Nicholas Nickleby

Alberto Cavalcanti's has made a concise version of the story of Nicholas Nickleby for Ealing Studios.

Although Charles Dickens epic novel is judiciously pruned, the flavour and atmosphere remains.

This episodic film has greedy moneylender Ralph Nickleby (Cedric Hardwicke) reluctantly taking on his brother's family after his death in 1830.

Ralph quickly gets a job for nephew Nicholas Nickleby (Derek Bond) as a teacher working for Wackford Squeers. The school is a wretched place and Nicholas soon leaves when a young man Smike is being flogged.

Nicholas and Smike soon get in with theatrical producer Vincent Crummles (Stanley Holloway) and become actors.

Meanwhile Ralph also gets his niece working as a seamstress for low wages. Ralph also uses her to attract the attention of Lord Verisopht so he will borrow money from him.

Soon Nicholas gets wind of what Ralph has been up to. How some wealthy men plan to use and abuse his sister. So he comes to rescue his sister and mother.

Ralph also has a lusty eye for a pretty young woman Madeleine Bray (Jill Balcon) to be his bride. Her father is in debt to Ralph Nickleby. However Nicholas is also in love with her.

The film allows some of the actors to shine even in smaller roles. Stanley Holloway stands out as Crummles as well as Bernard Miles as the nice Newman Noggs. Cyril Fletcher more famous from the BBC television program That's Life is almost debauched as Mantalini.

Of course Cedric Hardwicke steals the film as the dastardly avaricious uncle Ralph. He does his duty to take care of his brother's family, he makes sure they all get to work.

Although the complexities of the novel and the various characters had to be reduced. This is an enjoyably brisk film which is not full of cloying sentimentality. It also shows the harshness and cruelty of life in that era.

Surprisingly this is the only British film version of Nicholas Nickleby made in the 20th century.

It is difficult to dramatize this extensive novel involving so many characters and intrigues, but this has been a successful one, actually succeeding in condensing an unsurveyable human panorama into a fairly perspicuous form, but much of its high quality depends on the general excellent acting. This was both Derek Bond's and Aubrey Woods' greatest roles, but Aubrey Woods is the one who grips and stays in your heart. The film is much inferior to the great Shakespeare company production of 1982, where Roger Rees made the perfect Nicholas Nickleby, but here Smike is more human and natural without unnecessary exaggerations. Cedric Hardwicke is the perfect Ralph Nickleby, almost shockingly convincing in his cold cruelty, while Bernard Miles as Noggs also is a prize winner. Both versions deserve 10 points, but in its realism this film actually beats the 1982 theatre performance, maybe especially for its expert concentration of a vast human universe into just one film. The cinematography is also outstanding, and above all, in all its concise concentration, it has succeeded to remain very faithful to Dickens.

An impoverished family formed by a widow and his two children , a compassionate Nicholas Nickleby : Derek Bond and his sister Kate : Sally Ann Howes are dependent on their wealthy but villianous uncle : Sir Cedric Hardwicke . But the malicious uncle proves to be difficult and cold towards his relatives. Then Nicholas is forced to grow up quickly after his father died and he takes over as head of the family . He is jobless and ultimately gets an employment as an apprentice at an school for boys where they are really mistreated . He soon escapes and in the company of his new friend student Smike run away to a series of exciting adventures and misfortunes , finally joining a theater company .

A decent and nice production based on Charles Dickens classic , the film condenses the exciting plot for mass consumption . Dealing with the hard life during the unjust world of early Victorian England. Well played and competently directed with the unknown Derek Bond able but no outstanding in his agreeable role . The ensemble cast works hard to bring to life this famous novel , giving appropriate performances in an overall light-hearted and lively flick . As Derek Bond provides an acceptable acting as the young who struggles to save his family and friends from the exploitation of his cold-hearted , grasping uncle . He is well accompanied by a good cast , such as : Cedric Hardwicke , Stanley Holloway , Sally Anne Howes , Mary Merral, Cathleen Nesbitt , among others . The picture was well directed by Alberto Cavalcanti who reliably takes on this period piece, delivering an adequate retelling .

There are other renditions as Cinema as Television based on this notorious novel Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby , these are the following ones : Nichola Nickleby 1977 by Christopher Barry with Níger Havers , Freddie Jones , Pauline Moran .The life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby 1982 by Jim Goddard with Roger Rees , Alun Armstrong , Lucáy Gutteridge , Ian McNiece .The Life and adventures of Nicholas Nickleby 2002 by Stepher Whittaker with James D'Arcy, Charles Dance , Pam Ferris , Tom Hollander , Donald Sumpter , Dominic West. Nicholas Nickleby 2002 by Douglas McGrath with Charlie Hunnam , Christopher Plummer , Jim Broadbent , Juliet Stevenson , Alan Cumming , Timothy Spall , Edward Fox

This version of Charles Dickens novel represented quite a departure for Ealing Studios; coming between David Lean's classic versions, between which the most obvious connection was the presence of Bernard Miles.

Directed by 'Cavalcanti', the title design alone demonstrated that Ealing were setting out to make a different type of production from their contemporary dramas and comedies, with Sally Anne Field making a memorable return from 'The Halfway House' and 'Dead of Night'. Aubrey Woods is a suitably lean and hungry Smike, with Alfred Drayton as Squeers rendered almost unrecognisable as a Dickens villain in the classic tradition.

I'm afraid I find myself agreeing with the contemporary post-war reviewers: compared to the two recent David Lean adaptations of Dickens ("Oliver Twist" and "Great Expectations"), this version of "Nicholas Nickleby" is definitely lacklustre, despite a promising cast (Cedric Hardwicke; Sybil Thorndike; Bernard Miles; Stanley Holloway).

I did feel that the musical score for this production really doesn't help. There's nothing much wrong with it as such, but it is distinctly unsubtle. I found it actively intrusive in a number of scenes, interrupting any atmosphere that was being built up with its blatant attempts to steer audience emotions in the direction it thought they ought to go: pathos, tension, romance all came clumping in and clumping out again, to negative effect.

And matters were not improved by the failure of the two young female leads, Sally Anne Howes or Jill Balcon, to display any dramatic ability in this picture. Miss Howes in particular seemed to spend much of the film with a completely blank expression, even in scenes where she was supposed to be in considerable distress, and the entire storyline involving Nicholas's sister Kate was less compelling than it ought to have been as a result.

It is Cedric Hardwicke as Ralph Nickleby, top-billed above young Derek Bond as his eponymous nephew, who makes the most impression in this version of "Nicholas Nickleby". His is one of the few characters to be given depths beyond a surface caricature, and he makes the most of it in a compelling performance. Bernard Miles as his grotesque clerk Newman Noggs (I was reminded of Jerry Cruncher in "A Tale of Two Cities") is also memorable, and Stanley Holloway makes a typically resonant but all too brief appearance as the theatrical Vincent Crummles, incidentally reminding us of the close links between Dickens' novels and the popular Victorian melodrama, with their blend of pathos and broad comedy.

The opening scenes up until young Nicholas leaves Dotheboys Hall show promise; but after that the film declines into a rather thin series of events. I was interested ahead of time to see what Ealing Studios would make of this uncharacteristic attempt to produce a literary adaptation, but I'm afraid the result probably explains why the studio didn't make a habit of it! Worth watching for Hardwicke's talent, as ever; but not a great screen version of Dickens.

A better adaptation was broadcast by the BBC in 2002, featuring Charles Dance as an excellent Ralph Nickleby.