Pride and Prejudice (1940) on Netflix
In early 19th century England, the five Bennet daughters are unmarried. Elizabeth Bennet clashes with Mr. Darcy, the proud friend of wealthy new neighbor Mr. Bingley.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.3/1010,160 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Mrs. Bennet takes her two eldest daughters shopping for dresses when two gentlemen and a lady arrive in an expensive carriage. The men are Mr. Bingley, who has taken Netherfield, and Mr. Darcy, both rich and unmarried, and Mrs. Bennet's interest is roused. At the next ball Elizabeth hears Darcy refuse to dance with her, and Mr. Wickham tells her Darcy wronged him badly. She turns Darcy down when he asks her to dance, then accepts Wickham in front of him. Mr. Collins, the Bennets' cousin who stands to inherit the estate when Mr. Bennet dies, comes looking for a wife and picks Elizabeth, trailing her at a garden party at Netherfield Park while she tries to escape him.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Clark Gable and Norma Shearer were set to star when filming was first scheduled for October 1936 under Irving Thalberg, but pre-production stopped after Thalberg died on September 13, 1936.
- In August 1939 MGM chose George Cukor to direct with Robert Donat cast opposite Norma Shearer, but plans to film in England ended when the war in Europe closed MGM's English operations that September.
- The Motion Picture Production Code forced a change: because clergymen could not be criticized on screen, Mr. Collins was turned from a ridiculous clergyman in the novel into a librarian in the film.
- The archery scene, in which Elizabeth outshoots Darcy, was invented by the filmmakers and is not in Jane Austen's novel.
SPOILER
In the film, Lady Catherine de Bourgh's demand that Elizabeth promise never to marry Darcy becomes a hoax to test Elizabeth's love, not the genuine snobbish demand it is in the novel.
