The concluding part of Ann Firbank as Anne Elliot. This BBC adaptation from 1971 would be considered too stagily, or stodgily, slow these days. But I like it because it adheres quite closely to the book. Probably only something that would appeal to Austenite Purists (of which I am one)
I think Ann Firbank got under the skin of Anne Elliot in this performance. Bryan Marshall is perhaps a tad too benign to make Capt Wentworth bristle with heartfelt hurt (for being so rejected by Anne all those years ago) He needed to bring something less passively phlegmatic. Animate his feigned indifference towards her with more flickers of fiery feeling. Still pretty good though. Their stymied and stifled romance still far better portrayed than that chick-flick-lit-lite version (with gasping gopher fish Sally Hawkins) from ITV in 2007
