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Since the modern world has an aversion to the written word, and Charlie Dickens dense prose can be a bit burdensome for many people, I'd like to refer people to the many fine film adaptations of his novels that are available. Many of them are available as two boxed sets.
Among the ones I'd recommend:
Our Mutual Friend: www.amazon.com/Our-Mutual.../B0009PVZM8
Martin Chuzzlewit: www.amazon.com/Martin-Chu.../B0009PVZL4
David Copperfield: www.amazon.com/Copperfiel.../B00006HAZG
Nicholas Nickleby: www.amazon.com/Nicholas-N.../B00005RIWX
Don't bother with this one: www.amazon.com/Nicholas-N.../B00009MEJ4
And if you have several days to watch some seriously superior theatre -
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by the Royal Shakespeare Company starring Roger Rees:
www.amazon.com/Life-Adven.../B000068QOG
If you can watch any of these and still not care for Dickens, there's something wrong with you.
Among the ones I'd recommend:
Our Mutual Friend: www.amazon.com/Our-Mutual.../B0009PVZM8
Martin Chuzzlewit: www.amazon.com/Martin-Chu.../B0009PVZL4
David Copperfield: www.amazon.com/Copperfiel.../B00006HAZG
Nicholas Nickleby: www.amazon.com/Nicholas-N.../B00005RIWX
Don't bother with this one: www.amazon.com/Nicholas-N.../B00009MEJ4
And if you have several days to watch some seriously superior theatre -
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by the Royal Shakespeare Company starring Roger Rees:
www.amazon.com/Life-Adven.../B000068QOG
If you can watch any of these and still not care for Dickens, there's something wrong with you.
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Re: Adaptations
Tue, November 18, 2008 - 3:08 PMMany adaptations are also available on Netflix - though not the Royal Shakespeare Co's Nickleby - for those who can't afford to buy all that outright. :) -
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Re: Adaptations
Tue, November 18, 2008 - 3:14 PMBuy it used from $7.89:
www.amazon.com/gp/offer-l..._oe_vhs_olp
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Re: Adaptations
Tue, November 18, 2008 - 4:50 PMI actually kinda like Scrooge (1970). Sure it's a syrupy musical but Albert Finney's portrayal of dear old Ebenezer is still the best I've seen.
I have not seen the David Copperfield with WC Fields but it's on its way to me via Netflix. I look forward to it. -
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Re: Adaptations
Tue, November 18, 2008 - 5:54 PMI love Scrooge (the Finney version) too - one highlight is the bell-ringers who spin around and jump as they play. I always wanted to do that.
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 7:53 AMI am partial to Finney's Scrooge as well, he looks so greasy and nasty.
Another great one, if you can find it, was this animated version from 1971:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Ch...1971_film)
It was done in a pen & ink style. It looked like Cruickshank etchings come to life. The ghost of Present scenes were especially good. -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 10:17 AMI love "Scrooge" as well (and Albert Finney was only 34, but crotchety as they come!) Most of the songs weren't show stoppers (though I occasionally burst into "Thank You Very Much!" and "I Hate People!") but the movie captured the book well.
The animated one is on YouTube in its entirety, starting here:
www.youtube.com/watch
Ignorance and Want were nightmare fodder for YEARS. I have idly considered how a Dickens Fair Ghost of Christmas Present could bring them to life.
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 10:44 AMBBC is currently broadcasting a new adaptation of Little Dorrit, with Claire Foy as Amy and Matthew Macfadyen (from the recent P&P) as Arthur Clennam. Episodes are being put on YouTube as they are aired. I've watched episodes 1-6 so far and they're very good.
Have not yet watched it, but Berkeley Public Library has the 1988 version with Derek Jacobi and Alec Guinness available to borrow on VHS. It will be coming out soon on DVD in the UK, no word on when it will be available in the US. -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 10:56 AMThe 1988 Little Dorrit was very good. I'm pretty sure I saw it in a movie theater, where it played for about a week - at 360 minutes, it was a two-parter with an actual intermission. Nice to hear it's coming out on DVD somewhere. -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 11:58 AM<<Ignorance and Want were nightmare fodder for YEARS. I have idly considered how a Dickens Fair Ghost of Christmas Present could bring them to life. >>
We had Ignorance and Want last year and they were remarkably affecting
As someone who has read Little Dorritt several times and seen the adaption more than once, I don't think it's a very good rendering. Good costumes, some imaginative sets, but sucktastic production values and problematic pacing/staging. A lot of good casting decisions, but Derek Jacobi ain't no Arthur Clenam. It's already on dvd -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 11:59 AMI was referring to the 1998 production. Now I'm all excited that there's a new BBC adaptation -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 12:02 PMer 1988 - fingers going into Finching mode
Fun fact! Mrs Finching is from Little Dorrit, - Miriam Margoulies played her in that 1988 version. It was kind of frightening to me to see how close our interpretations of Mrs F were in some places. -
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OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 12:25 PMI seriously *ADORE* Miriam Margolyes! She's an amazing actor.
Did you know she wrote and starred in a one-woman show entitled "Dickens' Women" based on characters from Daddy's books?
www.dickenswomen.com/ -
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Re: OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 12:33 PMThat's CRAZY talk!
You know "there aren't any good women's roles in Dickens"!
(next person who ever tries to say that to me gets a punch in the neck) -
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Re: OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 1:28 PMooh! something else to look up.
Yes, I love her too, Carrie (and thanks for spelling her name correctly) -
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Re: OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 6:01 PMThalassa, have you seen her on "The Graham Norton Show?" Hilarious! -
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Re: OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 7:18 PMCLIPS
Nickleby:
www.youtube.com/watch
www.youtube.com/watch
Chuzzlewit:
www.youtube.com/watch
Little Dorrit:
www.youtube.com/watch
New Trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch
Flora: www.youtube.com/watch
Our Mutual Friend:
Indecent Proposal - www.youtube.com/watch
David Copperfield:
www.youtube.com/watch
En Español:
www.youtube.com/watch
www.youtube.com/watch
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Re: OT
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 6:01 PMRydell, I stand corrected. There are, indeed, no good women's roles in Dickens. I spend hours in agony just trying to think up things for Peggotty to talk about. And Mrs Gamp! What a headache! Dickens' gives me absolutely *nothing* to work with! -
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Re: OT
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 12:34 AMDanny Collier gave a wonderful performance of the DC clip as our little Davy for two years- before the little bugger got taller than I am...
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 6:28 AM>>We had Ignorance and Want last year and they were remarkably affecting
I completely MISSED 'em. (I just didn't coincide with the Christmas Present scenes.) How was/will it be done? -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 7:17 AMJonathan and Shayly managed to be inside Bob's robes at the right time. The effect was great. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:38 AMI just realized that, except for being wished Happy Christmas by Mr. Scrooge nearly every day, "'a-a-appy Christmas, Mr...Scrooge? Laws, was vat Mr. Scrooge? Looked a bit like 'im, but he was...smiling!), purposefully making time to watch Belle's scene once in Fezziwig's and occasionally being very freaked by the presence of Marley or Christmas Yet to Come, I didn't see the Christmas Carol scenes at all last year--most years I've caught all of them through the course of the Fair, some several times. I'll have to seek out Christmas Present especially this year. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 4:31 PMYes, you should. I hear that Mrs. Cratchitt is HOT. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 7:25 PMErm..."Stupid Twist"...100%-ly wrecks the whole Monks character. Absolutely re-writes Dickens. Monks never kills his father,nor does his mother. ( Edwin Leeford dies abroad of some ailment. ) Also, Monks never molests Rose Maylie in her sleep...at that point in the story,he has no idea whom Rose is. I watched it,right after reading the book,and was apalled. ( Amazing,since I don't really care for Dickens,but the liberties were horrid. ) -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:16 PMErm ... you might try using the threaded view. Your replied to a discussion about the Cratchitts and Ignorance/Want. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:20 PMKarsten - not everyone uses the threaded view. I don't - in fact I'm actually able to follow several different topics going on at the same time. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:25 PMYes, but it is very jarring for those who do to see a reply like this, thinking it might somehow actually be a part of the conversation that Beth and I were having, and then find that it is a part of the conversation several pages down. Or, on a different thread, watching a long time participant berate a newbie about wanting to join the "Workers" tribe, only to find out that he was making a friendly joke with someone half a page up.
Just trying to help people realize that they are affecting others.
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:34 PMHere are links to screenshots of what we see:
people.tribe.net/659e0932-...b36bd922bd
people.tribe.net/659e0932-...17566a9269
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 9:03 PM<<- not everyone uses the threaded view.>>
That's true. I use the 'newest first' option. I find it helps to add a quote (see above), if you can't take the time to do that, then there's always the option to change your view and try to sort out where that odd reply fits. The main issue I have with the 'threaded' view, is that it doesn't apply after 20 replies or so...and then you're back to wondering how a reply fits into the conversation.
(funny this tangent should come up in a thread about adaptations...) -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 9:50 PM"(funny this tangent should come up in a thread about adaptations...)"
Ah Tangents, the internet would never have been half as interesting as it is if not for tangents.
:-) -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 9:55 PM: )
That's in reply to all of you....
(gotta love a tangent!)
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 9:51 PMExactly so, Denisey (for those playing along at home that is in response to the "threaded screws" thread) -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 10:01 PMSo, call me old fashioned, but, before this Web nonsense, it was considered rude, on the internet, to interrupt another's conversation with a non sequitur, which is, in effect, what happened. I know, I am not the "politeness police". I guess I like to believe in the goodness in people that they might at least say "oops". -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 11:47 PMKarsten, you are old-fashioned. :-)
See ya Saturday
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 3:23 PMI'm an Alistar Sim fan (A Christmas Carol-1951 B&W); my first Dickens film adaption. Still warms my Christmas spirit.... -
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Re: Adaptations
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 3:25 PMNo holiday season is complete without Mister Sim.
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Re: Adaptations (I am not making this up)
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 10:46 PMwww.amazon.com/Barbie-Chr.../B001B7CNZQ
"Barbie™ in A Christmas Carol is a heart-warming adaptation of the classic Dickens story filled with cherished Christmas carols, fabulous fashions and lots of laughs! The tale stars Barbie™ as Eden Starling™ the glamorous singing diva of a theatre in Victorian London. Along with her snooty cat, Chuzzlewit, Eden selfishly plans to make all the theatre performers stay and rehearse on Christmas Day! Not even Eden’s costume designer and childhood friend Catherine can talk Eden out of her self-centered tantrum. It’s up to three very unusual Christmas Spirits to take Eden on a fantastical holiday journey that will open her heart to the spirit of the season and the joy of giving. Barbie™ in A Christmas Carol is a family favorite to enjoy every holiday season! " -
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Re: Adaptations (I am not making this up)
Wed, November 19, 2008 - 10:57 PMSweet swirling circle skirts! Blasphemy! -
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Re: Adaptations (I am not making this up)
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 6:30 AMGood Lord, but I hate the Barbie movies. They are soulless and disrespectful of both the source material and the tween girls who are their intended audience, AND the animated Barbies LIVE in the Uncanny Valley. They'd be sucky with live actors or traditional animation, they are CREEPY with CGI Barbies.
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Re: Adaptations (I am not making this up)
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 7:19 AMI saw the commercial for this, turned to my wife and forbid my daughter from owning a copy. -
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Re: Adaptations (I am not making this up)
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 8:41 AMWe have allowed Catherine to rent various movies. I stay in the room with her (the messages are fairly innocuous, though they ARE hour-long commercials for the tie-in dolls), making the occasional snark about how freaky everyone's face looks. -
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Re: OT: Barbies
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 9:16 AMThankfully we haven't hit this stage yet, but I am dreading it.
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 10:06 AMOf the stage versions of A Christmas Carol I have seen my favorite is:
A Christmas Carol: Scrooge and Marley by Israel Horovitz
www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp
I first saw this adaptation when I was in college. The production was designed by Edward Gorey so you can imagine how wonderful the set was.
What I most like is that Marley is the narrator and keeps popping up throughout the work. Through his voice we get much of the wonderful descriptive passages that are so often missing from other adaptations.
I don't see it produced very often - most armature companys seem to prefer making there own adaptations. Too bad they are missing out on this one. -
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 3:03 PMVotes for:
Alaister Sims version of "A Christmas Carol". ( He pretty much rocks in any film. )
David Lean version of "Oliver Twist" ( aka "The Alec Guiness one"! w/Anthony Newley ( yes,that one.) And Robert Newton ( Long John Silver himself ) as Bill Sykes.! ). Dark and Gloomy! ( Takes some plot liberties...but not too many. )
There is also a 1980's BBC "Oliver Twist" - around 8 hours worth - which is decent. Definitely tries to contain EVERY character! Usually found at Borders Books for around $10 - a bargain. Features Eric Sykes as Fagin ( Prof.Moriarty in THE Sherlock Holmes television series. ) and Lysette Anthony as "Rose Maylie".
AVOID:
The really stupid BBC / Masterpiece Theater version of "Oliver Twist" with the 2 hour prologue of stuff Dickens never wrote and far too many suppositions that make no sense!
"Oliver!" - seriously. Does for Dickens what "Mary Poppins" does for Chimney Sweeps! And A happy ending? Get stuffed!
NEUTRAL:
Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist" - interesting take...but too much of a thinly veiled morality tale about Roman's youth and the taking over of Poland in W.W.II. Plus he cuts out TONS of plot. But,the costuming isn't bad.
"Scrooged!" a modern - circa 1980's - version of "A Christmas Carol" , featuring Bill Murray. Has it's moments. Has it's failures.
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Re: Adaptations
Thu, November 20, 2008 - 3:09 PM"The really stupid BBC / Masterpiece Theater version of "Oliver Twist""
Ugh. Good Monks, though.
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 12:35 AMI've always been partial to the muppet xmas carol, myself- no, really! -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 12:03 PMAmy, I agree with you on that. :D
The 1988 (or thereabouts) Little Dorrit was very good. The newest Bleak House was good as well, if you can just accept all the "whooshing" around. -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 12:45 PMOh, please don't bring up the newest (2005/2006) "Bleak House." It was a travesty.
"Muppet Christmas Carol," however, will always be a classic. -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 1:05 PMComparing the most recent "Bleak House" to the prior BBC adaptation gives me the vapours.
It happens all too frequently these days - if you start to deviate from the author's words - and more importantly, situations, characters, relationships, &c - you are forced to make things up. In 99% of those cases you're going to do something vastly inferior to what the author created. Heck, they couldn't even get Esther and Lady Deadlock to resemble one another (although GIllian Anderson made a remarkably good Lady Deadlock). Don't get me started...
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 1:07 PMI agree about Muppet Christmas Carol; its anachronisms were silly and purposeful, as opposed to so man adaptations that have NO CLUE what Dickens' world must have really been like.
And "It Feels Like Christmas" and "One More Sleep 'til Christmas" are lovely songs for the season. -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 1:07 PMmake that "so manY adaptations!" -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 1:58 PMKarsten old buddy old palsywalsy...since the entire discussion is all about "Adaptations" ...I believe I was adding to said conversation...until you dropped in between Rydell and I ...which was sort of rude. ( Said tongue in cheek for the easily offended. )
Ooops, I did it again. -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 2:49 PMI have to admit that the first Christmas Carol I ever saw was the Mister Magoo one...with razzleberry dressing. -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 3:13 PMI liked the Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. I just like him ; ) Good special effects, too.
I *loved* Cloris Leachman as Madame Defarge....
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 4:15 PMPatrick Stewart could just stand there and read the London phone book - I'd sit at his feet in ecstasy -
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Re: Adaptations
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 5:18 PM<<Patrick Stewart could just stand there and read the London phone book - I'd sit at his feet in ecstasy >>
So it's not just me? Nice to be in such fine company whilst swooning... ; )
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Re: Adaptations Mr Magoo
Fri, November 21, 2008 - 4:26 PM
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Re: Adaptations
Sat, November 22, 2008 - 9:18 PMI was lucky enough to be given the Life and Times of Nicholas Nickleby by a board member at work and have been watching it the last two weeks. It's sooo good! I want to see more work by all these actors !
Robin
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Re: Adaptations
Sun, November 23, 2008 - 2:54 PMRSC's Nicholas Nickelby will always be my favorite. Close second will be the creepy 1970 animated Christmas Carol - man that scared the hell out me as a young lad - in a good way.
I'm also rather partial to 'Scrooged'; it's got some great quotable quotes.
"All day long I listen to people give me excuses why they can't work. My legs hurt. My back aches. I'm only four."
