Knit to This
Pick an Emma, Any Emma
Dear Ann,
I know, I know: here she comes with the Costume Dramas again. Can I help it that I find it very pleasant to knit along to films that I’ve memorized? The scenes just play in my head, no need to look up at the screen as I listen along. (Except for this scene. I always look up for this scene. Do not click that if you haven’t seen the 2009 miniseries of Emma. Here’s the trailer.)
What got me started was your news about Alan Cumming’s new venture, Club Cumming, an East Side venue combining debauchery and knitting. (As we know, this is nothing new, but whatever.) Among his many other distinctions, Alan Cumming played the gooey Mr. Elton in the 1996 version of Emma (trailer up top). It’s not my favorite Emma, but he is my favorite Mr. Elton.
The 1996 Emma is streaming on Netflix. I couldn’t find an online source for 2009 Emma, but in hunting for it I came across this rich trove of Masterpiece shorts, previews and full episodes to watch online. (To watch some of the older full episodes, you need a THIRTEEN Passport login; you get this by pledging to Channel 13.)
I also came across this wonderful snippet of Alan Cumming talking. I’ll see you later. Gotta go watch all his Masterpiece Mystery intros now. He’s the best.
Love,
Kay
Thank you. I am going to do just that. I get so much more knitting done, while the tv is on and a good movie is playing, and of course cup of nice tea close by. Emma here I come. Again thanks. Sherry
Oh, I love Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai! She was in “I Capture the Castle” a few years ago, which was also really good.
I love knitting to Jane Austen! The 2009 Emma is on Amazon Prime, if you have it.
Emma 2009 and Pride and Prejudice 1996 (possibly 1996? Whatever, you know the one I mean) are superb knit companions. The Friday after US Thanksgiving I hold a P&P binge viewing gathering where whichever friends and family are free come to watch all the episodes and eat Thanksgiving leftovers. Crafting while viewing is highly encouraged, as well as reciting dialog.
I *LOVE* the sound of a post-Thanksgiving P&P marathon!
I leave all the black Friday shopping for the rest of the USA and snuggle in for great viewing.
OMG how can I score an invite??!! So many marvelous things in one day: Thanksgiving leftovers, not one but TWO Jane Austen mini-serieses (sp?), someone else’s family at the holidays, and hours of guilt-free knitting. I’ll bring a bottle of Bailey’s if that will help.
If you live in Northern VA, stop on by 😉
Emma 2009 is streaming on Hulu so that is what I am watching today! THANK YOU!! Mansfield Park is another favorite.
I do love that Emma, and Jonny Lee Miller is my favorite Mr. Knightley. And it’s just long enough for a satisfying knitting marathon, but not so long that your family feels neglected. Thanks to the magic of Amazon video, I can stream all the JA movies wherever there’s wifi (including my phone if I need an emergency “pick-me-up” or “calm-me-down,” which this year has been pretty regularly). My all-time favorite of all of them, though, is the 1995 BBC version of Persuasion. Amanda Root is brilliant at the silent, slow-burn torment of a long-term broken heart. And Ciaran Hinds as Capt. Wentworth is, as my BFF puts it, “my jam.”
Yes! teh 1995 “Persuasion.” The letter writing scene ….
I can’t fix my typo ….
“Emma” is my least favorite Austen …. I just don’t like her. But “Persuasion” is my favorite …mature, melancholy …. great novel, and the early version si just superb!
Agreed! I think it works for me because Romola’s Emma really shows her suffering at the sharp tongue of Knightley and her efforts to be a socially sensitive person, whereas the other Emmas don’t so much and you get a lot of how snootily pleased she is with herself. Plus, let’s face it, yourh can be tiresome. Elinor and Ann are definitely more mature and easier-to-root-for heroes.
LOVE S&S and Persuasion – the best JA books.
I hear you, and I prefer S & S and Persuasion to Emma, but I love Emma’s father, and her comeuppance. It’s particularly well done in Clueless.
That Persuasion is magnificent. I might even live it more than P&P.
Or perhaps *love* it
Persuasion is my favorite also.
Yes! That one is so good! All the awkwardness and pain and then running down the street….
Ciarin Hinds is the THIS BEST Captain Wentworth! Also fantastic in Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.
Kay: Nope, you’re thinking of the more recent one from 2007 with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones – also very good (I fell in love with RPJ in Cold Comfort Farm!), but the one that predates this one is even better.
I definitely remember the Ciaran Hinds version but you are probably right that I’ve gotten them all mixed up. I think of RPJ almost exclusively in the context of Spooks/MI-5.
My current fav is “Poldark”! Dark & brooding & easy, no really easy on the eyes!
So far I only enjoy this as previews while waiting for something else. Saving Ross P. for a rainy day! Doesn’t their hair seem kind of like they all just got out of the salon circa 2017 though? Is that just me?
Ooh! I didn’t know this “Emma”. It looks just right. I remember a pretty good TV version also from 1996, with Kate Beckinsale. Here’s a clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VztOc1aNd1I
That said, the all-around casting, locations, charm of the Paltrow/Cumming version make it a winner for me.
Emma 2009 is on Amazon, season 1 free with Prime.
Thank you! I forgot to check Prime! I’m old!
Well, this is an excellent post, but it wasn’t my first thought when you said “pick an Emma.” I was thinking of Emmas Thompson, Watson and Stone! I love all those Emmas in their acting roles and in what I read of them in real life, too!
I adore Alan Cumming. Have you seen a very early thing he did called The High Life? It was about a couple of very camp Scottish Air Stewards – I think it’s hilarious, but I do have an odd sense of humour….. If I need a pick-me-up, I watch the opening credits of that show on YouTube – it always makes me smile!
Jill–just in case: I hope you know about Posh Nosh? A series of hilarious shorts starring David Tennant before he was really famous. They are all on YouTube, about 10 minutes each one. I think if you like High Life you’ll like them a lot.
Oh thank you Jill, for that reminder. Belinda used to show me that one and it is hilarious! [runs off to Youtube]
I loved the Kate Beckinsale version with Mark Strong that was on Masterpiece, although the 2009 version is great too. I laughed at the trailer on the 1996 version: “Jane Austens’s comedy”. Dont’s think of her novels as comedies, although they are certainly amusing.