Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet
David Shipman wrote in his 1996 obituary for Greer Garson:
On her return to Hollywood she was forced into the studio’s chosen image – a New York sophisticate, jagged with sophistication in huge hats – squabbling and making up with Robert Taylor in Remember? But her Mrs Chipping was uppermost in executive minds when casting Pride and Prejudice (1940), based on a stage version which had been bought for Norma Shearer and Clark Gable. Garson and Olivier were much more sensible choices, even if Olivier later observed: “Dear Greer seemed to me all wrong as Elizabeth . . . she was the only down-to-earth sister but Greer played her as the most affected and silly of the lot”. However, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote that she had “stepped out of the book, or rather out of one’s fondest imagination: poised, graceful, self-contained, witty, spasmodically stubborn and as lovely as a woman can be.” Nevertheless those who tend to Olivier’s view sighed for her presence during the recent BBC adaptation, in which Jennifer Ehle completely missed Lizzie’s sense of self-mockery.
Really, Mr. Shipman? I beg to disagree. For quite a few of us, Jennifer Ehle’s Ellizabeth Bennet was close to perfect. She had enough self-deprecating lines to make even a masochist envious. Greer Garson’s Elizabeth Bennet was all wrong, from costume, to her advanced age (she was in her mid-thirties when she made the film), to her interpretation of Elizabeth. I agree with Sir Laurence Olivier’s assessment – Greer was all wrong for the part.
Cheap Pride and Prejudice: Find other comments about this film, which is widely regarded as a classic. My opinion runs counter to that of many movie buffs and critics.
Jane Austen's World 
I agree that Jennifer Ehle IS Elizabeth. In fact the BBC adaptation was the best Pride and Prejudice version. (Although, I actually do have an old VHS of the Olivier/Garson version in the back of the cabinet somewhere.) I can’t wait for this summer to visit Chatsworth and see for myself a page-and scene-from my favorite book and movie of all time.
Jennifer played a much better Lizzy than Greer because JE’s eyes were amazingly lively. Her performance was perfected by the emotion shown in her eyes.
Really Angelic
I agree with Susan, not that I am also traveling to Chatsworth this summer (I wish), but that Jennifer Ehle is the ultimate Elizabeth Bennet. The mischievous glint she has in her eye perfectly conveys Elizabeth’s delight in the absurd.
I couldn’t agree with you more–I cannot abide Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet, she’s wrong top to bottom. That whole adaptation makes me cringe.
On the other hand, I adore her as Mrs. Miniver.
As for Jennifer Ehle, she had a wonderful grasp of Lizzy’s sense of self-mockery, though I am a big fan of Elizabeth Garvie’s interpretation as well. They are my two favorite Lizzy’s by a very long shot.
Dearest Susan and Alexa……..Lyme Park is THE place to be…there is just a short walk to the “pond”. Sudbury Place is also the location to visit Mr. Darcy’s bedroom “No, the green one.” And of course the parlor scene for “the Look”. Chatsworth is a very amiable residence….and I am sure you’ll have a great time. But get to Lyme Park…the gardens are lovely.
Greer Garson would look out of place at either location in those silly costumes and her “stage manners”. ;-)
For me, Jennifer Ehle is the “ultimate” film version of Elizabeth…but I do think that Greer Garson gets a bad rap. I don’t think she was *that* terrible…I get a kick out of the movie as a relic of its time, I guess.
Thank you for opening this discussion with that article!
I don’t want to offend anyone but I agree with Ruth that Greer Garson is receiving a bad rap. The costumes and her advanced age are not things Greer Garson could control. I loved her as Elizabeth and thought she did an admirable job. She played the part playfully, lively, and impertinently. To me that’s how Lizzy is supposed to be.
I, too, believe Jennifer Ehle is the best Elizabeth Bennet, just as there will never be another Darcy but Colin Firth. I can remember watching the Greer Garson P & P once when I was a pre-teen or early teen. It was actually my introduction to P & P, so I have to give it the credit that it made me want to read the book. Of course after reading the book, and loving it, I realized that a two-hour movie could never have done it justice. I don’t remember Garson bothering me, except that I soon came to learn that the screenwriter/director/whoever had got the period wrong as far as costumes went. I do remember not liking Olivier as Darcy AT ALL. But Ehle not doing Lizzie’s self-deprecation well?? Hogwash!
I have never watched Greer’s rendition of Elizabeth, but I have to say Jennifer Ehle is my Elizabeth Bennett. In fact I didn’t even like Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth, so I am not sure I will like Greer if I decide to watch. Ehle spoiled it all for me. She looks and acts the part very well. :-) As far as Colin Firth, he too is my Darcy. He plays the brooding and proud Darcy well.
I first watched Elizabeth Garvie as Elizabeth Bennet and loved her performance. Fifteen years later, Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth’s version was even better. (I recently even went as far as to look up the actors to see how they appear now. Wow, what a shock that was.)
Colin Firth is the best Mr. Darcy. As for Greer Garson, I watched her and Laurence Olivier play their parts and didn’t feel that either performance was the right interpretation for the characters they played. Of course, I am still glued to the tv when any version pops up – even though I own them all on DVD.
It’s a pity that living in italy I only saw the italian dubbed version of P&P with Greer Garson, they gave her a lovely deep voice, but most Italian women speak in a rather lower voice than their anglo-saxon counterparts, but still I thought she was a little bit too old for the part (and the costumes of course were all wrong) and Olivier was not the right Mr. Darcy, he too looked too old for the part and acted as if he’d rather be playing Hamlet. I have the original DVD with Ehle and Firth and I totally agree, they are the best.
Greer’s Pride & Prejudice was the first P&P I saw, followed by Ehle’s, then BBC’s, then the most recently one with Keira Knightley. I would have to say I like the first 2 the best. I’m glad I saw the original one first. It’s a classic that I thoroughly enjoyed, and any true fan should take the time to view it too.
Although I love all versions of Pride and Prejudice, just because they are P&P, I enjoy the 1940 version least. I too thought that the costuming was wrong and that there was not enough emotion between the characters.
Well, the problem with this film is mainly that it just isn’t P&P, right? Especially egregious is the remediation of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
[“Well, the problem with this film is mainly that it just isn’t P&P, right? Especially egregious is the remediation of Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”]
I just watched the 1940 version recently. I still enjoyed it very much. It’s not the best version. But who cares? I certainly don’t.
[“Garson and Olivier were much more sensible choices, even if Olivier later observed: “Dear Greer seemed to me all wrong as Elizabeth . . . she was the only down-to-earth sister but Greer played her as the most affected and silly of the lot”.]
Laurence Olivier was a stupid man. Or else he was blinded by love for Vivian Leigh, whom he wanted as his co-star for PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.
Greer Garson was marvelous as Elizabeth Bennet. All of the four actresses who have portrayed the role – Garson, Elizabeth Garvie, Jennifer Ehle and Keira Knightley – were marvelous in their own individual ways. I’m still angry that he would say such a thing about Garson’s performance.
I remember quite clearly during WWII my mother dragging me along to the local Picture Palace to see Pride & Prejudice. I was an avid reader from an early age and she probably thought it would do me some good and guide me along the right path.
Unfortunately it had the reverse effect; I thought it a load of silly rubbish, had I have known the word codswallop back then you may be sure I’d have thought that; believe it or not I refused to read anything by Jane Austen who wrote such rubbish.
It was by pure chance that I happened to see an episode of the BBC’s 1995 production being aired on the ABC here in Australia a couple of years ago and I was hooked.
I immediately bought the disk set and obtained a copy of the book from my local library and could not put it down, I read it 3 or 4 times straight off and cursed myself for being so stubborn for so long. Naturally I have obtained my own copies of Miss Austen’s work and they each get a regular work out.
No thanks to Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier. They cost me many decades of the delights of Jane Austen’s works.
I must disagree with drush76 Vivian Leigh would have been eminently preferable to Miss Garson, both in appearance and acting ability; the other two young ladies he mentions I find too insipid ( to put it kindly) in their portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet.
Love your story. For me the reverse was true. I loved the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice UNTIL I read the book and realized how very different the film was from Jane’s conception. This is a common practice, to be sure. Few films are faithful to the author’s vision, but few authors get me so invested in their characters as Jane Austen. I adore Lizzie Bennet, and to see an actress in her thirties behave as a very young woman just strikes me as wrong. At least Ehle was still in her twenties and toned down the mishishness. Olivier doesn’t get off either – his wooden interpretation of Darcy as a weakling irks me. That altered ending is ALL wrong. I agree with Dana Huff – that a remediated Lady Catherine is egregious.
Having said that, I realize that the script, not based on Pride and Prejudice but on a play written by Helen Jerome, has moments of brilliance, and that some of the actors shine. Garson as Elizabeth Bennet will never win this fan over.