Charles Dickens on the Screen [Hardcover]

Michael Pointer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0810829606 | ISBN-13: 978-0810829602 | Publication Date: April 1996

This comprehensive survey of the screen adaptations of the works of the great author covers film worldwide, television, and video dramatizations from 1897 to 1993. While it provides a critical commentary on all noteworthy productions, Charles Dickens on the Screen also contains a catalog of more than 130 movies and 220 TV presentations with cast lists and production credits, and includes many hitherto unrecorded borrowings, spoofs, and satires from the famous stories. Pointer examines the problems inherent in dramatizing Dickens' novels for the screen, and traces the development of the adaptations from tiny extracts in the earliest silent movies to the full-scale television serials of the present day, covering virtually a century of international productions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A lively and comprehensive survey of the many attempts throughout the world to translate Dickens's novels to large and small screens... (Nineteenth-Century Literature )

This is no dull chronology. Pointer is a writer of verve and vitality who is both a Dickens scholar and a film historian. His narrative is full of interesting historical detail and astute critical commentary...a fine reference book and, for those interested in film history, an interesting read. (Arba )

...performs its scholarly service well...tell[s] us is everything we ever wanted to know and more about filmed adaptations of Dickens...an invaluable resource. (Dickens Quarterly )

...evaluations are enlightening and fair...a good source for learning how classic literature can be adapted to suit the restrictions of different media and new audiences... (Big Reel )

...an engaging and informative text examining a book first published in the holiday season. There is already an excellent general survey of screen adaptations. (Classic Images )

Surveys the range of film, television, and video adaptations of Dickens' work, describing obscure and popular productions from the silent film era to the present. (Reference & Research Book News )

About the Author

Michael Pointer has had a lifelong interest in movies, and now concentrates on film and television dramatizations made from famous literature.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (April 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810829606
• ISBN-13: 978-0810829602
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,404,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Introduction to the World of Filmed Dickens, March 20, 2003

By 

Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charles Dickens on the Screen (Hardcover)

Published in 1996, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" surveys the filmed works of Dickens from the silent era, including TV adaptaions. The book is rather silm in volume, and not so much a thorough discussion on the cinematic skills employed on the screen as an introduction to the vast field of Dickensian films (more than 100), but still Michael Pointer keeps his book always readable and immensely interesting.

After the brief introduction, the book begins with a discussion about "Dickensian" elements in original books, and their relations to visual media. The agrument at first is a bit too general and obvious, but you should just read on. After the third chapter the writer speeds up his discussion, giving well-researched comments on the films, backed up quotations from various materials. Though the materials might not look rare in the eyes of those who are already versed in film history -- autobiographical writings, comtemporary reviews, the synopsis, etc. -- they help those who do not have knowledge on movie history to gain the historical viewpoint to glance back the current of many films.

Chapters 2-4 are devoted to discussion on the silent films. It is now a nearly impossible thing to make a perfect survey about this era, because many of the films are lost forever (the reason is explained by the words of director Frank Llyod in the book), and considering that fact, Mr. Pointer did a very good job, even though the argument often seems to lack in power, relying on second-hand knowledge. But that cannot be helped.

After Chapter 5, the discussion is about "talkies," and the book gets better and better as you read. His discussion covers the films until the 1993 "Edwin Drood," and, instead of displaying tedious scene-to-scene analysis which might have done harm to the book by its slow tempo, he gives each film concise summery of its characteristics and his opinions about it, which may disagree with yours, but mostly fair and to the point. Mr. Pointer does not neglect the more recent TV products, and gives fair judgement on them. There is even a section where the author deals with parodies! (such as British cult TV series "Avengers" -- remember Mrs. Emma Peel?")

The book also contains a list of films (until BBC's "Martin Chuzzlewit"), which is now superceded by our internet source like imdb. Of more interest is the cluster of clear stills (21 in all) which includes a rare one that shows Charles Laughton as Mr. Micawber in the 1935 "David Copperfield." After one-week shooting, he left the film, and as you know, W.C. Fields took the part. Though not a perfect book, since so many have been released after its publication, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" is a good book to know more about the area of filmed classics, which should be given more attention from both academic and non-asademic people.