Trivia for
Pride and Prejudice (1940) More at IMDbPro »

• The studio's first choice for Darcy was Clark Gable.
  
  
• Many costumes designed by Walter Plunkett for Gone with the Wind (1939) were used again the following year in this film for some of the large crowd scenes, although Adrian created the gowns for the principals in this film. A modest budget partially explains why the costumes are not at all accurate for the assumed period of the film and reusing Plunkett's elaborate fashions saved MGM money in making this film.
  
  
• Frieda Inescort, who plays ultra-snob Caroline Bingley, was suffering from multiple sclerosis at the time she made this film.
  
  
• Vivien Leigh was passed over for the role of Elizabeth Bennett in favor of Greer Garson.
  
  
• Phil Silvers was asked to screen test for a role as a vicar despite having a strong New York accent. It turned out to be a cruel prank by studio executives who passed the screen test around Hollywood. In his autobiography, Silvers says "These three minutes were perhaps the funniest I've ever done."
  
  
• According to Edward Maeder, Adrian, the costume designer, asked director Robert Z. Leonard to place the film in a later time period than that of the novel so that the costumes might be more opulent than those of Jane Austen's time.
  
  
• In keeping with the style of screwball comedies, the ad campaign for the film warned, "Bachelors beware! Five gorgeous beauties are on a madcap manhunt!"
  
  

Related Links