Our Mutual Friend

I thought this version was much superior to the 1998 version. Enough time was taken so that minor characters like Fascination Fledgby, Jenny Wren, Charlie Hexam, Mrs. R.W., and Mr. Twemlow could be fully realized. In the shorter, later version even the main characters get short shrift sometimes. In this one Mr. Boffin's descent into miserliness is given plenty of screen time, as is his relationship with Silas Wegg (Alfie Bass having a very good time in the role). The acting is wonderful by all the cast, but I must give top marks to the incomparable Leo McKern as Mr. Boffin. A young Jane Seymour is perfectly cast as Bella Wilfer, and has good chemistry with John McEnerny as a compelling John Rokesmith. Lesley Dunlop brings both strength and sensitivity to the role of Lizzie Hexam. Warren Clarke is chilling as the obsessed Bradley Headstone, and Nicholas Jones catches all of Eugene's conflicted soul. Like another reviewer, I am lobbying the BBC to bring this out on DVD.

"Our Mutual Friend" is the story of a drowned heir to a fortune. On his death the fortune goes to an illiterate servant named Boffin. Boffin (Leo McKern) brings two young people into his home: (1) Bella Wilfer (Jane Seymour), the intended (by will!) of the deceased; and, as his secretary, the mysterious John Rokesmith (John McEnery).

The cast is uniformly good, though I wish I could make two baseball-like transfers from the 1998 version, viz. Keeley Hawes as Lizzie Hexam and Kenneth Cranham as Silas Wegg--especially since Wegg is one of my favorite characters in all Dickens. But, alas, one can't have everything.

The post-"Live and Let Die" but still young Jane Seymour is exceptionally lovely here and very good, though with little sense she was an international superstar in waiting despite her Bond experience.

John McEnery, whether playing Mercutio or Kerensky or Rokesmith, is always worth watching. And Leo McKern was born to play a Dickens character.

The bad: well, it's 1970s British TV. That means it has long, stagey sections on videotape with occasion exteriors on grainy film. This encourages some overacting. Jenny Wren, for instance, a mere annoyance in the book, is here an outright aggravation. But then, some of Dickens' creatures simply don't travel well to another medium. I occasionally feel like drowning Mister Sloppy.

Fortunately, Seymour and McEnery dial back their performances for the small screen. Both are perfect. I hadn't seen this version before I read the book and I envisioned someone like McEnery for the role.

As for Alfie Bass in the pivotal role as Silas Wegg, he's Alfie Bass and his Wegg lacks the darker shading of the 1998 Wegg, who is also, strangely enough, funnier. But no adaptation of Dickens is perfect.

Even if the adaptation didn't work, anybody who does try to adapt the work of Charles Dickens deserves a brownie point for trying. Dickens is not easy to adapt, and the bigger and richer the book the more complicated it gets to adapt it. Our Mutual Friend, like Bleak House(which if remembered correctly is even bigger), is one of those examples. And fortunately this 1976 adaptation is an example of Dickens being adapted very well, same goes for the 1998 adaptation.

One of the things that was so good about Our Mutual Friend(1976) was its atmosphere, done in a way that is both compellingly real and powerful. It is true that the 1998 adaptation has a better contrast between the rich and the poor, but the atmosphere there didn't quite feel as powerful as it did here. The costumes and sets are beautifully produced and natural, not too clean or stage-bound and the camera work is splendid and stylish throughout, never once showing its age. The music at the start is appropriately brooding, and from then on it really fits the atmosphere and moods of each scene, and if a scene needs an intimacy it's either used sparingly or not used at all.

For any film or TV series to adapt source material, it should not only be a solid adaptation(and this doesn't mean word for word, true in spirit works just as well) but work on its own too. Our Mutual Friend(1976) does wonderfully at both. There are a few omissions but essentially this adaptation is very detailed- it was great to see some scenes that were not there in the later adaptation- and faithful in spirit. As well as told intricately and compellingly, with stately dignity. The dialogue is rich in flavour with moments of elegant comedy and heartfelt tragedy, done in an intelligent way and it is Dickenesian all over. As with other BBC adaptations from a similar period of Dickens' work, the series is long and quite lengthy with some slowness but considering the length of the book that is appropriate.

Excellent performances also help, and Our Mutual Friend(1976) has them. You can never go wrong with Leo McKern, Warren Clarke does besotted and chilling brilliantly and John McEnery's restraint and quiet authority more than compensates for that he is too old for the role. Lesley Dunlop is an appealing and appropriately honourable Lizzie, she doesn't play her as too meek like Dickens heroines can fall into the trap of being(to me how he wrote his female characters was Dickens' weak point). Nicholas Jones has a conflicted character and portrays him very touchingly. Jane Seymour plays the unpleasant and selfish character of Bella very convincingly as well as making her somewhat attractive too, it helps that Seymour was a beautiful woman and actually still is. Silas and Ridderhood and are also beautifully played and true to Dickens' concept if a little more convincing in the later adaptation. In fact everybody from the lead roles down to the minor roles play their parts well.

All in all, a really fine adaptation and recommended without hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I remember watching this series in 1976, transfixed. From the start, the brooding, stirring theme music (by Carl Davis)draws you into the Dickensian world. The acting is faultless and excellent. Many of the actors were some of the finest British actors going at the time and they were only playing the bit parts; e.g. Alfie Bass, Ronald Lacey. Some of the actors would go on to make big names for themselves. Warren Clarke (one of the then established actors) who played the infatuated schoolmaster, is not only well known for the current Dalziel & Pascoe, but has a highly distinguished film career including being one of the Droogs in A Clockwork Orange. So fine is the acting and production that you simply believe in the characters and become part of their world.

Oh, and the story is cracking as well!!

The later version was OK, but I do not understand why the BBC chose to redo the novel when the apex had so clearly been reached. That it is not available on DVD or even VHS is, in my view, a travesty. I will be lobbying the BBC but I wouldn't hold one's breath.

If you get a chance to see this version, grab it with all your might

A fine adaption of the book, soon to be available on DVD again. While I found the later 1998 BBC version well played, I think that this version was more powerful in that the characters were really brought to life by the actors in this version.

Many of the key parts were played by actors who were destined later to become household names. Jane Seymour's portrayal of Bella Wilfer was particularly inspired as she made the selfish, shallow, spoiled yet beautiful young woman really live, repelling and attracting at the same time. Lesley Dunlop as Lizzie Hexham made me really wish for her eventual happiness.

Another great role was that of Bradley Headstone who was played by Warren Clarke, familiar to British viewers as the policeman Dalziel in "Dalziel and Pascoe". He put real menace into the part of the disturbed headmaster.

Even the minor roles were played by some of the finest actors of the time, Alfie Bass et al.

This version will be available again from April 2008.