Red-125 Northanger Abbey (2007 TV Movie) is a BBC film directed by Jon Jones. The movie is based on Jane Austen's novel, which was written when she was young, and never published in her lifetime. The brilliant Andrew Davies wrote the screenplay.Because Northanger Abbey was written by Jane Austen, we can reasonably assume that it will be about men seeking wives, and women seeking husbands. In the early 19th Century, men had options, but women didn't. The situation was made worse by the fact the even rich men wanted to marry women of wealth. That meant that poor women might have to marry men they didn't love, or not get married at all. It's hard to say whether Jane Austen realized the injustice of the social system, or whether she just took it for granted. After all, that was the reality of everything she saw around her.There's a theme in the novel that reminded me of Don Quixote, written 200 years earlier. Don Quixote reads too many chivalric romances, and eventually believes that he's a character in one of those romances. Similarly, Catherine Morland (Felicity Jones), reads so many Gothic novels that she begins to believe that she's living in one. That's especially true when she is invited to Northanger Abbey, a huge, dark structure presided over by the harsh General Tilney (Liam Cunningham). Cunningham captures what I think was Jane Austen's concept of the man. General Tilney does something that goes far beyond impoliteness. We don't doubt for a minute that he would do it.Catherine is in love with her soulmate Henry Tilney, played by JJ Feild. (He's the Genera's son.) The course of true love never did run smooth, and Northanger Abbey is no exception. It's a Jane Austen novel, so you know the outcome. It's the way Austen--and director Jones--bring us from start to end that makes the movie worth seeing.I truly enjoyed this film, even though Northanger Abbey is one of Austen's less admired works. Jane Austen was a genius, and even her lesser novels are worth reading and watching in a movie.Felicity Jones is beautiful, JJ Feild is handsome, and it's a BBC production. If you love Jane Austen, you'll love this film. If you don't care much for Austen, I'd still recommend this movie.Because this film was made for TV, it works well on the small screen.

summeriris I've watched the film twice now and I have to say, I think this is a very lightweight version of Austen, There is nothing terribly bad about it, but nothing that great either. The one exception I would make is Carey Mulligan's Isabella Thorpe. She is very good as the manipulative and venal Isabella. But she also has a tinge of the pathetic about her. She seems to be a person who is determined to make the wrong decisions. As always in Davies adaptations, it is the 'villains' who are more interesting, but not even Andrew Davies and Mulligan can make John and Isabella Thorpe more than simply manipulative and venal. Felicity Jones is suitably innocent as Catherine, Fields is kind and understanding as Henry. The great Liam Cunningham is criminally wasted as Gen Tilney though. Everyone else is very nice and the costumes are lovely. Lismore Castle makes for a suitably large and intimidating Abbey and Dublin makes for a great 19th Century Bath. In conclusion it's all very nice and pretty, (a kiss of death IMO) . The biggest gripe apart from the lack of any real tension and conflict in the plot would be Davies obligatory insertion of sexual misbehavior that is just so unlike Austen's novel. The Gothic elements introduced by Catherine's vivid dreams seem to have been heavily inspired by the 1987 version. I could be wrong about that, perhaps every adaptation has these boring dream sequences.All in all, not my favourite Austen. You should never be bored by Austen.

James Hitchcock This was one of three Jane Austen adaptations produced by the British television station ITV in 2007, the others being "Mansfield Park" and "Persuasion". Together with Joe Wright's "Pride and Prejudice" from 2005, the Bollywood adaptation "Bride and Prejudice" and the biopic "Becoming Jane", these can be regarded as part of a second cycle of Austen films, the first having taken place in the middle and late nineties. I think the reason why ITV chose these three novels is that, cinematically speaking, they are less familiar than Austen's other works. I am not aware of any previous film of "Northanger Abbey" and, although versions of "Persuasion" and "Mansfield Park" were made during the first great Austen cycle, neither aroused as much interest as, say, the Emma Thompson/Kate Winslet "Sense and Sensibility" or the Gwyneth Paltrow "Emma".Austen's heroines can be divided into two categories. On the one hand there are lively, high-spirited ones like Elizabeth Bennett, Emma Woodhouse or Marianne Dashwood; on the other there are quieter, more demure ones like Fanny Price, Anne Elliot or Marianne's sister Elinor. The makers of "Northanger Abbey" were fortunate in that the novel's heroine, Catherine Morland, falls firmly into the first category, as Austen's quieter heroines can be difficult to bring to life on the screen. Only Emma Thompson has really succeeded in this, largely by making Elinor considerably older than she is in the novel. The two versions of "Mansfield Park" both try transfer Fanny into the outgoing, extrovert category, but both versions were heavily criticised by purist Janeites. One of Austen's aims in writing the novel was to satirise the Romantic movement in literature, particularly the vogue for "Gothic" novels by the likes of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. (This vogue had gripped England in the 1790s, when Austen's novel was originally written, and persisted into the 1810s, when it was finally published). Unlike most of the other stately homes which feature in Austen's works, Northanger Abbey, the house which gives its name to the book, is not a Classical mansion but a rambling Gothic castle. When the naïve teenage heroine Catherine is invited to stay at the Abbey, the home of her friends the Tilney family, her over-fertile imagination leads her to believe that she is living in a Gothic romance and that her stern, forbidding host, General Tilney, is guilty of the murder of his wife, who died suddenly several years earlier. This satire on the Gothic was only part of Austen's wider theme, the difference between reality and illusion. The novel tells the story of Catherine's coming-of-age, of how she learns not only the difference between fiction and real life but also the difference between what people seem and what they really are. Several people whom Catherine believes she can trust turn out to be thoroughly untrustworthy. Her close friend Isabella, who shares and encourages her taste for Gothic fiction, turns out to be shallow and fickle. Isabella's brother John is an unreliable braggart and gossip. Captain Frederick Tilney, the General's elder son, appears to be a gallant army officer, but turns out to be a heartless seducer. Even the General himself, although he may not be a murderer, turns out to be arrogant, snobbish and thoroughly unpleasant. On the other hand, some of Catherine's friends prove their true worth, such as the General's daughter Eleanor and his younger clergyman son Henry, who eventually wins Catherine's heart. In my view, "Northanger Abbey" is the strongest of the three ITV Austen adaptations. "Persuasion" was just dull, and its heroine Sally Hawkins duller still. As for "Mansfield Park", I personally (unlike many) liked Billie Piper's interpretation of the role of Fanny, but I felt that she received little support from the other cast members, apart from Hayley Attwell's Mary Crawford. In "Northanger Abbey", however, although there are no well-known names among the cast, the acting is all of a high standard. Felicity Jones made a fresh and delightful heroine and she received good support from, among others, J J Feild as Henry, Carey Mulligan as Isabella and Liam Cunningham as the autocratic General. I have in the past been critical of some of Andrew Davies' adaptations of literary works for the screen, such as the recent "Brideshead Revisited", but in this case he did a good job, producing an intelligent screenplay with a fine understanding of Austen's novel. The one thing I did not like was the "bathtub" scene, but then Davies likes to get a bit of sex into all his adaptations. 7/10

helenaa-beee I loved this adaption of Northanger Abby. I keep pretty close to the book though it wasn't exactly the same but none of the movies are. I loved JJ Feild as Henry Tilney he was perfect for the role and Felicity Jones did an excellent job as Catherine. And loved Catherine's fantasy scenes they fit really well into the story. The only thing is that i felt it was rather rushed i mean add an another 30 min to an hour and it would of been even better. I loved the ending scene out of all the rest. It was more romantic then in the book(heres the scene) HenryTilney: Let me instead tell you what I said to him. I told him that I felt myself bound to you, by honor, by affection, and by a love so strong that nothing he could do could deter me from ... CatherineMorland: From what? Henry Tilney: Before I go on I should tell you there's a pretty good chance he'll disinherit me. I fear I may never be a rich man Catherine. Catherine Morland: Please, go on with what you were going to say! Henry Tilney: Will you marry me Catherine? Catherine Morland: Yes! Yes I will! Yes! (they kiss, and she backs him into a wall in her passion). Over all VERY GOOD Adaption.