The Ultimate Sense & Sensibility

Boy, I've gotta get in gear - my list of discs I plan to cover on this site is outpacing the posts I actually get done.  I've got so much I want to do here!  There are so many compelling new releases coming out, but I don't want to get trapped into only covering new releases.  So let's jump right into A Pair of Twilight Times, starting with Sense & Sensibility.  Specifically, this is the 1995 Academy Award winning feature film version adapted by Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee.

Update 6/21/19 - 10/20/21: I never would've thought we'd see the day where Jane Austen made it to 4K Ultra HD (well, barring Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, I suppose...), but here we are!  Sony have included 1995's Sense & Sensibility in their impressive 'Columbia Classics Volume 2' 14-disc set.  And is my reviewing this a spoiler of five other Ultra HD discs in the very near future?  Ohhh, could be.  😉

Sense & Sensibility is Jane Austen's first novel with surprisingly clear themes - one sister represents the sense (pragmatism) and the other the sensibility (romanticism).  You don't exactly need an advanced degree in literature.  But it's still such a rich, layered and funny story, and Thompson expertly compresses the novel to feature length without compromising any of the wit or heart, while Lee presents us with sweeping vistas and gorgeous locales.  The cast is perfectly charming and marvelous, from leads Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant and of course Thompson herself, to the brilliantly selected supporting players like Imelda Staunton, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy and Elizabeth Spriggs.  I could go on and on about the merits about this film, but I don't think I need to.  1995's Sense & Sensibility is pretty widely recognized as classic desert island material.  You know, for a while a thought my DVD would be good enough, but no, this requires a proper upgrade.

Sense and Sensibility debuted on DVD all the way back in 1999 with an anamorphic special edition which held up well throughout all of the SD days.  As such, the DVD was reissued multiple times over the years, once packaged with a paperback copy of the novel, once with a hokey Sense and Sensibility-branded diary and pen, and once as a double-feature with Remains Of the Day.  But it was always the same DVD.  It's the HD era now, though, so we needed a blu-ray.  And this was just the kind of high-profile title you could count on Twilight Time to license from Sony.  And so in 2015, thankfully, instead of their standard barebones editions, they came through with a proper special edition.  It seemed like that would be the final, definitive release for this title, but not so!  In 2021, it's been updated to UHD in a new, even fancier 2-disc set, available (to date) only as a part of the 'Columbia Classics Volume 2' 14-disc boxed set.

1) 1999 Columbia Tri-Star DVD; 2) 2015 Twilight Time BD;
3) 2021 Columbia Tri-Star BD; 4) 2021 Columbia Tri-Star UHD.

Twilight Time's blu turned out to be an even bigger bump than I was expecting.  Naturally, the DVD being from the 90s has a lot of chunky compression that I was confident our 2015 BD would tidy up neatly.  And we advance from a slightly pillar-boxed 1.76:1 to a letterboxed 1.85:1.  That amounts to us losing a dollop along the top; but gaining a sliver on the right.  It's really less about picture information than just graduating to a proper, more natural AR.  But beyond those predicted improvements, we can also see that the DVD had a red hue over the whole image, which the blu lifts off, allowing the colors to really pop as a result.  Whites are now truly white instead of pink, and the sky is gently blue instead of scary purple. Grain is rather finely captured.  Say whatever else you want about 'em; you always get good scans when you deal with Sony.

Which is why they apparently didn't feel the need to re-scan it in 2021.  According to accompanying book, this the new BD and UHD are taken from the same 2012 4k scan of the original picture negative as the previous blu.  But they have re-color timed it for HDR, with input from the editor and final approval by Lee, plus additional dirt and scratch clean-up.  That means, for the two BDs, there's barely any difference at all.  But the colors are richer on the UHD, and the higher resolution means a more natural, less blocky/ pixelated image, though it's the sort of thing you'll need a big screen to appreciate.

Columbia actually gave us a choice between the original Dolby stereo mix and a newly created 5.1, not to mention Portuguese and Spanish dubs.  It also had English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Thai subtitles.  Twilight Time has kept both audio tracks, and bumped them up to DTS-HD in the process, but cut the subtitles down to just English.  And the new UHD?  Oh boy, it has an all new Atmos mix, and the previous 5.1 DTS-HD plus a bajillion dubs (Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish) and even more subtitle options... I'm not going to list them all out, but yes, English and English SDH are amongst them.

So one reason I held onto the DVD for so long was because it is nicely furnished with extras.  We get two audio commentaries: one with Thompson and producer Lindsay Doran, and the other with Lee and producer James Schamus - and they're both very good.  Not enough discs let us hear from the screenwriters, and it's all the more rewarding when said screenwriter is Emma Thompson.  We also get two brief but amusing deleted scenes, Thompson's clever acceptance speech at The Golden Globes, the trailer, a four-page insert with notes by an uncredited author and some bonus trailers.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Twilight Time not only carried over all the old DVD extras, which they definitely don't always do (*cough, cough* As Good As It Gets *cough*).  But I was even more delighted when I realized that they were also including several vintage but previously unreleased featurettes.  There are five in total, and grant us interviews with many of the cast and crew, and some tantalizing glimpses behind-the-scenes.  There's also Twilight Time's ever reliable isolated score track, an additional international trailer and an 8-page booklet with notes by Julie Kirgo.

The Columbia Classics retains nearly all of that, including the additional Twilight Time featurettes, except they seem to have misplaced the Golden Globes speech.  Whoops!  I can't complain, though, since in its place they've added a 25th Anniversary Reunion, where the Lee, Thompson, Winslet, Doran, Staunton, Imogen Stubbs, Greg Wise and Myriam Francois all jump on their webcams for a roughly half-hour conversation.  The set includes an impressive, full-color hardcover book about all the included films, but specifically with notes on Sense & Sensibility by Den of Geek's Kayti Burt and an excerpt from the screenplay.  It's an elaborate fold-out box with all the other films and their extras, of course, and the case for each of the individual features, including Sense, comes in an elegant slipcover.

Hey!  While I'm here, why don't we take a quick look at all the other versions of Sense & Sensibility out there.  Yes, I know... this is why my "plan to cover"s are outpacing my "covered"s, but let's do it anyway.  All told, there are four direct adaptations of Sense & Sensibility, not including this ridiculous thing and the modernized Kollywood adaptation.  Memorably, there is one for each decade.  We've just been over the 90's one, so here are the other three.

2009 2 Entertain/ Warner Bros/ BBC DVD.

The 70's Version - Originally aired in 1971 and divided into four 45-minute long episodes.  Being a series rather than a single film, the expectation is that now we're finally going to see all the parts cut out book for the film's screenplay in this much longer version.  And there is a little of that, but really, this is only about 40 minutes longer, so it's not a revelation of restored characters and plot points.  Indeed, this version trims out Margaret, the youngest of the three main sisters.  The additional bits we do get are nice, but hampered by the far more constrained production.  Sir John is played by an actor too young for the part, hamming it up like a school play's Mr. Fezziwig, and pretty much every scene is necessarily "stagey."  Certainly, there's enough here to recommend it to the committed Austenphiles - Keeping Up Appearance's Patrica Routledge steals every scene she's in.  But this is certainly the most forgettable entry out of the lot, remarkable mainly only for being the first.

The BBC's DVD is appropriately full-frame (it was a 70's television production, after all), at 1.31:1.  It's also interlaced, though that may be less of a PAL to NTSC conversion thing than just a baked-in trait of a vintage TV tape master.  But less forgivable is the strong edge enhancement, which would've been the sort of thing you could get away with more easily in the smaller screen days of standard definition, but really looks poor on modern televisions.  The disc is completely barebones, though it does offer optional English subtitles.

2004 Warner Bros/ BBC DVD.

The 80's Version - First broadcast in 1981, this adaptation is broken up into seven short (22-23 minutes long) episodes.  When you consider the fact that means we're getting seven sets of opening and closing credits, that makes it only slightly longer than the movie.  Indeed, poor Margaret gets the chop here, too.  Still, they manage to find some excellent moments and memorable exchanges the 90's version neglected, and generally does a much better job of drawing out the comedy than the 70's version.  For instance, they get some of the best use out of secondary characters like Robert Ferrars and Mr. Palmer.  Admittedly, a handful of moments get overwrought in this one, but the way it's broken into such shorter pieces, make it uniquely pleasant to casually graze on over time rather then binge in a single run.

Curiously, this release is a flipper disc with a blank side.  It's fullscreen, too, as it should be, at 1.32:1, but it's also interlaced and a bit hazy, though at least not as tampered with as the 70's version.  I assume this was shot on tape, too, so there are no film elements to go back to, meaning this is probably about as good as it possibly could look.  Showing this off on your big-screen TV definitely won't impress your neighbors, but Warner describes this as "lovingly remastered" and I believe them.  Optional English subtitles are included, but nothing else.  This one's available separately, but if you're a fan, I'd recommend getting it as part of the 6-disc Jane Austen Collection, which includes a strong 70s-80s BBC adaptation of each of Austen's novels.

2008 2 Entertain/ WGBH/ BBC DVD.

The 2000's Version - From 2008.  I was excited for this one, as it's by Andrew Davies, the man who gave us the ultimate Pride & Prejudice, not to mention a wealth of terrific Dickens and other masterpiece adaptations.  It might sound corny, and admittedly he's had one or two misfires in his storied career, but I'd say his name is a genuine hallmark of quality.  Well, I can't say he quite matched his Pride, but this is a strong version in its own right, with some slightly shameless attempts to make this production a little more risque.  It opens with a sexy fireplace love scene and features a fit Edward chopping wood in a wet, transparent shirt.  Comprising just three, longer episodes, this series' noteworthy casting includes The Walking Dead's notorious Governor as Colonel Brandon and an excellent Sir John, plus it's also got a very seductive score that sticks with you.  In a vacuum, I'd recommend this version, but living in a world that's already presented us with three previous Sense and Sensibilities, this one doesn't give us too much that we don't already have.  I'd say the 90s version is the most engaging watch, and the 80s adds a lot from the book that the later editions let slip away.  So once you've got those two, there isn't so much value left to extract from the 70s and 2000s versions.

Still, it's good enough that you may well want to pick this up.  And if you do, well, it definitely looks more modern with its widescreen 1.78:1 framing and clearly high def source.  But of course it's been brought down to a standard def DVD, and an unfortunately interlaced one at that  And a film this new really has no excuse to be interlaced, so it doesn't get the pass I'm giving to the previous to editions.  Apart from that, though, it looks nice enough.  The colors are vivid, and it doesn't feel like we're many generations removed from the source film.  Oh, and yes, English subtitles are an option here, too.

Miss Austen Regrets

In fact, this is also a nice little special edition.  Each episode gets an audio commentary by a revolving team of cast and crew: director John Alexander, producer Anne Pivcevic, Hattie Morahan who plays Elinor and Dan Stevens who plays Edward on episode 1, then Alexander, Charity Wakefield who played Marianne and Dominic Cooper who played Willoughby on episode 2, and finally the episode 1 team again for the last one.  Then there's a half-hour interview with interview Davies and Pivcevic, who spend a surprising amount of time talking about the Thompson film, and a photo gallery.  And that's just disc 1.  A second bonus disc includes the fine, feature-length dramatization of Jane Austen's real life, Miss Austen Regrets.  It's letterboxed to an unusual 1.81:1 and is also interlaced, looking generally as good as Sense, and also includes English subtitles.  In addition, there's a substantial audio-only extra: Remembering Jane Austen, a 70-minute, four-part radio play based on the memoir of James Austen-Leigh, the only written account of somebody who personally knew her.

This 2-disc set is available separately or in an attractively boxed Collector's Set box that pairs it with the 2007 adaptation of Persuasion.   There is also a Japanese 2-disc blu-ray release, which hopefully(!) clears up the interlacing issue and sharpens up some of the fine detail, but it's hard to find any concrete information about it online, and from what I gather is missing all of the special features, apart from the Davies/ Pivcevic interview and the photo gallery.

So the 90's version has been given an essential blu-ray release by Twilight Time.  And then they topped it with the new 2021 UHD.  But unless you're prepared to spring for the whole Columbia Classics Collection, the TT might still be your best bet (and used copies will probably start pouring into the market as people who did upgrade offload their previous edition).  As for the other Sense & Sensibilities?  Well, I'd start with the one from the 80's, then possibly add the 2000's and 1970's versions, in that order, depending how Austen-mad you are.  Oh, and actually you could squeeze that Kollywood version in there ahead of the 70's version, too.  It's pretty neat and the musical numbers are beautifully filmed.  The Kino DVD has English subs.

Two Children. Two Adults. No Ghosts? The Nightcomers

Here's a premise I never would've thought the world needed to see realized: a prequel to Henry James' The Turn Of the Screw.  If you're familiar with the story, sure, it makes some sense.  The Turn Of the Screw is one of those stories where two children are haunted... whether by literal ghosts or just the lasting effects of their trauma is for both the protagonist and the readers to determine.  But it means we enter the story after a major piece of drama has occurred, which, if you think about it, is typical of ghost stories.  You know, like a young couple buys a house and someone tells them, hey, the previous owner killed his whole family, and some say they still walk the halls at night.  The plot follows the young couple, with the murderer and his family just serving as the back story.  So here, somebody said, let's make that backstory the story.  But that's actually kind of weird, since you're adding another chapter to a ghost story, but one with no ghosts in it, because these events predate all that.  Imagine screening a prequel to Friday the 13th and watching the audience as they slowly realize there's going to be no murderer because the story ends with Jason in the lake, so the whole movie is just about Mrs. Vorhees getting to know, and being perfectly friendly with, the camp counselors.  Tough sell, right?

Tougher still, you're not writing an add-on to an independent little horror film but a world-renowned classic English novel.  I know it's been done plenty of times before, since those characters are generally safely in the public domain.  So instead of trying to sell audiences on your own characters, you can try to hook existing fans of Jane Austen or whoever by writing Mansfield Park 2, where Mr. Darcy arrives to seduce Fanny away from Edward.  Actually, that's a great idea.  I'm claiming that copyright now if no one's done it already!  But seriously, I've seen stuff like that in bookstores before and it's usually a big red flag that the author is hack.  Nobody takes them seriously, and nowadays they're more properly relegated to online fanfic forums.  But 1971's Nightcomers shows you can make real, worthwhile artistic pieces in this manner as well.

Marlon Brando stars (which is either a promising hallmark or another big red flag; I'm not sure) as Quint, the infamous groundskeeper who had already passed at the start of Turn Of the Screw.  In Turn, a new governess is hired to take care of a wealthy businessman's two wards, who turn out to be deeply troubled by their former governess and Quint, who'd had some kind of dark, mysterious relationship.  So this film explores that relationship.  Yeah, nothing supernatural here.  It's dark, but I really don't think you could call this a horror story, except in the loosest possible definitions.  It's a drama, but a smart and honest one.  You could definitely watch this never having heard of Turn and get everything out of it, though of course you'll find more little nods and connections to appreciate if you are familiar.  This film does have a bit have a lurid reputation, which is not entirely undeserved.  But now that it's so old and plays downright quaint, with most of the racy notions left to subtext and discussed ideas rather than on-display exploitation, I think we can more easily take the content for what it is without being distracted by the adult elements.  The cast is uniformly excellent, including Thora Hird as Mrs. Grose and the two child actors, who can often be the weak link in films with minors in leading roles.

The Nightcomers is a British film, so it's not too surprising they got it on DVD first.  But when Lions Gate finally put it out here in 2007, it blew all the overseas editions out of the water by way of being a special edition.  Then the UK beat us to the punch again in 2015, with Network being the first to release this film on blu.  But they pulled a bit of a Christine, releasing it without the DVD extras, making us choose between an HD transfer or special features, or else buy multiple editions.  Of course, it's a bit of an unfair analogy, as Christine was a new film egregiously released on DVD-only by Sony, while here we're talking about a catalog title.  Totally different situation, but it's still a bummer for fans when it happens.  But thankfully this week Kino has stepped in to, like Lions Gate in the DVD age, bring The Nightcomers back to the US with a new special edition.  It's got all the original extras and more new stuff, plus of course the updated HD transfer.  ((Rocky theme))

2007 Lions Gate DVD top; 2019 Kino BD bottom.

So, okay, we're clearly looking at the same root master, with the exact same 1.85:1 framing and color timing.  But up close, it's a huge boost in clarity, with the DVD displaying an unfortunate amount of smudginess, even for SD compression.  That's thankfully completely cleared up on the blu.  Still, it's not exactly a cutting edge master on Kino's disc.  Grain is there but light and inconsistent.  If you look at the wall in the second set, for instance, the grain is there in patches, with other patches smoothing it away.  This is definitely not a 4k capture.  I guess they're using the same scan.  But still, getting this film in HD is a substantial step forward from the DVD, with no signs of DNR, edge enhancement or other unwelcome tinkering.

The audio is a clean DTS-HD presentation of the original mono soundtrack, and optional English subtitles are included.  The DVD only had Spanish subs.

So, like I said, all foreign editions were barebones, apart from a teaser and the trailer, until Lions Gate got their hands on it.  Now, Lions Gate didn't add a ton of stuff, but they added something pretty major: an audio commentary by director Michael Winner.  This is a delightful commentary; he's full of charming stories of working with Brando and the rest of the cast (fun fact: Vanessa Redgrave was originally hired to play the female lead), but Brando most of all.  Lions Gate also filmed a brief on-camera introduction by Winner.  Though if we want to wag our finger a little bit, it could be pointed out that they lost the trailer and teaser.  Well, Kino brought them back, and more importantly, carries over Winner's commentary and introduction.  That plus the HD was enough to sell me on this release already, but they've also produced a new audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger.  Here, she's without her Daughters of Darkness partner Samm Deighan, which nixes the conversational quality of their Who Can Kill a Child commentary.  But she's more than capable on her own, thoroughly prepared, having listened to Winner's commentary not to use it as a source of anecdotes to repeat to us like some other commentaries I could name, but to note what not to say to avoid redundancy.  Refreshing, enthusiastic and highly informative!

Alright, so I said you don't need to be a Turn Of the Screw scholar to enjoy The Nightcomers, but still, it is a richer viewing when you know where it's all headed.  So I thought I'd share with you guys my favorite, fairly un-recognized adaptation from 1999, and I do include versions that don't share the title like The Innocents (which I'd rank a strong second place, but falls a little short due to an emphasis on style losing sight of the substance) in that.  I once made an effort to see every version of The Turn Of the Screw I could lay my eyes on, including the latest BBC version with all the Downton Abbey alumni, the Dan Curtis version with Lynn Redgrave, the Valerie Bertinelli version and of course that goofy 90s one with Patsy Kensit and Julian Sands as the master of a rather bizarrely art deco house.  And yet I've settled on this one as the ideal, definitive version to date.

This version is the Masterpiece Theater version, starring Jodhi May, who's never stopped working but seemed on the verge of taking a real star turn around this time.  And Colin Firth has the small but showy role of the master.  It expertly captures the period and the cast finds layers to their characters other versions miss.  Admittedly, this aims more towards the human drama than spooky ghost story atmosphere, so I can understand why a lot of fans might still prefer The Innocents.  If you're looking for something like The Haunting to make you cower under the covers on Halloween night, this ain't it.  But as that's also the tact that The Nightcomers takes, it makes 1999's Turn an all the more ideal companion piece.  The only thing I haven't been able to decide is if it's better to watch the original, and then go watch the backstory of Nightcomers and let it inform what you'd just watched as they were written, or to watch them in chronological order and watch the expanded story unfold.  I guess it's a pretty equally rewarding experience either way.

2004 WGBH DVD.

Unfortunately, this Turn Of the Screw's WGBH DVD is sorely lacking.  The back of the case describes this film as 4x3, but that's only because the opening Masterpiece Theater titles are fullscreen.  That leaves the film itself stuck in a non-anamorphic widescreen, floating in a sea of dead space.  And framed at the very unusual ratio of 1.59:1, I strongly suspect this is not the correct framing.  Being non-anamorphic means it's extra compressed into a smaller space as well, so the resolution is unattractively low even for a DVD.  Oh, and before I forget, it's heavily interlaced as well, adding up to a decidedly overall low quality video feel.  I would have loved, loved, loved for WGBH to go back and restore it for blu-ray like they did with Northanger Abbey, but now in 2019, I fear that ship has sailed and this, and a fairly identical import disc, is all we'll ever get.

For slight silver linings, this disc does include optional English subtitles.  And it features minor extras by virtue of including the TV spot and Alistair Cooke's Masterpiece introduction, which gives you a minimal briefing on James' novel for the uninitiated.  But boy, does this film need restorative rescuing.

So, as you've probably gathered by now, I'm pretty chuffed about this new Nightcomers.  Solid presentation and all the extras.  It helps that the price is always nice with these Kino discs; if we were being asked to pay limited edition Arrow prices, I'd say, come on, give us a fresh 4k scan.  But as it is, I'm quite pleased.  Except about The Turn Of the Screw.  That's such a bummer, it almost qualifies as an M.I.A.

Northanger Abbey 2007, The "UK Edition"

You sort of expect to have to dig through cut and censored prints of foreign horror movies on DVD; but you don't expect it to be just as bad collecting Masterpiece Theaters!

Northanger Abbey is the most under-adapted Jane Austen novel. There's pretty much only this version and the 1980s BBC one starring Peter Firth. Neither are definitive; both have their pros and cons and don't quite capture the entirety of the novel... so I'd recommend the pair of them about equally, and even together. A big part of the reason is because Austen was making a lot of direct references to - no, more than reference, almost parody of - contemporary literature. Of her day. Of course, with some smart alterations by a clever screenwriter, changes can be made that help bridge modern viewers to the story. But that requires us to step further away from Austen's writing, and the top quality thereof; because only a very small selection of audiences today could really appreciate all of the humor and implications of the novel as written.

 

You see, the lead character Catherine (Felicity Jones) reads a lot of novels. Far too many novels, according to everyone around her; but she's hopelessly caught up in her gothic romances. She has extensive daydreams and fantasies, which really set this one apart from Austen's other novels, to the point where she's neglectful of the real world. And when she's invited for an extended stay in a medieval country house, things finally get out of hand for her.

This version is written by Andrew Davies, who's pretty much the reigning king of adapting classic novels for British television, responsible for amazing versions of Vanity Fair, Bleak House, The Way We Live Now, He Knew He Was Right, Wives & Daughters, and of course the more modern House of Cards series. He's also been quite successful with Jane Austen, including the penultimate Pride & Prejudice version starring Colin Firth. Granted, he may have had a few missteps (I remember his modern retelling of Othello being a little goofy; but then again it seems to have quite good reviews, so maybe I need to revisit it), but this is not one of them. It's no P&P 1995, but it's still very good.

So let's talk about cut versions. As you might imagine, this modern version of Northanger does take the opportunity to spice up Catherine's fantasies a bit in the sexiness department. That ruffled a few purists' feathers, but that's not why this movie was cut. Did yo know, it's actually relatively common for Masterpiece Theater to cut down their British imports for broadcast? Yeah, so what you see on PBS is not always 100% of what people got to see aired in the UK. They just get out their scissors and trim things down a bit. Oftentimes, those cuts have been reinstated when it was time to release the DVDs... but not always.

In 2008, when WGBH released this on DVD, it ran a just under 85 minutes. Uncut, the movie runs just over 93 minutes. That's almost 10 minutes missing from an already short movie. And it's not just a PAL/ NTSC timing thing; lots of scenes were cut. A fantasy sequence, yes, but also conversations, small shots and moments. Fortunately, word got around and fans complained. So when they decided to release this on blu ion 2011, they came out with the "Original UK Edition" stamped on the front cover.
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Update 5/23/15: Let's get real about this comparison! I've got the old, cut DVD here with me now, so let's look at precisely what was cut, and also hold up some screenshots to see exactly how different the SD and HD transfers are. We're not gonna settle for second best here at DVDExotica!

Note: the following time-coded section, explaining all of the cuts, is pretty spoiler heavy. Skip to the end of it if you wish to avoid spoilers.

7.28: When Mr. and Mrs. Allen talk about taking Catherine out into society for the first time, the cut version ends with Mr. Allen saying, "I entertain high hopes of our arriving at the rooms before midnight," and we cut to the carriages. But in the full version, the scene continues with Mrs. Allen saying, "how he teases us, Catherine. Midnight indeed." and Catherine smiling.

8.38: At the crowded ball, when Mr. Allen abandons the ladies for the card room, Mrs. Allen suggests, "perhaps we should cut to the tea room," Catherine nods, and we see a brief shot of dancing. The DVD then cuts to the introduction of our leading man, Henry, literally bumping into Mrs. Allen and then having a small chat. This actually skips over a whole scene, which continues follows the brief shot of dancing to Mrs. Allen and Catherine .comically spotting two empty seats, then running and pushing past a crowd of people to get to them before they're taken. The pair then have a substantial dialogue scene about how uncomfortable it is to be in society with nobody to introduce them. Starting to receive awkward looks, they conclude that they are unwelcome, stand up and make an embarrassed retreat from the room. Then they bump into Henry on their way out, and we're finally back in sync with the DVD. This isn't just an amusing scene onto itself, but adds some weight to the following scene, when Henry introduces them to the party and they are now made to feel welcome there. He didn't just show up and charm them, he rescued them from a social disaster. There's also a reference to this moment at the end of the movie, which only makes sense if you've seen the full version.

15.45: After leaving the dance, the DVD cuts to Catherine writing in her room, but the blu has an another scene first, where Catherine and Mrs. Allen tell Mr. Allen about Henry. Mr. Allen warns Catherine about the danger of "attracting all manner of scoundrels and adventurers." They then have a lengthy discussion of Henry, both comical and expositional; and it's here Catherine first hears of Northanger Abbey. "Is it haunted," she asks. "No doubt. These abbeys usually are," Mr. Allen replies. This is a pretty key scene, and it's hard to believe PBS thought it expendable. Trimming the button off the "arriving before midnight" scene is one thing - and I gather PBS's editor saw an opportunity for a site gag by cutting from Catherine asking Henry, "well, who's to say I keep a journal?" at the dance to a close-up of her furiously scribbling away in said journal - but it's a bit like cutting the part where Luke learns about the Force from Star Wars.

27.23: During the dialogue on the staircase, where Catherine is told Henry and his sister will not be keeping their promise to take her out, her friend says, "in this false world, people often make promises they have no intention of keeping." In the DVD, we then cut to Catherine saying, "but what if they come after all?" But in the blu-ray, her friend has more dialogue, saying, "remember, we are your true friends. We keep our promises," before cutting back to Catherine's line. It's a short moment, but, but not an unimportant bit of manipulation, considering they're actually the ones deceiving her.

39.39: After Catherine and Henry finally have their walk in the woods, and he asks her to keep his sister's meeting with a mysterious man a secret from their father, the DVD cuts to Catherine talking to her friend, skipping the following from the full-length version: first, a shot of a horse-drawn carriage racing at night. Then we find Catherine in a bath, and her voice-over narrates the further adventures of the monk receiving a magic talisman than will grant him access to a lady's bedchamber. We then enter her dream, where her bath is out in the woods, and Henry arrives in full preacher garb, helping her out, naked (though, for the record, nothing R-rated is ever in frame). She then awakens to her name being shouted. Finally, we see her friends walking through town towards her house, and that then cuts to the scene of them in her room as seen in the DVD.

This is the missing scene most people notice first, since it's easier to remember whether or not you saw Catherine naked in a bathtub in the woods rather than if you saw the extra lines of dialogue about whether they'd be late to the party. And it's probably the scene a lot of Austen fans mind losing the least, since nudity (even with nothing really shown, like here) and such overt sexual tension doesn't really feel faithful to Austen's sensibilities for the times she was writing in. I imagine the filmmakers would argue it's more like "if Austen had written it for today's audiences," but it's questionable at best. It's more a shame to lose that very funny voice-over about the monk that leads into the scene, however.

47.29: In the carriage, when Catherine is discussing with her friend why she danced with Henry's brother after just becoming engaged, her friend says, "he is the eldest son, you know,, the heir to Northanger Abbey. Not that that weighs anything with me; I'm in love with the best man in the whole world."The DVD then cuts to Catherine running dramatically down a stone corridor during a stormy night. But the complete version continues on in the carriage, with them further discussing the brother, "do you think he's handsome?" And Catherine asks the key question of the story, "then, how is one to know what to believe?" The carriage arrives, and then we cut to the stormy corridor scene.

50.45: After Catherine's friend tells her she has to wait two years to marry because her fiance has yet to come into his money, the DVD cuts to Catherine talking to Henry and his sister on a stairwell. But the extended version first cuts to a scene Catherine and Henry's sister walking through the woods discussing the two year delay, which turns into a conversation about "how many of us marry for love" and how Catherine's naive upbringing could indeed be dangerous for her. And Catherine confesses that she doesn't feel as pure of heart as people think her to be, for she has her terrible dreams. And then we cut to the staircase scene.

56.09: When the carriage arrives to take Catherine to Northanger Abbey, the extended version has a scene of Catherine saying goodbye to the Allens. A nice touch: when Mr. Allen says, "I should be sharp about it. These great folks don't like to be kept waiting," we see the captain outside pacing in frustration before Catherine bursts out the door. The US cut just cuts from the carriage arriving to Catherine coming outside.

59.09: After Catherine and Mr. Tilding's dialogue in the carriage as he takes her to Northanger Abbey, the US version cuts to them inside. The UK version shows their servants coming to meet them and help them out of the carriage. Honestly, this is the most painless of the trims.

1.01.32: The UK version has a shot of Mr. Tilney looking frustrated at how long Catherine is taking to come to dinner. We then see the ladies rushing through the house (being such a massive house, it's a long way to go) and finally arriving and apologizing. Mr. Tilney angrily shouts to his servants, "dinner to be on the table directly!" before leading Catherine to the table, where the US version begins. In short, the US version just cuts everything that's imposing and dramatic out of the Catherine's situation, and just gets right to the dialogue.

1.08.45: After Mr. Tilney's carriage rides off, the UK version gives us an exclusive scene of Henry and his sister taking Catherine apple pickings on the grounds, which the US version has excised. Hardly a critical loss, but it does sew some "when the cat's away" seeds (a la Mansfield Park), which of course lead to Catherine getting into so much trouble a short while later, and it's probably good to have a reminder of how well Catherine and Henry get along when things aren't as dark as the Abbey tends to cast them.

1.28.21: When Catherine admits to the the Allens that she may be as much to blame for being exiled from Northanger Abbey as any of the Tilneys, the US version cuts to her little cousins asking her if the abbey was scary. But the full-length version first has a scene of Catherine burning her novel in her room. It may be a bit of a heavy-handed moment, but it also seems to be a pretty key moment, and so near the ending, for PBS to callously cut it.

1.33.24: A single line is taken out of one of the very final scenes. Cuts so deep into the finale feel particularly presumptuous of PBS, though it is a rather fleeting moment. When Henry is confessing to Mrs. Allen, she says, "You had no part in what happened, Mr. Tilney. And Catherine is as you see her: no harm done. Any friends of our children are welcome here." To which he replies, "oh, very good." At least in the US cut. In the UK cut, Mrs. Allen says, "shall we agree to talk no more about it?" And that's when he replies, "oh, very good." So nothing earth moving, but the longer version does make Mr. Tilney more gracious, and the moment overall feels more natural in its complete form. It's also a strange cut, since PBS gained hardly any time at all, since the line goes by so fast. If they needed just an extra half second of commercial time, surely they could've just trimmed a few frames off an establishing shot instead?

All of these cuts just feel very meddling. And while most aren't too destructive, it's certainly a better film in its complete form. Enough so that I think any Austen fans who were initially disappointed by this film during its initial Masterpiece Theater broadcast or the DVD ought to make sure they've seen the complete cut before dismissing it. Nothing so huge was cut that you could no longer follow the plot, but anyone Austen reader knows that everything hinges on delicate moments.

2011 blu-ray on top; 2008 DVD below.

2011 blu-ray right; 2008 DVD left.

2011 blu-ray on top; 2008 DVD below.

And comparing screenshots, we can see there is definitely more detail and a clearer, more streamlined look to the blu-ray. This is pretty much what you'd expect from a blu-ray upgrade. But what I wasn't expecting to find was the weird PAL/ NTSC issues the DVD had. It's of course an NTSC disc, but it plays at PAL speed, considerably faster than the blu. And as you can see in the second pair of shots, it also has ghosting frames from the conversion. It's very noticeable in motion whenever the camera pans horizontally, it has a very herky-jerky look. Although I guess this is hardly the first UK show to have that problem on a US disc. But it's just one more factor that makes the blu-ray a more valuable improvement. It has the complete cut of the film, boosts it to HD and it corrects a bad PAL conversion job.
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I'm not sure they would have even selected this title for a blu-ray release if it wasn't for the fact that this doubled as an opportunity to appease fans miffed about the cuts. So thankfully, this actually lead to us getting the full, uncut version and a nice upgrade to HD. ...Still no extras unfortunately, except for a Downtown Abbey commercial at the start of the disc and optional subtitles (the DVD at least had closed captions). The back of the box says this is 1080i, not p (because it was probably telecined that way for TV). Overall the image looks quite attractive, not interlaced, with a lot of intentional soft focus.

All in all, its a nice transfer of a nice movie, and an essential upgrade for anyone who bought the 84 minute DVD. There is also a blu-ray release in the UK, but it's only available as part of a set containing the ITV's other two Austen adaptations from the same period, and their Mansfield Park wasn't so hot. There's no extras on that one either, but it does purport to be 1080p so if anyone wants to splurge, they might find a minor improvement. But I imagine they're going to be pretty close. Recommended.