Pride and Prejudice /

Pride and Prejudice is a 1940 film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name. Robert Z. Leonard directed, and Aldous Huxley served as one of the screenwriters of the film. It is adapted specifically from the stage adaptation by Helen Jerome in addition to Jane Austen's novel. The period of the film is later than that of Austen's novel, a move motivated by a desire to use more elaborate and flamboyant costumes than those from Austen's time period. The film is relatively faithful to the novel; however, the confrontation near the end of the film between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth Bennet was radically altered, changing DeBourgh's haughty demand that Elizabeth never marry Darcy into a hoax to test the mettle and sincerity of Elizabeth's love. In the novel, this confrontation is an authentic demand motivated by Lady Catherine's classism.