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| Demented ape: Hay Petrie as the debt-collecting dwarf Quilp and a mysterious benefactor |
The 1934 adaptation of Charles Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop stays faithful
to the spirit of the original, finds Sameer Rahim.
The Old Curiosity Shop: * * * *
Nicholas Nickleby: * * *
During his lifetime Charles Dickens’s novels were often adapted for the stage.
For many illiterate Victorians, plays were the only place they could meet
his famous larger-than-life characters. Two early films adaptations of
Dickens that have just been re-mastered and re-released on DVD – Thomas
Bentley’s The Old Curiosity Shop (1934) and Alberto Cavalcanti’s Nicholas
Nickleby (1947) – are shadowed by the ghost of the theatre.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a novel that has not lasted well. The story of the
virtuous Nell Trent and her profligate grandfather had come to seem
sentimental by the time of Oscar Wilde, who famously could only laugh at
Little Nell’s death. Thomas Bentley, who had directed silent versions of
Copperfield and Pickwick, stays faithful to the spirit of Dickens’ original
– even designing sets and scenes according to the original illustrations by
Phiz.
With Dickens, though, the genius lies in the evil characters. If there is one
reason to buy this DVD it's for the astonishing performance by Hay Petrie as
the debt-collecting dwarf Quilp. Petrie swings round like a demented ape,
pinching his wife, kissing Nell and threatening everyone with his motiveless
malignity. It’s all the more surprising when you learn that Petrie was not
in fact a dwarf: on the DVD extras two film historians speculate that the
set was made larger to make him look smaller.
Nickleby’s two great villains are Uncle Ralph and Wackford Squeers. Cavalcanti gets a rather stiff performance from Cedric Hardwicke as Ralph (similar to when he later played Pharaoh in The Ten Commandments) and an underpowered one from Alfred Drayton as the cruel schoolmaster. The true genius of Nickleby lies in its humour. But even the scenes with the Portsmouth acting troupe and its “Infant Phenomenon” don’t raise much more than a smile.
The Old Curiostity Shop and Nicholas Nickleby are both out on DVD now
Nickleby’s two great villains are Uncle Ralph and Wackford Squeers. Cavalcanti gets a rather stiff performance from Cedric Hardwicke as Ralph (similar to when he later played Pharaoh in The Ten Commandments) and an underpowered one from Alfred Drayton as the cruel schoolmaster. The true genius of Nickleby lies in its humour. But even the scenes with the Portsmouth acting troupe and its “Infant Phenomenon” don’t raise much more than a smile.
The Old Curiostity Shop and Nicholas Nickleby are both out on DVD now
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