MGM didn’t just toy with the idea of a *Pride and Prejudice* musical—it went a good way down the yellow brick road of scripting, casting, and finding a composer.

The Pride and Prejudice That Almost Was

Duets on horseback, Philadelphia nightlife … Inside an unmade Hollywood-musical version of the Austen classic, starring Judy Garland and Peter Lawford

By Devoney Looser

Illustration by Chop Choppish Shop

Debates over which screen version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is the best get very ugly very fast. When told Netflix’s upcoming Pride and Prejudice would feature Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden as the “first ginger Darcy,” one Janeite friend of mine snapped, “I hope they make him dye his hair.” I told her I couldn’t disagree more. I’m not sure whether we’re still on speaking terms.

Disagreements such as ours seem to have reached a boiling point this year as the famous film and TV versions of Pride and Prejudice—from 1940, 1995, and 2005—celebrate their anniversaries alongside Austen’s 250th birthday. Most agree that Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (stars of the 1940 MGM version) were outdone by the BBC’s Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth in 1995. Yet it’s by no means a settled question whether Ehle and Firth were supplanted by Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in Joe Wright’s 2005 film.