Jane Austen in Manhattan Reviews

This weak effort from Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (A ROOM WITH A VIEW) involves two teachers--Pierre (Robert Powell) and Lilliana (Anne Baxter)--battling over the right to bring an unproduced Jane Austen play, written when she was 12 years old, to the stage. Lilliana wants to do it as an operetta, while Pierre envisions an avant-garde piece performed on a stage of foam rubber. The comedy is more befuddling than bedazzling, and it's hard to work up interest in the story or cast.