, punching, bellowing, guffawing. As Western, Blessed does not merely live life; he attacks it. More often than not, he comes away with more than his share of revelry. By contrast, Benjamin Whitrow is reserved and upright -- the picture of propriety -- as kindly Squire Allworthy, the wealthy landowner who adopts and raises Tom but casts him out after Blifil and his nefarious tutors wrongfully accuse Tom of disloyalty. Viewers who enjoy action get their fill in this high-spirited production: Fists fly, bottles crash, and horsemen hie to the chase. Jovial John Sessions materializes from time to time in the guise of author Henry Fielding to narrate and comment on the action until the dust settles and the heroes and villains get their just deserts. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
• British author Jane Austen's most engaging matchmaker, Emma Woodhouse, comes delightfully alive in this 1997 film set in the town of Highbury, England, in the early 1800s. Kate Beckinsale is absolutely superb as Emma, a snooty busybody who will invade any drawing room at any time to pair an eligible bachelor with a marriageable maiden. Infusing her role with impish charm, Beckinsale both captivates and exasperates Mark Strong as Mr. Knightley, an honest, level-headed gentleman who deeply loves her, but cannot say so. Because the film is faithful to the novel, the story abounds in dramatic irony. For example, while making her matches (usually bad ones), Emma fails to notice that Knightley loves her even as he fails to notice that she loves him. Meanwhile, hapless Harriet Smith (Samantha Smith), Emma's dimwitted protégée who has been rejected by the Rev. Mr. Elton (Dominic Rowan), sets her cap for handsome Frank Churchill (Raymond Coulthard), even though he already has a wife, the beautiful Jane Fairfax (Olivia Williams), whom he married in secret. The dialogue is scintillating, but sometimes cruel as upper-class snobs prey on their lower-class victims. At a hillside picnic catered by starched servants, even winsome Emma takes part in the sport, insulting a old Mrs. Bates (Prunella Scales), a spinster who lacks the cleverness to fight back. Emma's reprehensible behavior earns her a cutting reprimand from Knightley, and tears streak her face as she begins to come to grips with her prejudices. Strong is good as Knightley, seasoning his character with a gruff exterior that belies his inner goodness. As the plot boils and thickens, Knightley one day confronts Emma with an important announcement. Will he ask her for hand? Or will he say goodbye for the final time? The period apparel and music are marvelous, and the film well deserved the Emmy awards it received for art direction and costume design. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
• Wild and woolly southwest England of the late 1600s is the setting for this tale of action, revenge, and star-crossed love. Based on R.D. Blackmore's popular 1869 novel, the film stars 18-year-old Amelia Warner as Lorna Doone. Beautiful and compassionate, she is the only good Doone in a family of bad Doones who ride out from their swamp fortress to pillage and terrorize the Exmoor countryside. Cousin Carver Doone (Aiden Gillen), the nastiest Doone of all and the heir-apparent of the Doone dynasty, covets her and means to marry her. But when Lorna falls in love with outsider John Ridd (Richard Coyle), a farmer whose father Carver had murdered, the Ridds and the Doones get down to some serious feuding à la Romeo and Juliet and the Hatfields and McCoys. Though the cardboard characters come in two shades -- black and white, with no hints of ambiguous gray -- the acting and the script aptly distill the spirit of the 600-page book, and the cinematography captures the unspoiled coombs and copses of Devonshire, where author Blackmore grew up and well knew the ways of the people and their land. In addition, the action sequences -- featuring charging horsemen, smoking muskets, and hand-to-hand combat -- are well staged. Although the outcome of the story is predictable, a well kept secret about Lorna's past is not. Because there is no heavy-duty gore or profanity in the film -- and no display of wayward sexuality, only chaste kisses and pledges of undying love -- families and teachers will find it suitable for children. Lorna Doone, a co-production of the BBC and the A&E Network, is a worthwhile film that helps prove classic literature remains one of filmdom's best wellheads of good entertainment. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi
• Thanks to this made-for-TV film and three other film adaptations of Jane Austen's novels -- Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, and Clueless (based on Emma) -- the work of Jane Austen enjoyed a renaissance in bookstores and college classrooms in 1995. Pride and Prejudice has several things going for it. First, the actors perform brilliantly, bringing Georgian England to life with their class-conscious behavior and attitudes and their drawing-room repartee. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth are particularly good as the central characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Second, writer Andrew Davies' script wisely includes verbatim dialogue from the Austen novel that is rich in wit, irony, and humor. Third, producer Sue Birtwistle pays close attention to period costumes, customs, and surroundings. Even the dances mimic authentic gambols and frolics popular in Austen's times. Fourth, the length of the film enables director Simon Langton to present a complete -- or nearly complete -- exposition of the plot. Consequently, viewers are treated to many entertaining scenes, involving minor as well as major characters, that probably would have been omitted in a shorter film version of the novel. Although the highly praised 1940 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, had much to commend it, its length forced it to truncate the plot and present an abridged ghost of the real story. Fans of Olivier and Garson may balk at assertions that Langton's 1995 adaptation has become the definitive film version of the novel, but the popularity of the Langton version and the reviews of many critics suggest that it has. ~ Mike Cummings, Rovi