Vanity Fair (1998)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Andrew Davies, based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
Directed by Marc Munden
Starring Natasha Little, Nathaniel Parker, Frances Grey, Philip Glenister, Miriam Margolyes

Released by: A&E
Rating: NR (suitable for all audiences)
Region: 1
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format

My Advice: Skip it

There are only two things you need to know about Becky Sharp (Little): 1) that she was born to a poor family, and 2) she doesn't intend to remain in that class for any longer than is absolutely necessary. She has gotten herself an education and has landed several jobs as governesses for various aristocratic households in the British countryside. She is very cunning and has no trouble playing favorites to try to increase her position in society...and she does it very well. Even after she gets married to a man of higher station and brings a child into the world, she is contantly looking for the next man to take her that much higher.

This is a decent little adaptation. By that, I mean that the teleplay will keep your interest--that is if you like period dramas. If there is a problem with the script (or the story) it would be that the lead character is not sympathetic at all. In fact, for the first quarter of this series, I really didn't like her one bit. Don't get me wrong, Natasha Little plays her character perfectly; it's the way that the character was written that's the problem. In fact, all of the sympathetic characters don't get enough screen time at all. Not only that, but the story moves along at a snail's pace. The best parts of the story are at the beginning when she is still trying to obtain her first position. After she has gotten a step up in the world, she seems to let it go to her head and her character takes a snobby turn for the worst.

There is an amazingly complete lack of special features in this DVD set. There are no interviews with the cast or behind-the-scenes featurettes of any kind. It would have been nice to had some interviews with the cast and/or crew, but with this set all you get is the film itself. Perhaps there would have been room on these discs for text-on-screen biography of Mr. Thackeray, if nothing else. Or a featurette discussing the social classes of the time and their importance to how the world worked back then.

So, the lack of special features is going to keep this one on the skip list--unless you really love period dramas, then I would say rent it.