Pride and Prejudice (MGM 1940, Laurence Olivier, Greer Garson)

Jane Austen’s classic comedy of manners Pride and Prejudice is vividly adapted with a charming cast. Five sisters in 19th-century England are all concerned with finding a husband. The most opinionated of the lot (Greer Garson) rejects a man who has been chosen for her (Laurence Olivier) because she finds him full of pride. She changes her mind and wins him when she acknowledges her own pride is hindering her happiness. Huxley was among the writers of the screenplay.

Pride and Prejudice was co-scripted by Aldous Huxley, who garnered his first Hollywood screen credit with the film. He would write only two more screenplays for the studios.

production details
USA | MGM |118 minutes | 1940

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Writers: Aldous Huxley, Jane Murfin
Novel: Jane Austen

cast
Heather Angel as Kitty Bennet
Claud Allister as Mr. Beck
Greer Garson as Elizabeth Bennet
E.E. Clive as Sir William Lucas
Bruce Lester as Mr. Bingley
Mary Boland as Mrs. Bennet
Frank Elliott as Mathews
Karen Morley as Charlotte
Ann Rutherford as Lydia Bennet
Edmund Gwenn as Mr. Bennet
Payne B. Johnson as School Boy
Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane Bennet
Laurence Olivier as Mr. Darcy
Edward Ashley as Mr. George Wickham
Marten Lamont as Mr. Denny
Marjorie Wood as Lady Lucas
May Beatty as Mrs. Philips
Marsha Hunt as Mary Bennet
Frieda Inescort as Miss Caroline Bingley
Edna May Oliver as Lady Catherine de Bourgh
Gia Kent as Anne de Bourgh
Melville Cooper as Mr. Collins
Lowden Adams as Committeeman
Wilson Benge as Flunky
Art Berry Sr. as Footman
Barlowe Borland as Dr. MacIntosh
Vernon Downing as Capt. Carter
Elspeth Dudgeon as Mrs. King
Hugh Greenwood as Canon Stubbs
Ben Hall as Poet
Gwendolyn Logan as Mrs. Stubbs
Louis Payne as Mr. Phillips
Clara Reid as Maid in Parsonage
Buster Slaven as Beck’s Assistant
Gerald Oliver Smith as Col. Fitzwilliam
Wyndham Standing as Committeeman
David Thursby as Groom