Forget Edward vs. Jacob or who shot first (it was Han) — nothing says “line in the sand” like the question of which version of “Pride and Prejudice” is the best or who was the dreamiest Mr. Darcy.
To this day, Jane Austen’s novel of manners remains one of the most beloved works of fiction ever written. And it’s also one of the most frequently adapted. The BBC alone has tackled it half a dozen times or more with run times ranging from 55 minutes to nearly six hours.
There's yet another adaptation hitting theaters Friday — "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" — this time with about 1 million percent more reanimated corpses to keep everyone happy.
Whichever version you consider to be the definitive one, here’s a look back at some of the most noteworthy adaptations, starting at the beginning (a very good place to start), as well as a few bonus entries.
The 1938 original
The very first adaptation of Austen’s novel, a 55-minute BBC teleplay, is also among the shortest. Unfortunately, it has more than likely been completely lost to history.
As was standard in those days, it was performed live for the cameras and broadcast from Alexandra Palace in London (commonly known as “the birthplace of television”), which had a guaranteed range of just 25 miles. According to Jennifer Duke of the Bennet Sisters blog, because of that, it might have only been seen by, at most, 12,000 to 15,000 people — but quite possibly as few as several hundred. And without videotape (which hadn’t been invented yet), there was no way to record it.
“Live to air” broadcasts such as this continued through the ′50s, according to Dutch historian Reinier Wels. Among the other productions lost forever was a 1952 BBC miniseries featuring a young Peter Cushing (looking, in one surviving still photo, an awful lot like Tom Hiddleston) as Mr. Darcy.
The Laurence Olivier version
Laurence Olivier’s name on something typically guarantees it’s the best, most iconic iteration of that thing — Olivier’s “Hamlet,” Olivier’s “Othello,” Olivier’s portrayal of a Nazi dentist, the Olivier Awards, etc.
So it says a lot about just how beloved some of the later adaptations are that this 1940 version of “Pride and Prejudice,” with Olivier as Darcy opposite Greer Garson (“Mrs. Miniver”) as Elizabeth Bennet, has been completely eclipsed — notwithstanding an almost unheard of 100 percent Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a script by the one and only Aldous Huxley (of “Brave New World” fame).
This version deviates from the book in ways that irk true Janeites, including the time period (allegedly to allow for more luxurious costumes, it was set 40 years later than Austen’s novel) and a goofy twist ending.
1980 BBC miniseries
This is not the miniseries everyone talks about, but it's one that still has its devoted fans. For a certain generation, David Rintoul and Elizabeth Garvie are the definitive Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. For everyone else, it’s tough to get past the cheap-looking production values and low-quality video.
1995 BBC miniseries with Colin Firth
Fairly or unfairly, this unhurried, 327-minute BBC miniseries from 1995 is the gold standard of “Pride and Prejudice” adaptations, and no amount of rain-soaked proposals or brain-eating zombies is likely to ever change that.
Championed by fans for its faithfulness to Austen’s novel, it also boasts a superlative cast, including Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the lead roles.
Firth’s performance was so iconic that he went on to play a different Mr. Darcy in 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” a loose reinterpretation of “Pride and Prejudice” adapted by Andrew Davies (who was the same writer who adapted “Pride and Prejudice” for the BBC) from a novel by Helen Fielding.
And more recently, in 2013, one particularly famous scene from the ′95 adaptation led to the creation of a 12-foot-tall, dead-eyed fiberglass statue of Firth’s Fitzwilliam Darcy that emerged from the Serpentine in London's Hyde Park to terrify unsuspecting passersby and small animals.
Elizabeth Bennet in Provo
2003’s “Pride and Prejudice: A Latter-day Comedy” takes Austen’s Regency-era story and sets it in Provo, Utah, where Lizzy Bennet (Kam Heskin) is a college student and aspiring novelist and Will Darcy (Orlando Seale) is a successful businessman in book publishing.
For Austen fans, it’s chock-full of Easter eggs and references to the author and her novels.
Elizabeth Bennet goes Bollywood
Starring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and featuring significantly more choreographed song-and-dance numbers than most other versions of the story, “Bride and Prejudice” puts a Bollywood spin on things. Elizabeth Bennet becomes Lalita Bakshi, and corsets and bonnets are traded in for brightly colored saris.
The cast also includes some faces that TV fans might recognize, including “Lost” star Naveen Andrews as Mr. Balraj (Mr. Bingley) and Alexis Bledel from "Gilmore Girls" as “Georgie” Darcy.
The Keira Knightley version
Joe Wright’s lavishly photographed 2005 movie adaptation is a “Pride and Prejudice” for a younger generation. While it may not adhere as closely to the original novel as the 1995 version, it has many other things to recommend it, including a level of chemistry between its leads, Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, that some would argue is unrivaled by any other version.
Wright, who says in the audio commentary for the film that he drew inspiration from movies such as “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club,” also opts for a more rural, real-world feel, catching details such as the mud on the hems of the Bennet sisters’ dresses.
Like the 1940 Olivier “Pride and Prejudice,” this one also tweaks the setting, changing it from 1813 to the late 18th century — again partially motivated by costuming decisions. (As Wright described in a 2005 press release, however, this actually brought it more in line with Austen's initial draft of the novel from 1797, then titled "First Impressions.")
Knightley was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. The supporting cast also includes future Oscar nominees Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”) and Carey Mulligan (“An Education”) as Jane and Kitty Bennet, respectively, and Donald Sutherland as the patriarch of the Bennet family.
Elizabeth Bennet in the digital age
How things have changed since 1938. One of the most interesting adaptations of Austen’s work to date, “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” is a vlog-style Web series started in 2012.
This time around, Lizzie’s a grad student shooting her video blog in her bedroom. As limiting as the format might seem, it manages to stay remarkably true to the novel in spirit.
“The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” won a Primetime Emmy in 2013 for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media.
In addition to the core 100 episodes, there are also Q&A videos, a parallel series called “The Lydia Bennet” (recorded from Lizzie’s boy-crazy sister’s point of view) and other videos offering peeks at some of the supporting character’s perspectives.
Spinoffs, homages, reinterpretations and parodies:
“Death Comes to Pemberley” — A classic whodunit set six years after Austen’s novel, in which a dead body is found in Pemberley's woods.
“Lost in Austen” — A four-part BBC series in which a modern London girl finds that she has swapped places “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”-style with Elizabeth Bennet.
“Austenland” — A “Pride and Prejudice”-obsessed 30-something (Keri Russell) blows her life savings on a trip to a Jane Austen-themed resort in search of her own Mr. Darcy. Based on the novel by Utah-based author Shannon Hale, directed by Jerusha Hess (co-writer of “Napoleon Dynamite”) and produced by Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series).
“Jane Austen’s Fight Club” — A fake trailer for a mashup of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Fight Club.”
Jeff Peterson is a native of Utah Valley and studied humanities and history at Brigham Young University.