Recently I watched the other Sense and Sensibilitys — meaning not the 1995 version, which we can all agree is one of the best frock flicks and best Jane Austen adaptions around! (And if we can’t agree on that much, why are you reading here?) I couldn’t find the 1971 version anywhere, so really I was just watching the ’81 and ’08 but they’re both miniseries so that killed a fair number of evenings. I knew the costuming wasn’t going to be much to talk about, especially not with the poor quality of the ’81 version available on Amazon / BritBox. But what about the story and performances? Sure, the miniseries format gives more details of the novel, but I don’t know if that was always necessary. It’s pretty hard to top Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and especially Alan Rickman.
Yes, I’m a Rickman fangirl always but especially for his Colonel Brandon. He brings a lot to the character that finally makes sense for me in a way that the novel feels like an afterthought. Honestly, in first reading the book, I felt like Marianne was settling for Brandon, she had the romanticism beaten out of her and accepted the nearest nice, rich guy for a husband as required by societal needs. Elinor was the one who really marries for love. So it’s a little flip the sisters do, fine, but also bittersweet. In the 1995 movie, Marianne doesn’t get the dashing cad of Greg Wise‘s Willoughby, but she does get a truly caring Rickman Brandon, and you can see his own tragic romantic past in his face and bearing, so you know he gets what she’s gone through. That made me reread the book with more insight (and, let’s face it, the understanding of an older adult and not the teenager I was when I first read it, becoming less of a Marianne myself ;).
Thus, in watching the other versions, I wanted to know, could anyone level up to Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon? Well, dear reader, I think not! Admittedly I can’t speak for the ’71 adaption, but I found both Robert Swann’s and David Morrissey’s Brandons to be just another nice guy, nbd, nothing special.
Richard Owens in 1971’s Sense and Sensibility
Robert Swann in 1981’s Sense and Sensibility
Alan Rickman in 1995’s Sense and Sensibility
David Morrissey in 2008’s Sense and Sensibility
Is Alan Rickman your favorite Colonel Brandon too?
This is the role that got me interested in Alan Rickman’s career, before that I didn’t even recognize that he played the Sheriff of Nothingham and the bad guy in Die Hard !
I love Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon. I haven’t seen the ’81 version but I did see the 2008. It was fine, I thought Dominic Cooper was much more of a cad than Greg Wise, but David Morrissey just didn’t do it for me as Brandon. Mind you, I have watched the 95 Sense & Sensibility many, many times.
I used to fly my grandma to FL to stay the winter with her daughter, and I took S&S 95 with me to show it to them. My aunt was in despair at the end because in her view, Marianne should not have married “the old guy.”
I did not speak to her for a while after that. :P
Rickman is my favorite Brandon. I love every bit of casting in that movie (even Hugh Grant, though he sticks out like a sore thumb IMO). I really, really like the Eleanor and Edward in the more recent miniseries, but David M. just isn’t Brandon for me. I can’t look at him without remembering him playing the psychopath in Our Mutual Friend.
Yup. I know what I’m watching tonight, thanks to you. Time to dust off my BluRay and enjoy Brandon and Marianne.
I had a boyfriend, once, who didn’t think Alan Rickman was much of an actor.
He became an ex-boyfriend rather quickly….
.
The first role I saw Rickman in, that made me pay attention to him, was ClosetLand. So when he showed up in this movie, I was all agog. I had not yet read the original novel, so I assumed his character was going to be the “hidden antagonist”
.
I adored him from then on.
I wept when he died. Like I wept for my dad.
I had never even seen any Alan Rickman movie other than Sense & Sensibility and yes, he is actually one of the most “ultimate” men I could possibly dream of. He is absolutely wonderful; I truly mourn his passing all the time. What a sweet and good man he plays in Sense & Sensibility. I adore him.
Then you need to see Truly Madly Deeply. He’s just lovely in that
I think I have seen most of the adaptations and by far Mr. Rickman outshines them all.
Aah, Alan Rickman! I love his Col. Brandon; such quiet longing. And you know he wouldn’t have told Eleanor about Willoughby’s history if he didn’t think it was absolutely necessary. :)
Alan Rickman is definitely my favorite Brandon. I adore him in general (who wouldn’t, after Truly, Madly, Deeply?). But I like David Morrissey’s Brandon as well. I should probably note that I buy him as a sensitive, tragic figure because of a Doctor Who role he played and which I saw before this version of S&S. Without that background, I’m not sure I’d find him as effective.
Where can I find the 2008 version please?
Hulu, the last I knew.
Still grieving for Alan Rickman.
Love Alan Rickman, have watched almost everything he was in and still grieve at his passing. Not sure why people have such a problem with marrying an older man, It was certainly done a lot in that period.
Miss Austen herself says Marianne is not in love with Brandon when she marries him, but she ‘esteems’ him and is head over heels in like. That given it is more than likely she will fall in love with him after the wedding. Respect and a strong affinity is not the worst basis for matrimony.
That given it would take a crazy woman NOT to fall madly in love at the sight of Akan Rickman in a Napoleonic Era uniform!
Marianne: Oh God! I am definitely doing the right thing!
It was this movie that really fueled my Jane Austen fire. I’d seen the Kate Beckinsale version of ‘Emma’, but it was definitely Alan that made me adore this movie. When I first read the book years later, Alan’s portrayal of Brandon that made the most sense. He’s supposed to be 35, and more wise and kind than Willoughby ever could be. The most recent adaptation watered him down, made him almost simpering when he’d look in Marianne’s direction.
Actually, he’s much tougher and more masculine in the 2008 miniseries: he’s almost always riding, hunting, doing falconry, or striding about, and they even show the duel between him and Willoughby.
Aside from that, I have to say it’s weird to see Rickman so praised in this post-Rowling era. He was reportedly great friends with that notorious transphobe, so why is he getting a pass?
Please take random cancel culture BS elsewhere. We can & will praise an actor for his work & that has nothing to do with unrelated shitty ppl.
The way Rickman says “Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad.”
SWOON
Absolutely the best Brandon.
If you want to complete the set, the 1971 version is available on YouTube, although the quality isn’t great. Just search “sense sensibility 1971”. One channel (TV Land Database) seems to have uploaded the whole series as one video, but when I watched it a few years back, I used one of the ones that had it in separate episodes.
I love Alan Rickman’s Colonel Brandon, although I think in some ways David Morrissey is closer to the character from the book. (I have a Lot Of Thoughts about Colonel Brandon – in fact, I made my own YouTube video about him as part of Virtual JaneCon last year.)
Is this even a question? The reading Spenser to the convalescent Marianne scene. Her slightly panicked expression when he says he must away, and she realizes that he has become necessary to her happiness. In the book, Jane says, “Marianne could never love by halves; and her whole heart became, in time, as much devoted to her husband, as it had once been to Willoughby.” I believe it of Alan Rickman’s Colonel.
I’ll preface this by saying that I love Rickman in this and basically every other movie. He is always the perfect choice, IMO.
But I do think that he is (technically!) too old for the role. Rickman was nearly 50 when the movie came out, and the book refers to COL Brandon, I believe, as being in his mid-to-late 30s. I think having the rest of the cast aged-up helps mitigate this quite a bit (and I actually much prefer the idea of an older Elanor- I think it fits her character more to have her not be 19), but I think people who point it out have a fair point.
Cancel culture isn’t really a thing, and whether or not to support a problematic celebrity is a highly personal decision. I like to have the facts, and I know other people do, too. The actors who are currently supporting Danny Masterson, for instance, are showing us exactly what kind of people they are, as Rickman did in his support of Rowling over the years (though obviously the offenses are not exactly on the same level). What people do with that information is up to them.
You get one last chance to stop. You’re drawing wildly random & inaccurate comparisons. Fact is, Rowling’s transphobia became public after Alan Rickman died, so speculating on what he did or didn’t know about her previously private fucked-up opinions is pointless. They weren’t buddies, they had a working relationship. I shouldn’t have to explain this, it’s simple (& yes, cancel culture does exist, you’re soaking in it, duh).
I’ve only seen Alan Rickman in the role of Colonel Brandon. YES, he’s my favorite. I love everything about that movie! That said, I’m interested to see David Morrissey in the role. He’s a good actor and also so handsome. I just feel like everyone else will suffer by comparison with Rickman’s version. But I can only say that based upon speculation and based upon practically ALL the comments to this post!! Definitely an excellent MCM choice!
Colonel Brandon is a very interesting character and therefore Rickman is the only choice.