a winter approach and our state own broadcaster and the abc and have decide for some reason to have a partial jane austen festival on sunday night . this commence with a twelve year old movie length version of emma last sunday while more recent version of three other novel and persuasion and northanger abbey and mansfield park be to come . the curious thing about this production by a and e television network and with script by the ever reliable andrew davy and be that it appear almost simultaneously with two much big budget movie version and one star gwyneth paltrow and and clueless and a modernized version and star alicia silverstone and which transport the plot to beverly hill . perhaps a a result and even with kate beckinsale in the lead and this production sink without trace . a a general rule and much be lose when novel be shrunk to fit feature movie length . the adaptation one tend to both enjoy and remember be those which have adequate room to develop both story and character . an outstanding example be brideshead revisited which have 13 50 minute episode back in 1982. you only have to compare the very ordinary movie length version of pride and prejudice in 2005 with the brilliant 1995 six part tv mini series . it not that a novel should be film page by page and and some novel ( often not very good one ) adapt wonderfully to film ( atonement be a recent example ) and but novel of the jane austen sort need some time and space to exert their full charm . give the shortcoming of this type of adaptation and this production be ok. kate beckinsale give emma the right mix of self assuredness and vulnerability and mark strong be a forthright mr knightly ( he remind me that jane tend to recycle character knightly be a more articulate version of the moody mr darcy of p and p ) . samantha morton be a rather limp harriet but prunella scale get the blabbermouth miss bat perfectly sybil fawlty on speed . bernard hepton a emma feeble father be also excellent . we saw the damp countryside and the mud and the poverty as well a the posh interior and in case anyone think this be a particularly idyllic age for everybody . even though this be a condensed adaptation it be oddly slow in place some of the conversation be rather stilted and even allow for the formality of the time . i would have to look at the film again to be sure and but it might be due to the under use of reaction shot . if you do like filmed period stuff this be a perfectly nice example and and compare well with the paltrow version . anyway and there be more to come .