David Copperfield

Reading the title and forgetting the year, some people may think this film has to do with the cheesy magician.  Long before magic Davey was levitating Ferraris, Charles Dickens thought up a character very dear and near his heart and named him David Copperfield.  Though the film adaptation directed by George Cukor doesn’t include all the characters and incidents from the novel, it captures the essence of Dickens’ work.

Before David was even born, he destined to face hardship.  His father died while he was still in the womb, leaving just his young mother (Elizabeth Allan) and aunt Betsey (Edna May Oliver) to fend for him.  But Betsey only plans to stick around if the baby is a girl, and she storms out with the wind when David emerges otherwise.  Still, young David (Freddie Bartholomew) becomes a healthy, well mannered boy who loves his mother dearly.  When his mother marries the harsh Mr. Murdstone (Basil Rathbone), David’s happy childhood is turned upside-down.  He is beaten for not knowing his studies and locked in a tiny unkept room away from his mother and dear nurse, Peggotty (Jessie Ralph).  Then his mother dies in childbirth and Murdstone sends him to work and fend for himself in London.  After meeting a few good characters, but finding no happiness there, David makes a long journey to Dover to find his aunt Betsey.

When poor little David shows up at her door worn and tired from the road, she finally shows some affection for him.  She and Mr. Dick (Lennox Pawle) nurse clean the boy up and send him to a good school, where he emerges a smart young man ready to write his first book.  But this smart, well rounded young man version of David (Frank Lawton) still has many trials in his life to fight.

To fit in as much of the novel as possible, the film moves at a rather quick pace.  To me, it felt like David had just arrived in London when he left and suddenly he was an adult.  This rapid pace in the narrative may leave some viewers in a whirlwind, but it is not so much that those with no knowledge of the novel will be completely lost.

What the film does best is establish all these interesting characters.  From the moment we see Aunt Betsey marching through the raging wind, we can see she’s a tough old bird.  We don’t have to see Murdstone whip David before we despise him.  And though Mr. Dick is a very minor character, he is most memorable with his giddy expressions and giant kite flying scene.

Though the film is done well and fans of Dickens may really enjoy it, I found it rather boring.  Perhaps it was quickly moving narrative that prevented me from forming much attachment to any of the characters.  Whatever the case, I would not completely dismiss the film, but would suggest reading the novel first.

“Please God, may I have a home now?”

A Tale of Two Cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

These immortal words from Charles Dickens open the adaptation of his great novel, A Tale of Two Cities.  It’s a tale of rebellion, futile love and sacrifice that the film honors well.

The story opens as the French Revolution looms overhead like a sharpened guillotine.  Lucie (Elizabeth Allan) has just found out that her father is alive and been released from Bastille.  She helps nurse him to physical and mental health back in England and meets Charles Darnay (Donald Woods), a French Aristocrat.  Because of his sympathy toward the peasants of France, Darnay is accused of treason.  His lawyer is Sydney Carton (), a cleaver man who drinks too much, but wins Darnay his freedom.  Both Darnay and Carton fall in love with Lucie, but Darnay marries her and causes Carton to drink even more.  When The Reign of Terror hits France, Darnay is tricked to come back to Paris where he’s sentenced to death by angry peasants who have taken over the judicial system.  Carton is faced with the decision to either let Darnay die and move in on Lucie, or free him by any means possible.

Colman plays a stirring Carton.  This isn’t a character that people automatically decide whether to love or hate, and Colman brings out his great complexity.  He’s triumphant in the courtroom, but romance fails him and it’s not until the final act that the audience can decide whether they can love him or not.

One of the most fascinating scenes depicts the moment the Revolution started.  Throughout the film, their desperation grows until this moment everything snaps.  Everything turns to utter chaos and peasants run through the streets throwing whatever they can find and storming the castle where the aristocrats reside.  As a drawbridge is being closed, people climb and hang off of it and eventually it’s hacked down and the whole courtyard flooded with the angry mob.  The whole scene is wonderfully exciting and a great way to portray a moment in history.

This is a wonderful adaptation of Dickens’s work and Colman plays a stirring Carton.  I recommend this film for anyone who enjoys Dickens or this period in history.

“It’s a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It’s a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.”