Customer Reviews

Pickwick Papers [VHS]

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If you have read Dickens' The Posthumus Papers of the Pickwick Club, you wonder how they could possibly make a movie of that sprawling, episodic masterpiece. This 1952 British film does an excellent job of hitting the highlights including Mr. Pickwick finding out he's in a strange lady's bed, Mr. Tupman's love affairs, Mr. Winkle's duel, Mr. Jingle's tricks, and the great trial and jailing of Pickwick. As you might imagine, casting this tale is difficult, but they found the perfect Pickwick in James Hayter. The other members of the Pickwick Club are also just like the book, and Harry Fowler IS Sam Weller! The only problem with this video is the poor quality of the picture and especially the sound. It looks like a poor quality 16 mm transfer with a disturbing buzz on the soundtrack. Hopefully, they will try to put out a better quality video in the future.

Overall, these people did a really good job of fitting Charles Dickens' 800 page book into 2 hours. It deletes some material to be sure. But most of the major events are left in tact. Mr. Pickwick shines as a typical Dickens type hero. (He is human; he has some faults; and he is a regular everyday person who triumphs over great trouble.) Jingle comes off well as a typical Dickens villain. (He is very bad in some ways; but he carries a charm that makes him likable; and he does show redeeming qualities.) Dodson and Fogg are great as the corrupt money making lawyers. Perker is fine as the honest and benevolent lawyer. Sam Weller is great as the eccentric but loyal servant of Mr. Pickwick. It is amazing how Charles Dickens is able to mix everyday normal life with some extraordinary events to create comedy that is NEVER low level. (These days, it seems that people can only create low humor that makes some audiences feel very offended and insulted.) If you haven't had much exposure to Charles Dickens, this movie is a wonderful way to start. It is not only really funny, but it shows Dickens' talent for creating fully 3 D characters, eccentrics, likable villains with redeeming qualities, situational comedy, and the power of deception in the courts. If you like this movie, be sure to get "David Copperfield" with Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey and W.C. Fields as Mr. Micawber.

I enjoy British film from the post-War era, and particularly the movies that are taken from the great books of history. "Pickwick Papers" has wonderful dialogue, fine acting, but the sound is quite poor, at least on the VCR copy that I purchased through Amazon. You'd better be a fan of British film, in order to understand what they say. But the film itself is lots of fun; I've watched it 3 times in two weeks!

Sweet and funny like the book. Shows how people have always been the same, and always will be. We're all just a bunch of silly old buggers.