Northanger Abbey (1987)

It seems like in recent years it’s been pretty hard to ruin any Jane Austen adaptation. Most likely, truncating the length of the novel to fit the length of a feature film or the right casting might be the hardest thing to do. In earlier years many of these adaptations were shown in America on PBS, including this one of Northanger Abbey. I remember seeing it there years ago (this one is from the 1980s), but I haven’t read the book nor know much about it. The plot concerns a young woman who reads gothic novels and fantasizes about them. If this script were to be transported to a modern day setting, it would unfortunately show how weakly developed the characters are and how poor a script this is, pushing forward romantic elements instead of character and relationship development. From what I have read about it, the Austen book was supposed to make fun of the gothic novels of the day. This tv movie though, gives no indication that we are sharing an inside joke.  It's the oddest adaptation I've seen.

Cathy (Katherine Schlesinger) reads gothic novels and fantasizes that she is the romantic heroine in them, to be ravished by evil men but saved by the hero. The film shows several of these fantasies, taking place in dark castles with lascivious men slavering over Cathy. This is all the movie really shows her to be accomplished at or have interest in. Without really explaining, some woman with no children, who is either a family friend or neighbor or even a distant relative, offers to take Cathy with her to Bath, both to show her some amusement as well as a sort of coming out, as Cathy is a teenager of about 17.

While in Bath, Cathy meets several people. She eyes the handsome Henry Tilney (Peter Firth) at a party, then later meets his sister Eleanor and their father (Robert Hardy), with the lonely Eleanor inviting her to stay with them for a few days. Cathy also meets the Thorpes, a brother and sister (Jonathan Coy, Cassie Stuart) who pursue Cathy and her brother for marriage purposes. But Cathy finds out later that both of them are devious and out to make the most of a match for monetary purposes than for love, not caring who they hurt in the process..

These plot points sound familiar to Austen audiences. Other things though seem very out of place. As expected, Henry perseveres in Cathy’s eyes, despite a temporary fallout due to Cathy's imagination causing her to believe General Tilney killed his wife. (!) This part about the General is not really explained. At first he seems like a nice father, allowing his daughter to invite Cathy as a guest. But later he comes off as a "dirty old man" who has designs on Cathy for himself but I am not sure the book portrays him like this. Some suggested evilness by him against Eleanor never really is resolved or openly discussed so that is also left up in the air so we don't know what is true.

Henry, too, is dismissive of Cathy's immaturity and even berates her, for instance, for snooping in his dead mother's room. I don't get any feeling of an equal status in intelligence between Henry and Cathy, that Austen’s couples often share--what the heck does he find attractive in her? She's a silly girl with little, if anything, worthy of the title "heroine." She acts like a typical teenager--immature, ignorant of her larger world, selfish, self-involved with boys. There is no feminist attitude nor witty banter. All the characters just seem intent on making romantic matches yet there is no true run-up between couples to support the characters coming together. Cathy just takes in life with wide eyes and the story does not show her to be any kind of thinking person with real issues, just someone who is enamored of the several men who court her--it's a romance novel come to life, the "Twilight" of its day. This adaptation not only is about a 17-year old, but feels like it is written by a 12-year old.