Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

blanche-2 I guess a lot of people didn't like this movie. It's a standard Victorian story and follows along those lines.It's 1901. Emily (Lydia Seton) is a young woman with the position of temporary secretary to Lady Maria Byrne (Joanna Lumley). At the urging of her nephew, Lord James Walderhurst (Linus Roache), Emily changes place cards at a dinner, which is held to introduce suitable women to him. He doesn't like any of them and can't stand the thought of sitting next to one of them. Because of this, Emily is not hired for the permanent secretarial position she wanted. Lord Walderhurst walks her home and proposes a marriage of convenience. He is a widower and he has to produce an heir, or the family fortune goes to a ne'er do well cousin, Alec (James D'Arcy).Emily agrees to marry him, and she invites her former roommate Jane (Sarah Ridgeway) to live there as her maid. James has always cared for Emily; now Emily develops feelings for him. When he has to join his regiment in India for a while, Alec and his part-Indian wife (Hasina Haque) bring Emily a letter in which James has asked them to take care of her. They move in.There are some stupid things here. The first one is that Emily knows that James can't stand this guy, even if Emily thinks they're a nice couple. And she does realize soon enough that he didn't write that letter, but she doesn't throw them out. They are in debt and people are chasing them, they explain. The second thing Emily does is tell Alec that she can't swim. Bad.Then Emily becomes pregnant. At first she hides it, but after nearly fainting, she tells them that she is. Now we're talking death knell for Alec inheriting. When Alec becomes ill (maybe, maybe not) his wife brings in an Indian nurse, Ameerah, who starts giving Emily tonics. Like anyone would drink those things. When Alec gets well, he seduces Jane. Great, now Emily is all alone, and now -- NOW she realizes she's in danger.I still liked this because it had an element of suspense, the woman in danger thing one has in these stories. I also agree that she couldn't be more stupid. As the article "The Making of a Lady is Preposterous and Proud of It" says, everyone does these things with a straight face. I never realized Linus Roache was British until this. I think he's a good actor, showing us that this is a gentle, good man, who wants his wife to be happy. James D'Arcy is both sweet and menacing when he needs to be. Lydia Seton is very low key and quite good, keeping the style of the period.Beautifully photographed, this can be a laughfest with its absurd situations and racist views toward Indians, but it does have an element of interest, in part due to the fine acting.

atlasmb Before watching this film, I knew nothing of the story. It proved to be about Emily Fox Seton (Lydia Wilson), a young English woman who married for financial security. As it progressed, it became a suspense story, with Lydia Wilson being the best part of the production.The film includes beautiful scenery and settings. The music adds much to the film's mood. And the costuming is absolutely wonderful.The narrative might have enchanted Alfred Hitchcock, with its foreboding images and a sense of claustrophobia that surrounds Emily as her circumstances change and she begins to feel helpless within her situation.If you like beautifully filmed period pieces, I recommend this film to you.

Daria Morgan I was also surprised by the negative reviews. I admit this movie is a bit different than most... but I was captured from the start. The first half is a wonderful romance followed up by rather a bizarre, if not particularly scary, horror type yarn. It is different but not bad.Emily Fox Seaton is poor and works for the very haughty Lady Maria. Emily knows Lady Maria's nephew Lord James Walderhurst who is, older (50s) and looking for a wife. While doing a favor for Walderhurst and moving a particularly annoying potential bride away from him at dinner, Emily is fired by Lady Maria. Walderhurst, follows Emily home and asks her to marry him. His proposal is as romantic as nails with him basically saying... what choice do you have? Emily accepts and prepares herself for a loveless marriage and her "duty". Thankfully, the relationship unfolds in a tender and pleasing way and they come to share a steady mature love that I was rooting for.But then, Walderhurst goes on a mission to India. Alone, pregnant, and living in a somewhat empty mansion 10 miles from the nearest village she is overjoyed when Walderhurst's cousin and his wife come to visit. Alec will inherit the estate if Walderhurst does not produce an heir and thus is not to be trusted, but Emily is lonely and wants to believe. Things get quite crazy from this point on in the "Lifetime" movie of the week vein. But it doesn't go on long and is very captivating.I found the first half of this film very enjoyable so even if the second seems not your cup of tea I would recommend it.

timewhorl I was recently shown this film by a friend and was very surprised by it, mainly because I am familiar with Frances Hodgson Burnett's other works: The Secret Garden and A Little Princess. I thought it a very strange story for her to have written and very out of character due to the suggestive content. I asked my friend if she had read the book, The Making of a Marchioness, and she said she had tried but found it very dry. As someone familiar with reading "antique" fiction, I decided to give it a try and I am very glad to have done so.The Making of a Lady is quite the travesty of the authoress's original story. The film is a highly romanticized, sexed up affair that really should never have been made, no matter the high filming quality and excellent casting. SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK AND FILM BELOWEmily Fox-Seton is a kindly, good-natured, tall, big-boned woman of respected name but no means. Much of the book is given over to her friendship and boarding with Jane Cupp and her mother Mrs. Cupp, respectable ladies with a room to let. She does not live on a seedy part of town and all who meet her find her very sweet. Lady Maria invites dear Emily who is so indispensable as a secretary of sorts, to her home in the country where she meets Maria's cousin Lord James Walderhurst. He is a gentleman in his fifties who is rather dry and wear a monocle but must marry and produce an heir to his fortune. Of all the women he has met, he finds Emily to be the most complying and understandable and weds her in great style and pomp, for after all, her family name is still highly acceptable.Lord Walderhurst's ungrateful heir apparent and relation Alec Osborn, his Anglo-Indian wife Hester, and her servant Ameerah come to live on the property in a beautifully fixed up house due to Emily's kind heart. Lord Walderhurst leaves as in the filmed version, for India and slowly Alec becomes enraged at all he will lose if Emily has a child. His own wife is pregnant and he desires to be his Lordship. Emily truly is pregnant and Alec plots murder through what appear to be accidents until Hester intervenes on a poisoned milk drink plot. Emily leaves with her very loyal servant Jane Cupp and Mrs. Cupp and goes to live in London to await the return of his Lordship. The Osborns return to India following the birth of a daughter and James returns to find his wife having born him a healthy son, though gravely ill herself. His presence revives her (and leads him to realize his love for her) and all is well. In India, an "accident" happens to Alec with a loaded gun and he dies. Generous Emily calls Hester and the baby back to England, and all live happily ever after.Apart from four very different murder attempts involving a ruined horse that Emily wisely does not ride, a bit of wood left at the top of the flight of stairs where she would walk, a broken rail on a bridge over a deep spot of water, and poisoned milk...one might not recognize the contrived and ruined story they dished out on film. The whole drugging with the milk and seduction of the maid Jane was pointless, as was his Lordship's undying love for Emily (no matter how touching). In reality he was married to her a good year before he realized his feelings could be love, as he is not sentimental. There is no passage between rooms, attempted strangulation, chaining of guns, brutal ride on a horse, murder of a servant and taking over of the house. Emily has the good sense to flee and take her loyal Jane with her and they completely removed her spine for this.I give it 4 out of 10 stars for 4 reasons:1 star for casting, which was well done. 1 star for costuming and sets, which were very accurate. 1 star for location filming. 1 star for filming quality.The other 6 stars are missing because this is not even Ms. Burnett's story. While I do not expect adaptations to be word for word from the original novels, I do expect some of the original plot and behaviors of characters to remain. They could have changed the names and places and put it out like that...I assure you nobody who has read The Making of a Marchioness would have recognized it at all. It is a great disappointment and I hope that the next time it is adapted it will be handled with as much care as the recently produced Little Dorrit.