Masterpiece Theatre production earmarked for British television and then palmed off on the culturally deprived colonists as a Prestige Picture. The performers, though not particularly well-known faces (Samuel West's might be recognized as that of the pathetic Leonard Bast in Howards End), are without a doubt as technically skilled as we have come to expect of alumni of the British stage; and they make sure that, in the absence of Jane Austen's arch and ironic tone of voice, we have no difficulty telling the purported vices from the purported virtues. There is one nice, economical sequence of the spinsterish heroine having her ear bent by the conflicting testimony and advice of assorted family members and friends. But as with so many other Classics Illustrated, the evidence of imagination and taste on the part of the filmmakers is largely confined to their selection of a canonized novel not heretofore adapted to the screen. With Amanda Root, Ciaran Hinds, Corin Redgrave, Phoebe Nicholls; directed by Roger Michell. (1995) — Duncan Shepherd
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