The Pickwick Papers

I saw this movie many years ago when my literature teacher arranged for it to be shown at school. I loved the characters and thought the actors were wonderful in the roles. I finally had the chance to tape it and have brought my family in as fans of the movie. A must see for students of British films in that time period.

I remember this movie with great affection from the days of my childhood when it was broadcast several times on the CBC. When it became available on DVD I had to purchase it if only to mark Dickens bicentennial year of 2012. All the major comic episodes of the novel are covered with the exception of the Eatanswill election and the cricket match between Dingley Dell and All-Muggleston. As noted by another reviewer the movie by necessity omits the rather gloomy moral tales that Dickens chose to insert at intervals. The movie is further enlivened by the presence of a roster of great British character actors - Hattie Jacques, Hermione Gingold and James Hayter as Mr. Pickwick. Canadians will know him best as Mr. Tebbs, the senior salesman in the Mens Department, on the sitcom Are You Being Served. I notice that the actor who played Sam Weller died in January 2012 just a few days before I purchased the DVD - he was the last survivor among core cast.

First off, let it be understood that this film is not a complete version of The Pickwick Papers. But then, nobody could possibly fit a novel of some 600 pages into a movie of less than 2 hours without making a considerable number of cuts. That being said, however, it is a very good condensation of Charles Dickens's first novel.

The Pickwick Papers was not only Dickens' first novel, it was among his lightest and funniest. Those who know Dickens only from his heavy, dark novels, such as of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby will find herein a much lighter and merrier Dickens, for The Pickwick Papers is very definitely a comedy

Nevertheless, however, Dickens' eye for characters and scenes is fully in evidence. Few novels can boast of so many memorable characters as The Pickwick Papers, and this film version certainly does them all justice. Nobody films Dickens like the British, and they've certainly done themselves proud here. The original Pickwick Papers was published as a magazine serial and came lavishly illustrates, and all of the actors have gone the extra mile to depict, as faithfully as possible, the characters as set down in the original novel.

The story is of a naive old gentleman who sets off to discover England, accompanied by three equally naive members if his club and his worldly Cockney valet. The misadventures of Mr. Pickwick and his friends, among the plethora of colorful characters whom they encounter, form the basis of the book. The production is not the most lavish, but the performance of every one of the large cast is spot-on perfect, and that more than makes up for a lack of budget. Those who have read the novel will love this version, even if is abridged. This who have not read the novel can still enjoy it for its many colorful characters and hilarious situations.

Pickwick Papers exemplifies the joys of the Dickens film series made by David Lean. While not the best it is thoroughly entertaining and the characters are marvellous. Childhood memories of those familiar faces among the actors who took part and appeared in so many other British classics. Last but not least the most wonderfully rich tones of James Hayter. His was a voice you heard and loved on TV and film and never forgot from the moment he spoke.If you have only heard about this film and never seen it then do you very best to obtain a copy (if possible) for it is in its own way a minor classic. For British TV followers who were children during the fifties another regular and lovable character is Harry Fowler.

Splendid adaptation of Dickens at his most hilarious, a kaleidoscopic odyssey around old England with a potpourri of intrigue and adventure squeezed into 100 minutes of virtuoso entertainment of English theatrical art at its best. Every single character is absolutely perfectly Dickensian and convincing as such, and it's a miracle to observe how such an extensive novel of so many characters and complicated intricacies of unexpected turns of events at every corner has been so successfully concentrated in Dickensian essence, which will certainly keep you busy through every minute of it, with even some human pathos to it - the prison scene with Mr. Jingle's change of fortune is perhaps the most impressive part. It's even impossible to say who is the best of all these acting paragons of excellence, but dominating are certainly James Hayter as Mr. Pickwick, Nigel Patrick as Mr. Jingle, James Donald as the besotted Mr. Winkle and Harry Fowler as Sam Weller, the most pleasurable character of them all, but Donald Wolfit crowns them all as Sergeant Buzfuz. It's as superb as a Dickensian entertainment as it was 65 years ago, it hasn't grown one day older but instantly established itself in the timeless zone of cinematic literary classics. It was about 50 years since I last saw it, and although I remembered it well, it was all perfectly fresh again as if it was an entirely new movie. These films cannot age.