Did you notice?

Sharpen your powers of observation! Here are some things to watch for...

• No envelopes please.When Jane receives her first note from Caroline Bingley, she opens an envelope and extracts a notecard. Wrong era! Envelopes weren't used for several more decades. Note paper was simply folded into a square and sealed with wax.
  
  There is a similar problem with all the letters that are received during the course of the movie via post. It cost *extra* for a letter with more than one sheet, and the recipient had to pay for it. Thus, the writer would write first horizontally across the sheet of paper, then turn it 90 degrees and "cross" his/her lines, writing across what had already been written. It cut the amount of paper in half, thus costing less. None of the letters in the movie are thus crossed, they are huge sheafs of paper written in broadly spaced lines, which would have cost a fortune.
  
  
• Too clean, too soon. When Lizzy arrives at Netherfield after her walk, her dress is "six inches deep in mud". Surprisingly, however, by the time she enters the dining room to report on Jane's condition, her dress looks quite clean and well-pressed. (Remember, this is before Bingley sends to Longbourne for her clothes.) What happened to all the mud? Did she clean it off while she was visiting Jane?
  
  
• Fun with fringes. Watch for Lydia playing with the fringe on the shoulder of Wickham's uniform during the party at the Philipses. It occurs right after Mr. Collins has talked about the "small summer breakfast room at Rosings" while Lizzy and Wickham are sharing a smile across the room.
  
  
• No, she's just tired. At home, following the Assembly Room Ball, and in the middle of the Netherfield Ball (in the dining room after being chased by the officers), Lydia exclaims a phrase that sounds like "Lord, I'm so FAT!" Actually, she is saying "I'm so FAGGED" which means that she is tired, or exhausted. (Look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me!)
  
  
• Speedy Mrs. Forster. In the receiving line at the Netherfield Ball, after Mr. Collins is introduced to Caroline, we hear her greeting Mr. and Mrs. Forster. (We also see them in line after Mr. Bennet as the camera pans backwards.) We don't see the Forsters walking into the ballroom before Lizzy and Jane, but when the two sisters enter the ballroom, we see Mrs. Forster, already inside at the back of the room, chatting away with the officers as if she's been there for quite a while.
  
  
• A hairy situation. A hair was trapped in the lens of one of the cameras filming Lizzy and Darcy's dance at the Netherfield ball. If you look carefully, you can catch a glimpse of it (a short black jagged line) hanging down from the top of the television screen.
  
  
• The nodding head. Right at the beginning of Elizabeth and Darcy's Netherfield ball dance (while they are facing each other waiting to dance the first steps), Jane (standing in the background) nods her head twice in slow motion. Since much of the footage from the camera with the hair trapped in the lens was unusable, it was probably necessary to play the fragment of film in slow motion in order to cover as much time as possible.
  
  
• The light in the mirror. Watch the mirror behind Lizzy and Darcy when they are dancing at the Ball and you will catch a glimpse of the bright set lights from the filming crew. (The flash of light occurs in the bottom right corner of the mirror, right after Darcy says: "Do you consult your own feelings in this case or seek to gratify mine.")
  
  
• The broken clock. During the first proposal scene, in the parlour of the Collins' house, the hands of the clock on the mantlepiece above the fireplace do not move. It reads the same time for the duration of Darcy's visit. (It has been suggested that it was probably too complicated to adjust the clock to the correct time during each take when filming.)
  
  
• Desk discrepancy. During the letter-writing scene, Darcy walks to the desk in his bedroom and approaches the left side of the chair. The camera then cuts to a close-up but in the close-up, he sits down at the desk from the right side of the chair.
  
  
• Teared drapes. In the same letter-writing scene, if you look carefully at the drapes hanging on the wall above Darcy's bed, you can see some dark horizontal tears in them. (Pause the VCR after Darcy says: "most painful circumstances" and you can see the tears behind his head.) Surely Lady Catherine would not have allowed those!
  
  
• The missing floor. When Darcy returns to Rosings Park after the first proposal, he climbs up two flights of stairs (one outside the building, one inside the building) to his room on the second floor. Later, when he looks out his window while writing the letter, the window from his second floor room is on the first floor!
  
  
• Strange noises. At the end of the letter scene, when we hear Darcy saying: "This, madam, is a faithful narrative of all my dealings with Mr. Wickham," there are some mournful cries in the background. What is making that noise? Use your imagination! Ideas of the creators of the sounds vary from peacocks (which were common lawn ornaments) to foxes.
  
  
• The invisible guest. The morning after Darcy's first proposal, Lizzy enters the breakfast room at Hunsford. Only Lizzy, Charlotte, Mr. Collins and Maria are in the room and only the latter 3 are at the table. When Lizzy takes her leave to go for a walk listen carefully to the soundtrack. Another recording has been used in place of the one done during the filming of this take. You hear someone sipping (slurping?) tea and yet no one at the table is drinking!
  
  
• Food problems. In the same scene as above, watch Maria Lucas as Lizzy turns away from the table. She seems to have a full mouth and appears to be choking on her food - and restraining herself from coughing it up (perhaps to avoid ruining the take).
  
  
• How far is it to Pemberley again? When Elizabeth introduces Mr. Wickham to her Aunt Gardiner at the Christmas party, they have a conversation during which it is established that Mrs. Gardiner grew up in Lambton to which Wickham replies: "Why that's not five miles from where I grew up, Pemberley." Later, in carriage, during the trip into Derbyshire, Lizzy is amazed when her aunt says that Lambton is but five miles from Pemberley. Then, at the Lambton Inn, Mr. Gardiner asks the servant, "How far are we from Pemberley?" (remember, he was in the carriage too!) to which she replies, "Not more than five miles, sir." Finally, the distance is reinforced one last time during Elizabeth's meeting with Bingley at the inn during which he exclaims, "I can't tell you how delighted I was when Darcy told me you were not five miles from Pemberley!"
  
  
• A Lady in disguise. During the tour of Pemberley, the housekeeper shows Lizzy and the Gardiners the writing table where "Mrs. Darcy" used to write her letters. However, Mrs. Darcy was not a Mrs.! Her name was Lady Anne Darcy and she would keep the title of "Lady" even after she married a mere Mr.! If word of this breach of protocol ever reached Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Lady Anne's sister), I'm sure she would have been most seriously displeased.
  
  
• A fast walker. After the surprise meeting between Lizzy and Darcy at Pemberley, Darcy comes out of the house in the next scene quite well-dressed. Even if he didn't change his shirt, it would take quite a while to take off his boots, change his trousers, and replace the boots, along with the rest of his toilette. In addition, he also had to walk from the meeting place around to a door, up to his dressing chamber and then back down again - and he did all this before Lizzy reached her carriage. Is this physically possible?
  One explanation is that Darcy entered through an unseen side door, sprinted to his chambers, jumped into dry clothes and took a short-cut through the inner court yard, while Lizzy and the Gardiners had to walk around the perimeter of the building. In addition, it is quite likely that they had to wait for the carriage to be brought around. (More)
  
  
• The shortened walk. At Pemberley, Darcy, Elizabeth and the Gardiners go for a short walk together. When Elizabeth and Darcy begin walking to the woods after looking at the lake, they start talking at the same time. Darcy says: "Pray, continue..." to Elizabeth but when the camera cuts in to a close up for Lizzy's reply, they are much (at least two stairways) further along the path.
  
  
• A memory lapse? After the dinner at Pemberley, Caroline reminds Darcy that one night after Lizzy had been dining at Netherfield, he had commented: "I'd as soon call her mother a wit." However Darcy's statement was made after the Assembly Room Ball, not after a dinner party at Netherfield!
  
  
• Lizzy's looks. Watch the expression on Elizabeth's face during the actual "look" (when she's standing at the piano with Georgiana after Caroline's comment about Wickham). Then, compare it to the expression which Darcy "sees" as he remembers it during his midnight stroll. In his memory, Lizzy's facial expression is more ambiguous. This is probably a reflection of Darcy's state of mind; he is uncertain of her feelings for him.
  
  
• What would Caroline say? While Darcy is dressing (following the dinner at Pemberley with Elizabeth and the Gardiners, the camera shows the hallway (the yellow hallway with the white banister) then moves to Darcy dressing in front of his mirror. Why would Darcy be dressing with the door wide open? What would Caroline say if she passed by?    Click here for an interesting possiblity!
  Note: Also look for the dog lying by the bed!
  
  
• Relative confusion. In Jane's letter to Lizzy in Derbyshire, she writes that her nieces and nephews are keeping her busy. However, since they are the children of her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, they are not her "nieces and nephews" but her cousins!
  
  
• A troubled horseman. Watch for the Express horseman struggling to mount after delivering Mr. Gardiner's letter. The stirrups on the horses were placed very high (probably to enhance posting while in a trot) and as a result, the only way to mount a horse without help was to jump up, do a belly flop onto the saddle and maneuver your leg around until you were facing forward! (Generally, however, there was a hitching ring, with a step placed beside it, beside the front door. This made it possible for riders to mount in a dignified way without assistance.)
  
  
• Time Travel. At the end of Episode V, after Mr. Gardiner's letter arrives, Jane and Lizzy discuss its consequences together before going to sleep. Then, at the beginning of Episode VI, we see Jane and Lizzy wearing the clothes they wore when the letter was first received, talking to Mrs. Bennet about the contents of the letter for the first time. Although the scene should take place the next day (since they had already retired for the night at the end of Episode V), it seems as if we have travelled back in time to the previous afternoon since it is unlikely that they would wear the same clothes two days in a row and it is even more unlikely that they would wait until the next day before telling Mrs. Bennet the news about her beloved Lydia.
  
  
• Modern cornfields. In the 2nd proposal scene, the cornfield in the background is planted with modern equipment. They would not have had close, laser-straight rows of corn in that era.
  
  
• A plant where?! At the very end, while Darcy and Elizabeth are walking to their carriage, Georgiana throws a leafy twig at them. The twig gets caught on Lizzy's dress in her chest area and remains there while they climb into the wedding carriage.
  
  

Thank so much to everyone who has sent me suggestions and information for this list. I am exceedingly grateful! And thanks also to the sharp-eyed citizens of The Republic of Pemberley their input.

Your contributions to this list are welcome! Please e-mail them to me.

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