Film

Joseph Andrews

Name: Joseph Andrews
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Released: 1977
Cast: Ann-Margret, Peter Firth, Michael Hordern, Beryl Reid, Jim Dale

Satire

A bawdy 1977 adaptation of Henry Fielding's picaresque novel, all prancing footmen and grabby aristocrats. Joseph Andrews is a good-natured romp through Georgian England where virtue (and a handsome face) prove surprisingly durable against relentless seduction. It's slapstick morality comedy, cheerful and a bit silly, for anyone who finds Jane Austen too restrained.

If you liked this

Tom Jones1963

The obvious ancestor: another Fielding novel adapted with the same bawdy energy, style-conscious direction, and genuine affection for its randy, resourceful hero navigating an obstacle course of desire.

But The 1963 filmmaking style — swishy, self-consciously clever — feels more dated than Joseph Andrews does, and at two hours forty it demands serious patience.

Sense and Sensibility1995

Emma Thompson's adaptation shares the same world of Georgian manners, marriage-hunting, and satirised social pretension, but plays it with genuine emotional weight underneath the wit.

But It's restrained where Joseph Andrews is wild, romantic where this is comedic. You want the energy turned down, not up.

The Deceivers1988

Another Merchant Ivory period piece with James Wilby (who has that same ingenuous charm), exploring how a good man gets pulled into corruption. Period detail, moral complexity, and genuine stakes.

But It's set in India, heavy with colonial guilt, and nowhere near as funny. A very different mood entirely.

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Barry Lyndon1975

Both adapt classic picaresque novels using their period setting not as backdrop but as the point — characters moving through a world that judges them by rules they half-believe in. Barry Lyndon is the dark mirror: what if the rogue was truly amoral, and beauty couldn't save him.

Kubrick's portrait of an Irish rogue using eighteenth-century painting techniques — it's the same picaresque tradition as Joseph Andrews, but presented as high art. Astonishing to look at, utterly singular.

But It's painterly and slow where Joseph Andrews is fast and comic. Two hours of ambition and cruelty where you wanted lightness and virtue. Very demanding.

A Room with a View1986

Merchant Ivory again: young people, period setting, social constraint versus desire, and the same belief that goodness and passion aren't opposites. Visually ravishing.

But It's sincere and romantic rather than comic. If you came for the slapstick and bawdiness, this will feel slow.

Restoration1995

Robert Downey Jr. as a good-hearted man in Restoration England, tempted by pleasure and corrupted by the court. Similar period, similar moral arc, but darker and more tragic.

But It's genuinely bleak where Joseph Andrews is cheerful. The beauty doesn't compensate for the suffering if you want comedy.

The Madness of King George1994

Late-eighteenth-century British court comedy-drama with a strong ensemble cast, clever dialogue, and real affection for its period and characters despite satirising them.

But It's political and focused on monarchy rather than common folk. Less bawdy, more intellectual.

The Rake's Progress1945

Rex Harrison in a satirical take on a young man's fall through Georgian society, with visual style and period detail, and the same underlying morality-play structure.

But It's in black and white and considerably darker. The comedy is drier and the mood more cautionary than joyful.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover1989

Same world of appetite and hierarchy, but Greenaway strips away comedy and goodness entirely. Where Joseph Andrews says virtue is real and matters, Greenaway asks if anything matters but power and stomach. Both obsess over food, desire, and the body as text.

Peter Greenaway's baroque, violent, gorgeously composed film about appetite, adultery, and class — it's Fielding filtered through '80s avant-garde cinema. Operatic and transgressive.

But It's graphic, cruel, and completely joyless. If you watch Joseph Andrews for warmth and comedy, this will feel like being assaulted by a beautiful monster.