Dickensians! discussion

This is the thread to discuss adaptations of stories by Charles Dickens. Do you have a favourite film adaptation? Or perhaps a TV miniseries, or radio dramatisation?

Perhaps you like abridged versions, either as a book, or audio. Or perhaps you first read his stories as comics, or graphic novels, or watched a play based on a story?

We can also discuss programmes about Charles Dickens in this thread.

Please share some of your favourites here.

One of my favorites is a musical version of A Christmas Carol called Scrooge. It stars Albert Finney and Alec Guinness. It is my favorite because of a scene where the people are singing "Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much" while they are dancing on Scrooge's coffin!

Here is a link to the song
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkq7WZT...

There have actually been quite a few movie adaptations of A Christmas Carol (and, indeed, of quite a few other Dickens novels as well!) over the decades. My personal favorite one is the black-and-white 1951 version starring Alistair Sim (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044008/ ). My wife, though, would rate the more recent (1999) one starring Patrick Stewart right up there, and rates Stewart's own performance and the character portrayal as better than the Sims counterpart. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0216621/ .

A Dickens TV movie adaptation I enthusiastically recommend is the 1999 BBC production of Great Expectations starring Ioan Gruffudd as Pip (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167187/ ). It was aired in the U.S. on Masterpiece Theatre, which tends to be synonymous with quality adaptations.

Debra, I do like anything with Alec Guinness in, but in this case I have to say that my favourite two film versions of A Christmas Carol are the top two Werner mentioned! I watch at least one of these every year :)

Mind you, I haven't watched them all. There are - fairly incredibly - 20 live action films, 7 animated films, and 23 extant TV versions (the early ones were live, so have been lost). The most recent one, in 2019, was a 3 part miniseries. It had some invented back story and included quite a bit of bad swearing; I really didn't care for it at all :(

Then there are all the versions there have been on stage.

If you LINK HERE, you may find other adaptations you've seen which you'd forgotten about.

I love the Patrick Stewart version too. I have not seen the Alistair Sim version. Thanks for the links.

I don't recommend it but an unusual version of Christmas Carol was a cartoon version with Mr. Magoo. I remember there was a song by Tiny Tim about the Christmas dinner with a tag line in each verse of "and razzleberry jelly".

Debra - I have a DVD which includes the original black and white film plus a "colourised" version of the film with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. His facial expressions are wonderful - those huge desperate eyes!

I don't usually like it when they add colour to a black and white film, but each is good in this case, and you forget, when you're watching the colourised film, that it "should" be black and white :)

Robin - LOL! Isn't it extraordinary, the things which stick in our minds? The Mr. Magoo film doesn't seem to be in the list ... unless it is perhaps part of "Mickey's Christmas Carol", as that seems to include Goofy and Donald Duck too!

Bionic Jean wrote: "The Mr. Magoo film doesn't seem to be in the list ... unless it is perhaps part of "Mickey's Christmas Carol", as that seems to include Goofy and Donald Duck too!"

No, the Mr. Magoo and Mickey Mouse versions are two different productions (though both are animated). I watched the former on TV, donkey's years ago. (and well remember the chorus to that song, Robin! :-) ) It's not great cinematic art, but it is cute.

How about adaptations of our current read, David Copperfield? We've chatted about it in the group read thread, and LINK HERE is where several versions were mentioned.

There's a 2-part miniseries from 1999, with Daniel Radcliffe paying young Davy, before he played Harry Potter. Then there are films from 2000 (Hugh Dancy) and 2019 called called "The Personal History of David Copperfield" (Dev Patel). Has anyone seen that one, because I haven't!

My favorite David Copperfield movie is the 1935 version starring Freddie Bartholomew as the young David. It also has some several more of my favorite actors and actresses including Basil Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Lionel Barrymore.

Is that the one with W.C. Fields as Mr Micawber, Meg? I like that one too :)

Bionic Jean wrote: "Is that the one with W.C. Fields as Mr Micawber, Meg? I like that one too :)"

Yes it is! :)

Well before I knew who Charles Dickens was, before I knew english at all, I discovered A Christmas Carol. I went on a bender, every versions possible and yes, I have seen all the versions mentioned in this thread. When VHS was still a thing I think I had like 20 versions on tapes! My favorite hasn't been mentioned, it is the one with Reginald Owen as Scrooge (1939), the Lockhart family (dad, mom and daughter) as the Cratchits and Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim; I think I like the innocence of this version... and to my mind Reginald Owen is the perfect Scrooge.

I have seen the David Copperfield version with Daniel Radcliffe probably not long after it came out, but I do not watch to much adaptations as I prefer reading that said I discovered Charles Dickens because of PBS and Masterpiece theater and there doing Our Mutual Friend (still is my favorite novel) and I spoiled myself since I couldn't resist watching Bleak House with Denholm Elliot (one of my favorite actor) and then I had to wait years, and years to read it and just before I did I read an intro to another book by Charles Dickens and they gave a major twist away... I was so angry!!! I don't even read the intro to the books first because I don't want to be spoiled, but in another book! Sometimes scholars forget that someone might not be knowledgeable as them and that they are spoiling it for someone else.

If you can't decide which of 400 versions of A Christmas Carol to watch, watch them all! This was put together by someone with way too much time on his hands, for our enjoyment - it's an A Christmas Carolmash-up. As I recall, there are some clips from some, umm... R-rated versions? They're brief, but you might want to watch it before sitting down with the kiddies. But there's also Mr. Magoo, Mickey Mouse, Alistair Sim and all those other Scrooges we're familiar with, as well as esoteric scenes from General Hospital, Laugh-In, the Smurfs, WKRP, Bewitched, SNL, and old commercials. It's a lot of fun to watch and try to recognize where all the clips came from. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF_rK...

Welcome Mary Lou! It's good to see you here :)

Thank for the compilation. It looks quite extraordinary! Perhaps your "R" rated is like our "X" rated.

Do take a peek at our lively group read of David Copperfield if you get a few moments :)

Mary Lou wrote: "If you can't decide which of 400 versions of A Christmas Carol to watch, watch them all! This was put together by someone with way too much time on his hands, for our enjoyment - it's an A Christma..."

Wow, I'm going to have to lose myself in this compilation... too bad some of them are not available readily.

I love A Christmas Carol too! It's one of my favourite stories, and I love watching the movies. Every Christmas Eve I watch the 1951 Alastair Sim version. My favourite family versions are Mickey's Christmas Carol, and A Muppet Christmas Carol. I lost track of how many times we've watched the muppet version since I got the dvd for it! It really is an excellent adaptation, and I loved Michael Caine in it. Scrooge, the musical is one of my favourites too, because like Debra said above, I love the "thank you very much" number while dancing on his coffin!

Meg wrote: "My favorite David Copperfield movie is the 1935 version starring Freddie Bartholomew as the young David. It also has some several more of my favorite actors and actresses including Basil Rathbone, ..."

This is the only version I have seen so far of David Copperfield, but I loved it. W. C. Fields was excellent as Mr. Micawber!

Some other movie adaptations of David Copperfield - If you are reading the book and want to avoid spoilers, save the movie for later viewing after you finish reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYVq... (1969)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CohXI... (1999)

Other versions, including probably the best in 1935, I believe require a subscription charge.


Trailers of silent film versions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vV6Q... - (1911) -SPOILER ALERT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDl3g... (1913)

Renee wrote: "I love A Christmas Carol too! It's one of my favourite stories, and I love watching the movies. Every Christmas Eve I watch the 1951 Alastair Sim version ..."

I think a lot of us feel that way Renee :) Next Christmas I'll think of us Dickensians! watching around the world. It seems a long way off yet though :(

Elizabeth - thank you so much for those. The 1969 version has an incredible cast! I think I must have seen it at some time, but will definitely try to get that on DVD if I can :)

One of the comments says it's hard to follow if you don't know the story, but somehow I don't think any of us will have a problem after our group read! It must be tricky reducing any great Victorian novel to just a couple of hours for the screen. So much has to be missed out. That's partly why it's such a joy to read them, I think, even if the story is familiar.

So now we have finished our group read of David Copperfield, I'm really enjoying watching the TV miniseries from 1999 with Daniel Radcliffe:





The characterisation is just as good as I remember :) Daniel Radcliffe plays the young David Copperfield, and here are some other famous names:

Emilia Fox as Clara Copperfield
Maggie Smith as Betsey Trotwood
Trevor Eve as Edward Murdstone
Zoe Wanamaker as Jane Murdstone
Ian McKellan as Mr Creakle
Michael Elphick as Barkis
Alun Armstrong as Dan Peggotty
Pauline Quirke as Clara Peggotty
Dawn French as Mrs Crupp

I know they have to miss a lot out, but I am missing some of the minor characters. If it was twice as long we could have the friendly waiter, Mealy Potatoes, Mr Mell and his mother, and Mr Creakle's family. (Ian McKellan in that role is amazingly good - he's almost unrecognisable!)

My local library carries the TV miniseries. So, someday, I will get to watch it.

How did I not know Daniel Radcliffe did the miniseries? Maybe it’s not readily available in the states? Or probably more realistic, is I’m not super familiar with all of these classic interpretations, so I didn’t realize it just hadn’t seen it.

I think lots of us feel that way Ashley. He wasn't a big star then - maybe it was even his first role - so it's only if you come to it later that you realise you do know that pudgy-faced moppet (just realised this is British slang - it means "a small endearingly sweet child".)

Debra - I'm sure you'll enjoy it! I watch about half an hour a day, and we've just got up to where David arrives (view spoiler)[ at his Aunt Betsey's. Maggie Smith is superb! (hide spoiler)] "Janet! Donkeys!" :D I really look forward to my watch.

The young Steerforth in this version was played by a 16-year-old Harry Lloyd, who is Dickens's great-great-great grandson - he went on to play Will Scarlett in the hit BBC series of Robin Hood and was also in Game of Thrones, though that one was too violent for me!

PS Do you think the actor who plays the older David Copperfield, Ciaran McMenamin, looked amazingly like Dickens in this? I remember liking this production a lot, I should revisit!

Judy wrote: "The young Steerforth in this version was played by a 16-year-old Harry Lloyd, who is Dickens's great-great-great grandson ..."

That's really interesting! Thanks Judy :) So far I haven't taken to the older David ... but no doubt I will. We've just met Mrs Crupp now, (played by Dawn French) who is an absolute hoot! I think the actors probably had a lot of fun filming this one!

It's definitely time for a rewatch, I think, for anyone who has just completed our group read, and has access to this miniseries :)

I think I didn't realize it was Daniel Radcliffe when I started watching, but recognized him. He is adorable. I got this here in the US through my local library.

England and Scotland have been my favorite places to travel (after Greece- sorry 😄- but I’ve only been there once and have been to GB a handful of times including a college literature course one summer at London College or was it University College? Or something else? I wish I could remember. We could walk to the West End and get last minute college tickets and we were north of the river, but it’s been 14 years so I forget!) I have done memories of hiking a couple miles to a very rural hostel in the Lake District. Lots of sheep!!!

Anyway, my point is, it’s fun to have some British friends to chat with and learn from! I teach my kids the slang I know just for fun. We love the word “que” for some reason. And we love British literature! So thanks for the fun casual conversations and learning we Americans get to do. Haha!!!

It looks like the miniseries is available on Amazon Prime here in the states. I assume you can rent it, but I am a Prime member, so it’s free!

Ashley wrote: "It looks like the miniseries is available on Amazon Prime here in the states. I assume you can rent it, but I am a Prime member, so it’s free!"

Oh! I am a prime member. I will have to look.

Robin wrote: "I think I didn't realize it was Daniel Radcliffe when I started watching, but recognized him. He is adorable. I got this here in the US through my local library."

I'm so pleased you have the opportunity to watch this Robin. Like most adaptations, it takes a few liberties, but it's very enjoyable. I think :)

Ashley wrote: "England and Scotland have been my favorite places to travel (after Greece- sorry 😄- but I’ve only been there once and have been to GB a handful of times including a college literature course one su..."

I've never been to Greece, but some English friends have, and loved it. Your course was most likely to be at "University College, London", I think.

Ah, I love the Lake District too Ashley :) Perhaps we have passed one another halfway up a fell in days gone by! There's a great story co-authored by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins set in the Lake District which would make a fantastic Summer read if someone would like to host it ... It's a hoot! It's called The Lazy Tour Of Two Idle Apprentices.

Whenever we went fell-walking in the Lake District we had to stand up to eat our blackberry jam sandwiches, as the sheep were very partial to them LOL! There were "erdicks and sweddles". (Herdwick and Swaledale sheep - the local breeds.)

I do hope you and Debra can both watch the miniseries of David Copperfield :)

Haha. Ok ok I’ll host that story in the last slot.

Your comment about jam reminds me how much I miss having currant jam and juice easily available. And you have a brand of berry apple juice that is amazing and I can’t find anything like it here!!

Ashley wrote: "Haha. Ok ok I’ll host that story in the last slot ..."

That's brilliant! Thank you so much Ashley :)

LINK HERE for the thread.

My favourite apple juice is Copella - it's thick and opaque and wonderful :)

I purchased a copy of the 1999 miniseries adaptation of David Copperfield as soon as I finished the book. With Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Smith, and Pauline Quirke, I had to have that version. I absolutely love it!

I'm really enjoying it too Katy :) I've just got half an hour left, to watch tomorrow now. I just wish they'd made it 6 episodes not 2, and then they could have included so much more!

Another group is reading DC starting in about a week! I am going to read with them because I have been jealous I didn’t find all of you earlier! Due to my TBI and memory issues, I forget details, so I decided a re-read was in order before watching the miniseries. It’s been 3 years since I listened to this and I forget things!

Well I hope you enjoy your re-read Ashley :) Dickens is Dickens after all, however you read it, but I've really loved reading it here with everyone - and I love how enthusiastic people have been with such great contributions - I'm not surprised you're jealous LOL!

I hope you'll still join in our summer reads - as we'd miss you - and you're leading The Lazy Tour Of Two Idle Apprentices aren't you? :)

I wonder if any of these four short stories have ever been dramatised ...

Judy wrote: "PS Do you think the actor who plays the older David Copperfield, Ciaran McMenamin, looked amazingly like Dickens in this? I remember liking this production a lot, I should revisit!"

I've now reached the end, and agree!! As David gets older, they made his hairstyle identical, didn't they? And I thought the naming of his books was so clever (view spoiler)["London Tales" by David Copperfield was clearly Sketches by Boz, and "Blunderstone" (hide spoiler)] was the book David Copperfield :D

I watched some of the miniseries with Daniel Radcliffe and Maggie Smith (both excellent!). Stopped watching when Dora appeared. I disliked her so much in the book, I did not think I could stand to watch her in the movie.

She wasn't too bad really, Debra. Just smiled a lot. And for some reason the order of events was changed so that (view spoiler)[ her demise was nearly at the end (hide spoiler)].

Is anyone watching an adaptation of a work by Charles Dickens at the moment? Or would you like to come and tell us about one you have really enjoyed?

A new movie version of David Copperfield has been getting good reviews.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...

Hi John,

Oh I'm glad it's got to the States! The film was made in 2019, and we were discussing it back in April, just before our read of David Copperfield. I posted a couple of pictures from it LINK HERE

Sadly I didn't get to see it myself, but remember at least 2 of our English and Scottish members said it was fun, and enjoyable on its own terms - a sort of mad rush through the book. What a contentious title for that article though! Something tells me that journalist does not like - or appreciate - Charles Dickens!

Do let us know what you think, if you get a chance to see it :)

That article is interesting and makes me think of something I had never considered before. The difference between David the character and David the narrator. Did you discuss this when you read? I’m waiting to get half way through before checking in your discussion because I believe you said that’s when you started the daily chapter. It reminds me of Dante’s Inferno. Dante made a big point the distinguish Dante the pilgrim from Dante the narrator. He’s is also telling the story from a future vantage point. I have a lot to think about now!

Ashley wrote: "I’m waiting to get half way through before checking in your discussion ..."

No need to wait, Ashley :) HERE'S A LINK

to the beginning of our daily discussions, one chapter at at time. There are no spoilers for anything which happens after the daily chapter in all 4 threads.

A nice compilation of TV and movie adaptations. I must say that I am in agreement with most of it.

Bleak House was excellent and Albert Finney as Scrooge was great, too.


https://www.townandcountrymag.com/lei...