The bomb

I've seen three versions of Pride and Prejudice in the last few months: the Bollywood-spawn Bride and Prejudice, the Keira Knightley one that came out last year, and the A&E/BBC version that came out in 1995 with Colin Firth. Sarah didn't understand the story of the Knightley; it turns out that the A&E version is twice as long (five hours!), which among other things makes the plot comprehensible and ten times as entertaining.

The A&E version was the bomb. Make haste to see it. I got it from the local library; maybe you can too.

[Edited to add: not really worth an extra post, but I had seen the bomb version of Pride and Prejudice when it first came out in the mid-90s, but not since. I loved it then, but it's absolute perfection now, maybe the best book adaptation I've ever seen. I just reread the first fifteen pages of the book, and the movie is practically word for word in the dialogue, although it tends to use a few quick images to show something that Austen is forced to narrate her way through.

Plus, something I never picked up from the book before (although now it looks like I'll have to read the book again) that is just hilarious in the movie. There is maybe one time that Mr Bingley's sister's husband, Mr Hurst, is shown sober. Thereafter, wherever Mrs Hurst is, Mr Hurst is shown collapsed on a couch, drunk as a skunk.]