The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996)

Actors: Diana Rigg (actress), Roger Ashton-Griffiths (actor), Wayne Docksey (miscellaneous crew), Rebecca Eaton (producer), Andrew Davies (writer), Geoffrey Beevers (actor), Neville Phillips (actor), Daniel Craig (actor), John Savident (actor), Ronald Fraser (actor), Christopher Fulford (actor), James Fleet (actor), Craig McNeil (miscellaneous crew), Struan Rodger (actor), Bill Thomas (actor),

Plot: In her filthy cell in Newgate prison Moll Flanders, dubbed 'the wickedest woman in England' tells her story. Born in the gaol, after her mother is transported Moll is raised by the kindly mayor of Colchester and his wife, whose two sons lust after her. She enjoys sex with handsome Rowland, who teaches her that money talks, but, realizing he only wants her as a mistress, she marries his duller brother Robin, who conveniently dies after five years, leaving her wealthy. She goes to London, briefly meeting highwayman Jemmy Seagrove, and marries parvenu draper Daniel Dawkins, but he has huge debts and must flee to France, leaving Moll alone and poor. Moll meets handsome young American sea captain Lemuel Golightly, who marries her and takes her to Virginia and a good life style, along with his mother. They have two children and are blissfully happy until Moll discovers her mother-in-law is also her birth mother. She has married her own brother. She returns to England and poses as wealthy widow Lady Flanders, being proposed to by James Seagrove, who has land in Ireland. Jemmy Seagrove turns out to be a penniless fortune-seeker like Moll but there is love on both sides. He leaves her to resume life as a highwayman but says he will return for her. On a coach to London - which Jemmy robs but secretly gives Moll the other victims' goods - she meets protective banker Mr. Bland, who becomes her next spouse but dies of shock when he learns he has been financially ruined. Moll is left poor and alone again and resorts to crime. Moll moves in with landlady Mrs. Riordan, a robbers' fence, along with fellow thief Jenny Diver, whom she initially meets after stealing the loot Jenny has hidden. The two women steal - and sometimes sleep - together but Jenny is caught and hanged. Moll is depressed and even seems remorseful after stooping to rob a little girl. She takes to rolling rich drunken lechers at the theatre, including Sir Richard Godfrey, who is much taken by her, but she is caught and sentenced to the gallows. In Newgate she sees Jemmy, who has also been captured and whose fate is transportation. Moll prepares to meet her death but Jemmy arrives at the gallows, having 'persuaded' Sir Richard to commute her sentence to transportation. They sail to America together, to see her relatives again.

Moll Flanders (1996)

Actors: Pen Densham (writer), Pen Densham (writer), John Lynch (actor), Pen Densham (producer), John Watson (producer), Morgan O'Sullivan (producer), Stockard Channing (actress), Morgan Freeman (actor), Brenda Fricker (actress), Robin Wright (actress), Geraldine James (actress), Harry Towb (actor), Stanley Townsend (actor), Consolata Boyle (costume designer), Mark Mancina (composer),

Plot: The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest lead Moll to rebel as a teenager, escaping to the dangerous streets of London. Further misfortunes drive her to accept a job as a prostitute from the conniving Mrs. Allworthy. It is there that Moll first meets Hibble, who is working as Allworthy's servant but takes a special interest in the young woman's well-being. With his help, she retains hope for the future, ultimately falling in love with an unconventional artist who promises the possibility of romantic happiness.

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Moll Flanders (1975)

Actors: Harry Fielder (actor), Ian Ogilvy (actor), Hugh Whitemore (writer), Sheila Reid (actress), Jeremy Clyde (actor), Barry Jackson (actor), Keith Smith (actor), Daniel Defoe (writer), Kenneth Haigh (actor), Cedric Messina (producer), Maureen Pryor (actress), Geoffrey Chater (actor), Madge Ryan (actress), David Battley (actor), Julia Foster (actress),

The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965)

Actors: Leo McKern (actor), Derren Nesbitt (actor), Reginald Beckwith (actor), Desmond Llewelyn (actor), Michael Brennan (actor), Bernard Lee (actor), David Lodge (actor), Hugh Griffith (actor), Anthony Dawson (actor), Noel Howlett (actor), Vittorio De Sica (actor), Peter Butterworth (actor), Richard Johnson (actor), Basil Dignam (actor), Cecil Parker (actor),

Plot: Based on Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel of the famed English adventuress Moll Flanders. Moll is first engaged as a maid by an eighteenth-century English family chiefly composed of sex-starved males. She marries the imbecilic second son, who prefers booze to copulation. Too embarrassed to speak the truth of him, she demurely tells friends, "Modesty forbids me to reveal the secrets of the marriage bed." She then meets a rich banker, becomes maid-companion to a count and his lady, and finally weds the banker, but leaves him on their first night together. She then joins a group of thieves, falls in love Jemmy, and becomes their number one asset before she is sent to prison. After she is released, she finds Jemmy, and, in the end, everyone is on an America-bound boat except the banker, who fortuitously dies of a heart attack before he has had an opportunity to alter his will.