New Favourites - Classic Drama

These past few days I have come down with a most dreadful cold, suffering aches and pains, various maladies of the head and throat, with added congestion and now coughs.
Therefore, I headed to my local movie rental house, in which I always seem to find treasures of entertainment and amusement of all kinds.
On these last few occasions I happened upon a quite large British Drama section housing many famous titles and proudly displaying the BBC logo. I passed over many I had already enjoyed, and in fact own, such as the BBC mini series "Pride and Prejudice", and the films of "Mansfield Park" and "Sense and Sensibility". I roamed on over the various selections and found several new mini series and films I had not yet discovered. As I was in need of some relaxing entertainment on my days off work on sick leave, I ventured forth and decided to take home a few new-to-me discs.

First I played the mini series "North and South", based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, and was thoroughly delighted! I hadn't even realized that I had only brought home disc 1 of 2, so on the abrupt ending of the first disc late one night, I cried out and eagerly bundled up and walked back to the store the next day to find disc 2 and finish off the tale.
For more information on this series see the brief description on the BBC website here.
The second series I delved into was another work of Gaskell's called "Wives and Daughters". Apparently this was the last novel written by the 18th century author which was left incomplete as she died before she tied all the loose ends. Having not read the novel and have nothing to compare the film to, I greatly admire the way the BBC ended this series.
See more information on the Internet Movie Database website here.

Finally, found a Jane Austin novel adaptation of "Persuasion" that I had not yet seen. This film had me enthralled by the tension, the mishaps and miscommunication. All the characters come to life in a very realistic way, more so, I think, than any other period drama I have encountered. Somehow, these families look and feel so very lifelike and plausible. I am also now in admiration of the actor Ciarán Hinds (yes, I do realize he is way too old for me!)

More information on the IMDB here.

I am now inspired and determined to find these novels and begin reading the original texts.

I highly recommend all of these films to you, if you desire a strong dose of romance, silly dysfunctional families, lovely dear friends, heart-squeezing reconciliations and throat-closing proclamations of love!!!