I think I like the '96 version of Jane Eyre best only because I saw it first and now compare everything to it. I know it's got it's problems. I have yet to like *anybody* as Jane or Mr. Rochester.
Does anybody else think the first version they saw is their favorite?
I saw the Susannah York George C. Scott version and totally hated it.
Griffin
Evolution takes no prisoners.
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I saw that one first too, and wasn't very impressed either, though I liked the music. I think part of why I really like this version is that I'm a big Ciaran Hinds fan - he's so talented! (anyone seen either 'The Cardboard Box' - with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes - or the A&E 'Ivanhoe'?)
shareCiaran Hinds is amazing in Ivanhoe. He steals the movie from the main character of Ivanhoe (sometimes referred to as Ivan-bore) Is The Cardboard Box on DVD or VHS? I live in the US and have never come across it. Have heard several people comment on that movie.
"To love another person is to see the face of God" Jean Valjean
Does anybody else think the first version they saw is their favorite?
I like the 96 version the best. Yes, it was the first I'd seen. Try as I might, I can't even get through the other versions. But I'm in major lust with Ciaran Hinds. (No other theories...Ciaran's it for me. Yummy!!) No one else can get through to me as Rochester--Timothy Dalton and William Hurt were just pathetic compared to Ciaran Hinds. I've yet to even try and see the newest version. But I'll get there eventually.
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The 2006 version is absolutely my favorite version. It is the first time I saw all the passion and love from the book and Jane and Rochester were unbelievable fantastic, not to mention the production, picture, costumes...
And it is not the first one I saw.
In this one I had a serious problem with Rochester's character - sooo wrong.
It wasn't the character from the book. That Ciaran didn't understand his role and never read the book was so striking.
In this one I had a serious problem with Rochester's character - sooo wrong.
It wasn't the character from the book. That Ciaran didn't understand his role and never read the book was so striking.
I do, but that's because I think it really is one of the best...the one with Wilson/Stephens. I don't think it has anything to do with it being the first one I saw. Most folks agree it is one of the best.
edit: June 2012
Since then, I've seen the new JE2011 and have watched all the other versions several more times. The one I tend to watch the most often is the Jayston Cusak version. It has the complete story and tells the story well. I like Wasikowska as Jane, in fact, in my opinion, she epitomizes Jane. But the story in JE2011 is too curtailed and many good parts are left out. I like the Dalton Clarke version too...again because it includes all the parts I think are interesting including Jane actually begging. I am liking the Stephens Wilson one a little less now because I am just losing interest in Wilson as Jane. She did an excellent job, but it's just not to my taste.
Yes, no one comes close to Orson Welles
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I had to watch the Wells/Fontaine version a few times to "warm up" to Welles as Rochester. At first he seemed so strained and artificial. But i'm liking it better now. I tend to drift toward finding things I like about version that to drift toward liking one version to the exclusion of all...or even most others.
my god its full of stars
I agree with you up to a point. I probably liked this version much more than I might have otherwise, simply because it was the first version I ever saw (and after only one, rather hurried, reading of JE). I was very happy with it for some time, until I re-read the novel and, I feel, developed a better understanding of the characters and story. I then made a point of watching other versions and began to be more critical of it and enjoy certain other versions more. (Like many others, I have to give it to 2006, Wilson/Stephens, in the end.) I still have to thank Ciaran Hinds, however, for bringing me to Jane Eyre in the first place, after getting hooked on him in Persuasion!
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