Product Details

• Actors: Paul McGann, Keeley Hawes, Steven Mackintosh, Anna Friel, Peter Vaughan
• Directors: Gareth Davies, Lawrence Gordon Clark
• Writers: Alexander Baron, Andrew Davies, Arthur Hopcraft, Charles Dickens
• Producers: Betty Willingale, John Harris
• Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Closed-captioned, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 6
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: BBC Worldwide
• DVD Release Date: May 5, 2009
• Run Time: 1920 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PU8O4I
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,286 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Charles Dickens Collection, Volume 1 (Oliver Twist / Martin Chuzzlewit / Bleak House / Hard Times / Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend) (Slim Packaging)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/05/2009 Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid BBC Productions, January 8, 2010

By 

Thomas E. Davis (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Charles Dickens Collection, Volume 1 (Oliver Twist / Martin Chuzzlewit / Bleak House / Hard Times / Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend) (Slim Packaging) (DVD)

The American television network TNT proclaims in its advertisements, "We know drama," but it can't hold a candle to the BBC. Since the sixties, the Beeb has been producing exquisite adaptations of the plays of Shakepeare, Shaw, and Wilde, the novels of Eliot, Austen, and Trollope, and the works of many other treasures of British and Irish literature, not to mention those of other European nations: Ibsen, Checkhov, Dostoeivsky, and so on.

These productions tend to be simple, elegantly-appointed affairs. There's very little flash, and some viewers may be disappointed by their talky, set-bound nature, but they are quite faithful to their sources. Performances are uniformly top-notch, often by the most talented and justly famous of British actors: Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart, John Hurt, Diana Rigg, Rex Harrison, John Gielgud, Joan Plowright, and many more.

While this series of Dickens adaptations and its parter, Volume 2, do not utilize thespians especially well-known to Americans (though Ian McKellen, Maggie Smith, Bob Hoskins, and Daniel Radcliffe do star in "David Copperfield" on Volume 2), the acting and direction are excellent.

If you love British literature and history, particularly the Victorian period, you will find these DVD sets to be thoroughgoing treats. They will expose you to dramas both familiar and obscure, and they will encourage you to delve more deeply into the delight that is Dickens.

Both 2009 sets use slim rather than standard DVD cases, so they are more compact versions of the sets issued in 2005 and 2006, but their contents are identical. They are highly recommended in either form.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Dickens' DVD's, May 16, 2010

By 

Joseph Barba (Pollock Pines, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Charles Dickens Collection, Volume 1 (Oliver Twist / Martin Chuzzlewit / Bleak House / Hard Times / Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend) (Slim Packaging) (DVD)

If you like Dickens or are just curious, try these DVD's. They are done as only the Brits can do them with impeccable acting, right-on characterizations, and attention to historical detail. Great entertainment for the whole family and reasonably priced, too. Highest recommendation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Dickens BBC DVD Reviews, July 4, 2011

By 

David Willmore - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Charles Dickens Collection, Volume 1 (Oliver Twist / Martin Chuzzlewit / Bleak House / Hard Times / Great Expectations / Our Mutual Friend) (Slim Packaging) (DVD)

I have been deeply impressed with the quality of BBC films which I purchased last month. Character development is a big plus with me. Although there is a major plot in each of the Dickens stories, there are also numerous sub plots. I have ordered additional works presented by BBC and hae enjoyed them all.