Bleak House

"Bleak House" is hands down the finest adaptation of a Charles Dickens Novel ever put on screen. Alway one of My favorite novels,I was exteremely pleased with this Television Mini Series. The late, great Denholm Elliot was perfectly cast as the noble John Jardyce and Diana Rigg was sheer perfection as the doomed Ladty Dedlock. The film captures the essence of Dickens era and is extremely faithful to the book,oly making minor plot cuts that do not effect the story. over all a brilliant,moving and atmosphereic film.

Watching this series reminded me of how strongly Dickens has influenced us. Bleak House doesn't have the fame of Great Expectations, Oliver Twist or David Copperfield, but some of the characters and scenes have entered our consciousness forever. Miss Flite and her birds, Mr. Chadband and his wearisome speechifying ("It is the ray of rays, the sun of suns... It is the light of Terewth."), Mr. Skimpole, who would be a fascist if ever he could work up the energy: they are some of our mental furniture. The camera-work is up to the challenge of bringing the verbose story to life, just see the scene of Tulkinghorn's murder with the Roman soldier painted on the ceiling pointing down at the proceedings.

The BBC assembles its casts carefully. Denholm Elliott as Jarndyce and Diana Rigg as Lady Dedlock are excellent, Peter Vaughan is a fine Tulkinghorn, Charlie Drake repulsive as Smallweed, and T. P. McKenna does Skimpole superbly. Suzanne Burden is appropriately self-effacing as Esther.

This version of Bleak House is the best adaptation of a classic novel known to me. The representation of the court of Chancery as a 'character' in the drama is magnificent. The acting is marvellous, from the sinister Tulkinghorn, to the Dedlocks, Smallweed, Crooke, Miss Flyte, and the two young lovers. But it is the spider's web of chancery that holds the whole thing together, and the cinematography is superb. What mistake did the BBC make about copyright that meant that this version could not be seen in the UK on either video or DVD for many years? I tried to find out from them, but faced a stone wall. In the end I got a DVD copy from Canada.

Atmospheric, evocative, any superlative you'd like to mention applies to this excellent adaptation.

The cinematography is such you can believe you're eavesdropping in on the London of the period, everything is perfect, with scenes often looking like paintings .

The acting is a true masterclass, this is far better than the later BBC adaptation, with performances more nuanced, and Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott giving the definitive Lady Dedlock and John Jarndyce respectively.

Do seek this out on dvd if you've not seen it, you'll thank me for it.

I recently have been on a major Dickens dvd binge, watching several of the early 80's BBC TV versions of "Oliver Twist", "The Pickwick Papers", and "Dombey & Son". About a year previously, I watched "Hard Times" and "Nicholas Nickleby". I was unfamiliar with all but "Twist" and "Pickwick", though I've never read any of the original novels upon which all the aforementioned titles are based. I've seen other TV and movie versions of several famous Dickens titles over the years, some from BBC, some from various studios. The current binge, though, has been as an antidote to pathetic regular TV and lack of worthwhile theatrical releases. I've been craving compelling plots, historical escapism, and fascinating characters. Knowing Dickens filled these requirements, I indulged myself. Bleak House was my latest excursion into a story I knew nothing about. Having just recently finished the excellent BBC TV movie version of Dombey & Son(again, about which I knew nothing), I was looking immensely forward to House. The first drawback that almost killed it for me were the several impossible-to-understand accents, a common factor in all these adaptations, a major hindrance to their enjoyment. It seemed the worst in Bleak House. Fortunately, most of the main, important characters were usually easy enough to understand. One good thing is that, as in many of these British literary films, one or more major characters are generally silent, saying very little. Mostly reaction shots and quiet, sparse dialog. My next major complaint, as has been mentioned by others, were the dismally dim and grungy settings. Despite historical accuracy and Dickens' original descriptions, visually these were extremely tedious and depressing to watch. They may work wonderfully on the printed page but are excruciating downers to sit through. In fact, there's virtually no color in the entire production. Sometimes I wonder if the endless human, animal, and carriage movement and congestion in the streets of London were as constant and chaotic as these films often depict, but especially so in House. My point being, aside from the grime and filth, such crowded, drab street commotion was just exhausting to watch. Episode 4 was the absolute worst for me. Incoherent accents, dark settings, and a complete standstill of plot, along with long, static, extremely talky scenes. Almost gave up on the series but forced myself to stick with it. I won't rehash the storyline but it IS convoluted and confusing. Sound quality is wildly uneven, too. One minute I had the volume up as high as it goes, the next minute, a character or music was so loud as to blast one's eardrums, necessitating an immediate turn-down, only to repeat the process almost continuously. Acting overall pretty good. I think Mr. Elliott takes the honors. I identified with him the most. The actor playing the man-child Skimpole very good, also. As much as I've always liked Diana Rigg, she didn't do much for me in this, spending most of her limited screen time staring at characters as they talk at her for what seems like forever--her face, emblematic of her regal detachment, completely immobile for lengthy periods of time, just staring. Not the most interesting use of a visual medium. A couple of lesser characters, maids, I think, were facially indistinguishable from each other, adding to confusion. The drama has its moments but they're sporadic. Convoluted plot, horrendously dark, grungy settings, and incomprehensible and/or irritating accents make Bleak House a long, tough slog. And yet the greatness of Dickens still comes through. On film, though, House is too labyrinthine and plodding, with largely unlikeable or uninteresting characters, and depressingly dim scenes that didn't translate well visually. Most surprising of all, for those who stick with it, is the very satisfying and moving conclusion(to me). Bleak House is a mixed bag in terms of this particular BBC version but is very bleak indeed to watch. Best advice is to skip, as it's not really worth the investment of time, even for a Dickens fanatic like me!