This adaptation of the one-man show in which Simon Callow toured, also features his voice as he becomes Charles Dickens, travelling to a land of pompous beadles and drunken midwives, and on through Europe and America for infamous adventures and the most fashionable society parties.
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a find!!!,
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This review is from: The Mystery of Charles Dickens (DVD)
As an English teacher, whenever I have looked for material on Dickens, I have always checked to see what it says about Dickens' boyhood, which was the source of his art, his activism, and his "ghosts." Moreover, I have more than once wished that I could have seen Dickens live on stage acting out scenes from his novels, pouring heart and soul into the performances as his biographers have so often detailed. So you can imagine my delight to find this gem by Simon Callow, who appears as Dickens in a one-man show similar to those Dickens himself would have done in London, Edinburgh, and elsewhere. Callow has made Dickens come alive more than any written biography could do. He narrates the life of Dickens from boyhood to death, moving flawlessly between biographical material and excerpts from the novels to show the biographical elements of many of Dickens' works. His depiction of the personality, accent, facial expression, and body language of the panoply of Dickens' creations, not to mention Dickens himself, is amazing. No student could come away from this video and say they had not seen or did not understand Dickens. I also appreciate the way Callow handles Dickens' troubled marriage, his idealization of his dying 17-year-old sister-in-law, and his infatuation with the young Ellen Ternan. We come away viewing Dickens not as some roving-eyed dandy, as post-modern critics often do, but as a deeply scarred man looking for the lost ideal. I will definitely show this to students everytime I teach Dickens in the future. Its intermission between Acts I and II makes it possible to split the viewing into two class periods. If less time were available, a teacher would find Act I very satisfactory as a one-period, stand-alone piece.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Theater in my Living Room,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Mystery of Charles Dickens (DVD)
For a Dickens fan - this is a must. Dickens himself understood the magnitude of his characters and that they must be performed. He spent the latter years of his life doing live readings, performances that Simon Callow shows us in excellence. Simon is Charles Dickens for the time you invest in this performance - and what a wonderful time you will have!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Spellbinding Dickens,
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This review is from: The Mystery of Charles Dickens (DVD)
My wife and I were spellbound and want to re-watch our collection of Dickens DVDs when we get time. Callow's performance was great. Last time I saw him was in Amadeus as the opera producer.
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