It's No Jane Eyre

I'm having to grit my teeth to sit through The Ruby in the Smoke, which was shown on PBS this past weekend. I agree with Michelle at Scholar's Blog that the period detail seems great, but the story, itself, isn't exactly grabbing me.

I think I was put off right from the start when a voiceover started to introduce the story. I was worried about having to listen to a narrator, though he doesn't seem to show up very often, if at all, after the beginning. (To give you some idea of how closely I'm paying attention.) I think that the voice belongs to one of the characters, which is also distracting for me. Why? Who? What's going on?

And it also seems to me that Sally is overwhelmed by almost every other character. The Ruby in the Smoke is filled with what might be described as Dickens-like figures. Even characters who appear only briefly before dying seem riveting. But Sally just sort of slogs along without a lot of expression.

Of course, The Ruby in the Smoke probably suffers from coming on the heels of a great production of Jane Eyre. A very hard act to follow.

Update: TadMack has finished watching the movie and written a response at Finding Wonderland.