Nicholas Nickleby

You've probably never heard of the Thanhouser Company, nor any of the cast of this film, and if you've heard of the director, George Nichols, it was because a couple of years later he directed several of Chaplin's early movies. But in its heyday, the Thanhouser company was a major force in the advance of the arts of movie making, and this two-reel version of Dickens' novel is not only an exemplar of their art, it is a highly watchable and understandable version of the Dickens novel that is usually presented as a sprawling mini-series or an eight-hour stage show. The sets are elaborate, the costumes perfect, the actors interesting and the titles work absolutely correctly to link together the scenes into a satisfying whole.

Thanhouser had a rocky history. Within a year its founder was kicked out and the company absorbed into the Mutual conglomerate that absorbed Ince, Griffith and Sennett. Its methods were too expensive, its techniques too advanced to make it quite the moneymaker that more conservative methods might have. But the results can be seen: compare this with the "Famous Players in Famous Plays" that were being done at the same time: little more than filmed, stage-bound highlights of theater performances. This is a movie that, more than 90 years later can be watched with enjoyment. What more can you ask?