charmadu Let me begin with the Gift from God known as Timothy Dalton. His vocal instrument and physique are breathtaking, absolutely mesmerizing. I could listen to him read the phone book. He brings Bronte's script to life as no one else has before or since. The miraculous irony is that although to most modern eyes, the man is almost blindingly handsome, in those days he would have been considered more of a "vulcan", and not so good looking - just as Bronte intended!I've seen the various versions of Jane Eyre- some are better than others but this is the one that will stand up in a hundred years. Zelah Clarke as Jane is also excellent and very believable. My sole quibble is that I wished there had been a wee bit more intimacy at the end, after all we've gone through to bring our leads back together again! Nevertheless, this version wins hands down for several reasons. It is the only one in which we get to see : 1) Mr. Rochester play the gypsy woman as he did in the book; 2) the serious damage done to Mr. Rochester's left hand and eyes after the fire, not just that he's blind; 3) the toll taken on Mr. Rochester from having to live with his "locked secret" for the past 10 years. 4) Jane forced to beg after she leaves Thornfield - which graphically reveals how truly alone and destitute she is at that point. 5) Did I mention Timothy Dalton?

choro72 LOVES-Bessie. In most adaptations, Bessie is depicted as a nice person. Here, as in the book, Bessie wasn't always nice to Jane. She scolded her for no good reason just as everyone else did. However, she was the only one that showed any kindness to Jane at all.-The girls. Georgiana and Eliza were not cut! I wish they showed what happened to them, but I'm just glad they weren't cut.-Mr. John, Mr. Briggs, and John Eyre. These are secondary characters. I completely understand why they are usually cut, but it's nice to see the reference.-St. John Rivers. I loved Bicknell's depiction of St. John Rivers! He is perfectly cold and single minded as I imagined him to be.-Main characters. I thought Clarke's Jane was superior to Fontaine's. I could sense her reserved passion, and she burst at the right spots. I thought Orson Welles was the best Mr. R depicted on film, but Dalton's delivery still convinced me. He captured his internal conflict spot on. Dalton and Clarke had great chemistry.-The Gypsy. I'm so glad they kept that in!-Script. They kept most of my favorite lines from the book.The BAD-Helen Burns. Cut to grave stone? Really!? Also, her Christian beliefs were not completely depicted. This was an important point in shaping Jane's character, and it was skimmed over.-The hair. Oh the hair. I can't believe they gave Mr. R a mullet! St. John Rivers had the 70's flowing hair! This was the single, most reprehensible thing done to the book, which is why I only gave 9 stars.-Ending. I wish they showed what happened to the other characters. St. John, Mrs. Fairfax, Diana and Mary, etc.

flowergirlz_us I have watched many versions of this, my favorite story of all time, and have found this to be the best, most comprehensive version ever. Yes, the lighting is bad and it is filmed on video tape, but unlike the other adaptations done by the BBC at the time (Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and most especially Persuasion, a version that screams the 1970's) this version has beautiful sets, beautiful characters and some of the best acting of the series. It truly is the jewel in the crown for Jane Eyre fans. While Timothy Dalton is truly too handsome to play Rochester,(remember, Rochester is supposed to be homely too) his powerful acting makes it work. He is truly a Shakespearean actor, full of fire and brimstone, as well as sweetness and heartbreak. He is the essence of the Regency era. Zelah Clarke, while not the prettiest actress to play the character, plays the character with a lot of pluck and spunk. The two actors have incredible chemistry which is very evident in the scene where Jane confronts Edward after the revelation of his mad wife. The power between these two wonderful actors reverberates off the screen. This is my favorite version because it takes the time to tell the whole story, being an 8 part miniseries, it has all of the wonderful scenes from the book which is sadly left out of most other movie versions. This is one of my favorite movies of all time and any true Jane fan will not be disappointed.

Rena Smith This adaptation is generally thought to be one of the very best and I can only say I agree wholeheartedly. It's the definitive version in my book and no adaptation made before or after can touch it.The advantage of the miniseries is (obviously) that it can do the book full justice, which shorter versions just can't. In this case, I think they did splendidly. Timothy Dalton is a great Rochester, even if his acting goes slightly bipolar in one or two scenes (I'm thinking of the post-marriage scene where he alternates between cooing over Jane and cursing her at the top of his voice within seconds…). He starts slightly too gruff but he soon gets it right. Anyway, most Rochesters start out a bit gruffer than they should, so I believe this to be a directing mistake… Timothy Dalton is able to express so much emotion with his face and yet you couldn't really tell which muscles are doing it, which is the hallmark of an excellent actor (I think anyway). One can really feel he is a tortured soul but he still has a sense of humour and conveys great depth of feeling after he falls for Jane. Other reviewers have pointed out that he's too handsome (which is true, but do we really mind, ladies?) and too young (which isn't true, he was 36 when they shot this, which makes him just right). I also like Zelah Clarke as Jane. Her acting scope is slightly more limited than Tims but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing when playing Jane Eyre. Jane is passionate but also very proper. However when Rochester starts to draw her out she manages to convey both the humour that Jane and Rochester share and the painful confusion Jane feels when he starts toying with her. Also, she is suitably minuscule, if a bit old for 18-year old Jane… The rest of the cast is also excellent. Adele is suitably vain, silly and yet likable, Mrs Fairfax is just as I imagined her in the book and especially with St John Rivers they chose the actor brilliantly. He is wonderfully haughty, pious, cold and unlikeable… Of course the production values are less than top notch. I do not mind this personally but other reviewers have pointed it out and they're right. The costumes are superbly done however (probably because you can re-use those over and over in any Victorian drama, so they did them properly once so they would keep a while). The best thing however about this story is the dialog and storytelling. Jane's childhood is depicted in all its excruciating oppressiveness and you get to feel all her pain and her development into a passionate but very religious and strong woman is completely believable. The relationship and growing attraction between Jane and Rochester is depicted very accurately and carefully (which is something that other adaptations often made complete hashes of by not allowing the necessary time for it). The dialog is clean, produced more or less verbatim in many scenes, but they make it work as a movie nonetheless. And also Jane's flight from Thornfield is developed in detail, which shows how much she is willing to suffer to do what she thinks is right and how she manages never to lose her dignity. I think these latter points are what sets this version apart from almost all other adaptations and makes it such a masterpiece. A must-see for all Jane Eyre fans!