I found this film on TCM and recorded it. I read the book in May and the next month I enjoyed the 2005 version of the film.
The 1940 version is a different story. I started watching the film with one strike against it: I don't like Greer Garson. I think I've only seen her previously in Mrs. Miniver. I can't even tell you why I don't like her.
As expected, I didn't like her as Lizzie. Garson is too matronly looking for one thing. She also seemed very snobby, though I guess that's more the fault of the screenwriter than of Garson.
I had a lot of issues with the screenplay. It's too light--it's played more as a comedy than a social satire. I thought the archery scene (not in the novel) was silly. Afterwards, Lizzie and Darcy seem on the verge of coupledom, until Darcy overhears Lizzy's mother discussing Jane and Bingley and Lydia and Kitty acting outrageously. I also disliked the scene as the family is planning to move when Lydia is disgraced. I hated the scene between Lady Catherine and Lizzie: it's too big a departure from the novel that changes a key element of the plot. I didn't even realize the costumes were inappropriate for the time.
I did like Olivier as Darcy (though not the writing of Darcy.) I also liked Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Bennett, Mary Boland as Mrs. Bennett, and Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
So, overall a disappointment.
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