Masterpiece Theatre

So, for the past few weeks, I have really been missing my Masterpiece Theatre flicks on Sunday nights.  My husband and I always watch, but they go through cycles of showing period- dramas, mystery series, and special documentaries.  Lately, there has been a JFK doc. series, and I have about zero interest in that!  Hah!  

To fulfill my need for BBC dramas, I netflixed (I love this verb:) a couple of past BBC classics, and I struck gold.  Pure, cinematic, period- drama gold.  I watched two films based on novels by two of my favorite 19th- century British writers.  Thomas Hardy is actually my favorite writer of all time, which often surprises some people, but I was given an early appreciation for his merits by my Uncle T., who is an avid reader and lover of great literature:)  He gave me copies of T. Hardy's complete works when I was in middle school, and I never looked back!  I hope that you all enjoy these (they are low-budget, and star very intellectual and stage-worthy actors), especially if you love the more mainstream, larger- budget films that have been made based on the works  of Jane Austen.

1) The Turn of the Screw (1999), based on the Henry James novel, starring Colin Firth and Jodhi May (you may remember her as the younger sister, Alice, in the film The Last of the Mohicans...if you remember anything other than Daniel Day Lewis:).  This film actually follows one of the creepiest patterns for ghost stories, centering around some really spooky, possibly-possessed children, and their poor, frazzled, daughter-of-a-parson governess.  Two little blond kids that behave a little too well would definitely give me cause for concern:)  James delivers ghosts and even hints at possible past sexual abuse in the novel, which is more than implied in this adaptation.  I really enjoyed this version, and thought that Jodhi May did a great job of capturing the governess' frenzy.  You may be surprised at who the real scary character turns out to be...

2) The Mayor of Casterbridge (2001), based on the amazing book by Thomas Hardy (my all-time favorite writer), and starring Ciaran Hinds and Jodhi May (again, visions of Daniel Day Lewis dance in my head:).  Ciaran Hinds has been in so many great BBC dramas, and it would be a really easy way to target some Netflix rentals to simply search out his past performances.  In this tale, Hinds plays a man who committed such egregious errors in his past, that no amount of virtue, responsibility, or good work can ever atone.  He must face his past demons in his middle age, and his life seems to collapse around him.  Truly a moral tale about reaping what one sows, and all that.  Like all Thomas Hardy stories, this one is a bit of a "downer", but it really is powerful, and well acted.  Hardy likes to find a hero in the common, uneducated people of the English countryside, and often pits them against the corruption of the elite classes.  His books always have amazing descriptions of the surrounding country (he was regarded as a naturalist writer and poet), also, in case that is your bag, baby.  I hope that you all check this one out, as Hardy is often under-appreciated:)