On a tour of America, Charles Dickens met Edgar Allan Poe. It couldn't have been much of a conversation. One writer was maybe the most effective speller of psychological nightmares who ever lived, and the other was an advocate of the poor and a fighter against social inequity. The psychologist and the sociologist.
I never read Dickens' novel which, if this movie is at all faithful, follows Davie Copperfield from his infancy through his young manhood. There are romantic mismatches and tragedies and a bit of comedy along the way. But maybe the most memorable character is Mr. Micawber, on whom a few comments may be lavished. First of all, what a great name, especially for a clown. Micawber is haunted by debt and is constantly on the run from his creditors while trying to support a large family. W. C. Field, dressed in formal clothes several sizes too small for him, is perfect in the part. "Godfrey Daniels!", he exclaims in one of his other films. Is that very far removed from, "Shades of Nicodemus!" in this film? When we are introduced to Micawber we see him returning home. He spots his doorway clogged with creditors and makes an abrupt about face, sneaking around until he is able to climb through a window into his flat. His family crowd around him and applaud his entry. "I have avoided the scurrilous machinations of our enemies!" he announces. "In short -- I have arrived." The line doth roll trippingly from his tongue.
His casting as Micawber was stroke of genius on somebody's part, but then all the casting is fine. The actors, the characters, and the names all suit one another. Edna May Oliver as Aunt Bitsy, sensible and no nonsense, and with that strangest of long prim faces. Basil Rathbone as Mr. Murdstone (pronounced "Murd-stun"), the cold-hearted sadistic stepfather. Mr. Dick looks right but is more daft than amusing. Uriah Heap (great name!), the fawning and evil hypocrite, played by Roland Young. Mr. Dick, the good-natured idiot, looks exactly like Benny Hill. Davie's first wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, has an IQ that's less than her height in inches. Perhaps only the people who play Davie himself, at whatever age, are a bit bland.
The story contrasts two personality types that William James called the tough minded and the tender minded. Mr. Murdstone represents the tough minded -- discipline, authoritarianism, punishment. (How his eyes gleam as he swats his palm with the switch that is about to be applied to Davie's bottom.) Peggotty represents the opposite, the always nurturing, always loving maid who, in the end, is as helpless to change things as Mr. Murdstone. The real heroin is Aunt Bitsy, who is tough on the outside and tender on the inside, like a breaded veal cutlet at Appleby's.
A lot of subplots crop up. Maureen O'Sullivan, Tarzan's succulent and uninhibited mate of a few years earlier, is a dotty but loving wife who dies at a convenient time. (There are a couple of other deaths, all tragic because the deceased were fundamentally good people.) The clever and aristocratic Steerforth breaks up a happy engagement and runs away with a young working girl and ruins her.
Those subplots are part of what is maybe an unavoidable problem. They're squeezed into the plot so that the movie must rush along and spell things out like a Classic Comic version of Dickens' novel. Even the music supports the hasty narrative. The score is what used to be called "mickey mouse" music because it resembles that of a cartoon. If somebody drinks out of a mug, the score matches the tempo of his Adam's apple -- glug glug glug. A shot of a cute little doggie is accompanied by a dozen sobbing violins. I can't imagine how this problem could be overcome, giving the main plot and each subplot its due attention. Maybe it can't be done. The best compromise between the demands of the two-hour movie and the prolix Dickens' novel may be Lean's "Great Expectations," although I always enjoy "A Christmas Carol" too.
The problem is a real one. Just look at the whole title of this novel. "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger." And is this the same novel that opens with the line -- "Chapter One. I am born."? I mean, you can see the difficulty.
That being said, the movie does run its course cleanly and Cukor the director doesn't linger over any scenes to the point of pain. It's a bit too much like a soap opera in some respects but I was caught up in it this time and rather enjoyed it.
I never read Dickens' novel which, if this movie is at all faithful, follows Davie Copperfield from his infancy through his young manhood. There are romantic mismatches and tragedies and a bit of comedy along the way. But maybe the most memorable character is Mr. Micawber, on whom a few comments may be lavished. First of all, what a great name, especially for a clown. Micawber is haunted by debt and is constantly on the run from his creditors while trying to support a large family. W. C. Field, dressed in formal clothes several sizes too small for him, is perfect in the part. "Godfrey Daniels!", he exclaims in one of his other films. Is that very far removed from, "Shades of Nicodemus!" in this film? When we are introduced to Micawber we see him returning home. He spots his doorway clogged with creditors and makes an abrupt about face, sneaking around until he is able to climb through a window into his flat. His family crowd around him and applaud his entry. "I have avoided the scurrilous machinations of our enemies!" he announces. "In short -- I have arrived." The line doth roll trippingly from his tongue.
His casting as Micawber was stroke of genius on somebody's part, but then all the casting is fine. The actors, the characters, and the names all suit one another. Edna May Oliver as Aunt Bitsy, sensible and no nonsense, and with that strangest of long prim faces. Basil Rathbone as Mr. Murdstone (pronounced "Murd-stun"), the cold-hearted sadistic stepfather. Mr. Dick looks right but is more daft than amusing. Uriah Heap (great name!), the fawning and evil hypocrite, played by Roland Young. Mr. Dick, the good-natured idiot, looks exactly like Benny Hill. Davie's first wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, has an IQ that's less than her height in inches. Perhaps only the people who play Davie himself, at whatever age, are a bit bland.
The story contrasts two personality types that William James called the tough minded and the tender minded. Mr. Murdstone represents the tough minded -- discipline, authoritarianism, punishment. (How his eyes gleam as he swats his palm with the switch that is about to be applied to Davie's bottom.) Peggotty represents the opposite, the always nurturing, always loving maid who, in the end, is as helpless to change things as Mr. Murdstone. The real heroin is Aunt Bitsy, who is tough on the outside and tender on the inside, like a breaded veal cutlet at Appleby's.
A lot of subplots crop up. Maureen O'Sullivan, Tarzan's succulent and uninhibited mate of a few years earlier, is a dotty but loving wife who dies at a convenient time. (There are a couple of other deaths, all tragic because the deceased were fundamentally good people.) The clever and aristocratic Steerforth breaks up a happy engagement and runs away with a young working girl and ruins her.
Those subplots are part of what is maybe an unavoidable problem. They're squeezed into the plot so that the movie must rush along and spell things out like a Classic Comic version of Dickens' novel. Even the music supports the hasty narrative. The score is what used to be called "mickey mouse" music because it resembles that of a cartoon. If somebody drinks out of a mug, the score matches the tempo of his Adam's apple -- glug glug glug. A shot of a cute little doggie is accompanied by a dozen sobbing violins. I can't imagine how this problem could be overcome, giving the main plot and each subplot its due attention. Maybe it can't be done. The best compromise between the demands of the two-hour movie and the prolix Dickens' novel may be Lean's "Great Expectations," although I always enjoy "A Christmas Carol" too.
The problem is a real one. Just look at the whole title of this novel. "The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger." And is this the same novel that opens with the line -- "Chapter One. I am born."? I mean, you can see the difficulty.
That being said, the movie does run its course cleanly and Cukor the director doesn't linger over any scenes to the point of pain. It's a bit too much like a soap opera in some respects but I was caught up in it this time and rather enjoyed it.