leg1ndyoll

OK so this film isn't 100% accurate, but who am I or anyone to decry the heroism of the flight crews involved in the Bouncing Bomb raids. Maybe the effect of the raids wasn't as good as would have been hoped. To me it's a damn good story of British ingenuity triumphing over great odds to bring about an attempt at shortening WWII. Latest word is that The movie is to be remade in 2008, oh and guess what, they are going to change history by renaming Guy Gibsons dog Ni**er (I was prevented from using the correct word). The word Ni**er in the 1940s and 50s did not refer to a type or colour of people, it was a colour and a well used name for Labradors of the era. If they change the name of the dog for the new production it is a travesty and a total misuse of political correctness. Personally I hope that the remake does not come to a screen near you because as with other great movies, they can't improve on it, no matter how much CGI they use.

Nicholas Nickleby before watching this film was not a Dickens novel which appealed to me. Now I cannot wait to get my eyes on it. Having previously been a big fan of Great Expectations I personally didn't want to read any more Dickens books as I thought it could not be equalled.... obviously I was wrong.

The movie itself recreates what I imagined the England of the 1850s to be like, the squalor of the city of London, the bleakness of Yorkshire (the Dotheboys interiors and exteriors was shot at Gibson Mill, Hardcastle Craggs, Hebden Bridge, West Yorks. just 3 miles from where I live), and the beauty of the English countryside.

The characters are totally believable and fully formed. Jamie Bell as Smike just makes you want to take care of him, Charlie Hunnam makes you wish you had a brother just like Nicholas, Jim Broadbent as Squeers makes you want to beat him black and blue to teach him a lesson and Christopher Plummer as Nicholas' nasty uncle make you want to hiss and boo when he appears on screen.