“Sense & Sensibility:” Norland Park and Barton Cottage

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on JANUARY 10, 2010

When I was 13, I picked up my first Jane Austen novel–Pride & Prejudice. After that, I was hooked. I bought the Penguin collection of all of her books (the set with orange paperbacks in a box) and didn’t stop until I read them all. These days I’m a fan of the film versions that have been made of Austen’s books, too.

Emma Thompson won an Oscar in 1995 for her screenplay of Sense & Sensibility, and with good reason–it brought the story alive for us in a way no other version had. When the movie opens, we meet the Dashwood sisters–Elinor (Emma Thompson) and Marianne (a young, pre-Titanic Kate Winslet)–who have grown up at Norland Park, where they have known nothing but wealth, security, and privilege.

Norland Park:

Saltram House, the largest country house in Devon (U.K.), was used as the location of Norland Park. It was built in 1743 but expanded on over the generations. It has belonged to theNational Trust since 1957 and is open to tourists. (Photo and information found here.)

We don’t see much of the exterior in the movie–we just get glimpses of it like the one above.

In The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay & Diaries: Bringing Jane Austen’s Novel to Film, Thompson wrote that after filming a sequence that involved a flock of sheep, Ang Lee swore that he would never again use the animals on a movie set. Ten years later, he went on to directBrokeback Mountain (2005), in which the main characters were sheep herders (IMDb).

Marianne (Winslet) is an accomplished pianist who plays dramatically, with feeling, as suits her personality:

An awkward dinner with their stepbrother and his horrible wife Fanny, who is truly insufferable (Jane Austen could write insufferable characters better than anyone!):

Fanny shows her brother Edward (Hugh Grant) around the library and explains her plans to change just about everything about the grand old house when she is mistress of it:

The movie changed Emma Thompson’s life in more ways than one. She met Greg Wise on the set (he played Willoughby, the man who broke Marianne’s heart) and married him in 2003. They have a daughter named Gaia together.

This treehouse on the grounds of Norland Park is one of my favorite “houses” in the movie. I love it! Elinor’s little sister Margaret likes to hide out here:

Elinor and Edward (Hugh Grant) stroll the grounds around Norland Park (and we get another glimpse of the exterior of Saltram House):

When Elinor and Marianne’s father dies, British law dictates that everything go to his male heir. Their older half-brother takes over Norland Park and the Dashwoods–including their mother and younger sister–are evicted. They are given shelter by a generous cousin in Devonshire, and they move into a humble cottage on his property.

Barton Cottage in Devonshire:

Moving to the cottage is not easy. The Dashwood women must suddenly adapt to life without a house full of servants doing everything for them. It’s not all bad, though. As Fanny (Harriet Walter) says in the movie:

“Ooh, a cottage! How charming. A little cottage is always very snug.”

Efford House is the name of the actual cottage used for film. You can rent it for your next holiday! For information and photos of how it looks today, visit the Flete Estate website.

Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman) is so struck by Marianne (Winslet) that he sends her a pianoforte to practice on.

If you haven’t seen the BBC “Sense & Sensibility” miniseries that came out in 2008, I highly recommend it. They can fit so much more of the story into a miniseries than a two-hour movie can. The casting is great, and the cottage used for the miniseries is pretty wonderful, too.

Emma Thompson spent years writing the screenplay for the movie, and it went through countless revisions. The first draft came to 350 hand-written pages.

For the movie, she reportedly wanted sisters Natasha and Joely Richardson to play Elinor and Marianne, but director Ang Lee insisted that Thompson play Elinor instead. Since she was too old to play a 19-year-old girl, the character’s age was changed to 27. At the time, Thompson was 36, so it was still a stretch (as many movie critics pointed out).

Colonel Brandon reads poetry to Marianne on the front lawn as she recuperates from an illness that nearly killed her:

Do you recognize Gemma Jones, who plays Mrs. Dashwood (their mother)? In 2001 she played Bridget’s mother in Bridget Jones’s Diary.

(Speaking of which–did you hear that they’re making a third Bridget Jones movie? Let’s hope it’s better than the second. The third movie will be based on Helen Fielding’s newspaper column, since there is no third novel in the series.)

Do you have a favorite Jane Austen movie? I watch the 1995 version of Persuasionwith Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds when I’m up for a good cry. I pull out Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam when I want a good laugh.

But Pride & Prejudice has to be my favorite. The 1996 miniseries with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is a classic and the favorite of most Austen fans, but I have to admit that the 2006 movie with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden is the one I watch over and over again. How about you?

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all the others I’ve featured, from Jane Eyre to Howards End.

You might also like:

Kate Winslet’s English Cottage in “The Holiday”

Howards End: An Ivy-Covered Cottage in the Country

For Sale: The London Townhouse from Howards End

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The Grand Victorian Mansion in Disney’s “Pollyanna”

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on AUGUST 2, 2009

Welcome to another Movie Monday, when I feature the sets from our favorite films. When I was in the 2nd grade, we watched the Disney movie “Pollyanna” on a giant screen in the gymnasium at school, and I will never forget it. I loved the house so much that for years I fantasized about growing up to live in one just like it someday.

I also liked the positive, feel-good message of the movie, and how Pollyanna changed so many lives in the small town. I hadn’t seen the movie in years until my blogging friend Derek recently sent me a photo of the real house used in it. It led me to watch it again, and the sets did not disappoint. They were just as wonderful as I remembered.

After 11-year old Pollyanna is orphaned, she goes to live with her stern and humorless Aunt Polly (Jane Wyman), who lives in this three-story mansion.

The movie was based on the classic 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter and takes place in 1910, so the filmmakers faced the challenge of recreating the era. They decided to film in Santa Rosa, California, but couldn’t find a three-story house that would work. The solution? A little Hollywood magic.

Believe it or not, here is the actual house they used in the film:

It’s known as the McDonald Mansion and was built in the late 1870s by Col. Mark Lindsay McDonald, owner of Santa Rosa’s water company. According to About.com, the Stick-Eastlake style (a type of Victorian architecture) was meant to evoke the plantations along the Mississippi.

7/11 UPDATE: A reader named Robert Ruiz sent me some beautiful photos of the house that he took today. Here’s how it looks now:

It’s a gorgeous home. (Thanks, Robert!)

The filmmakers decided that the 14,000-square foot mansion could pass for Aunt Polly’s house–with a little help. The top two floors were painted on. That’s right. They were simply a matte painting added in post-production to look like this:

The interior sets were elaborate. Hayley Mills says she had a great time running around and exploring them between scenes, adding that there were several rooms that they never even filmed in.

The screenplay was written by David Swift, who came from an animation background. He painted illustrations of how he envisioned the houses and various sets to look.

The Entry Hall

The illustration above shows how Swift wanted the entry hall to look (from the DVD special features). It’s amazing how closely the sets resembled what he imagined:

Over 300 girls auditioned for the role of Pollyanna. Panic was setting in as they couldn’t find the right actress for the part. Then Hayley Mills was spotted in a British film called “Tiger Bay” and brought in at the last moment, just as another actress was about to be signed. It’s hard to imagine the movie with anyone else in that role.

Pollyanna enters the house for the first time and looks around. She has lived as the daughter of a poor missionary family until now, so this is going to be a whole new kind of life for her.

Aunt Polly opens the front doors:

The Kitchen:

This is one of the illustrations that writer-director David Swift showed to the set designers (above). You can see how the kitchen appeared in the film (below):

A note of trivia about writer-director David Swift: he also wrote the screenplays for both “Parent Trap” movies.

The Conservatory:

The Dining Room:

I love this old photo taken of the dining room during the film’s production because it shows the lighting above the ceiling line:

Aunt Polly’s Bedroom:

You can see the illustration painted of the room (above) and how it appeared in the film (below) with exacting detail:

A wide shot of Aunt Polly’s bedroom (the bed is to the right):

The Parlor:

Sitting Room:

If you’ve seen it, then you know the movie tends to go on and on. It wasn’t just because people had longer attention spans in 1960, however.

Director David Swift says that even he thought it ran too long and wanted to edit a lot of the scenes to pare them down. But Walt Disney loved every minute of it and refused to let Swift cut a thing.

The Side Yard:

Hayley Mills (in the DVD special features) says that she learned life lessons from “Pollyanna” that have stayed with her today about being positive in the face of adversity.

Thanks to Derek of Derek M Design for sending me the house photo that inspired this post!

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all the others I’ve featured, fromThe Parent Trap to Gone With the Wind.

You might also like:

The Original “Parent Trap:” Two Sisters, Two Houses

The Real-Life “Up” Movie House: Interior Photos!

Gone with the Wind: The Inspiration for Twelve Oaks

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