David Copperfield (1935)

THE GREAT COPPERFIELD

WHAT A GREAT MOVIE AND GREAT CAST, THE LATER SERIES WITH THE BBC IS ALSO GREAT. April 7, 2008

Masterpiece of filmmaking brings Dickens' novel to life...

Of all of the films directed by George Cukor, I think this is his finest achievement, helped in no small measure by the perfect casting of all the Dickens characters.

Freddie Bartholomew is flawless as the young David. Edna May Oliver as his stern but loving Aunt Betsy Trotwood gives her usual sharp characterization and nearly steals the first half of the movie. As for Mr. Murdstone, Basil Rathbone is the perfect embodiment of that brutally wicked man. Born to play Mr. Micawber is W. C. Fields, so uncannily right that it almost seems as if Dickens had him in mind when he wrote the character!

Very atmospheric, so much so that it seems almost incredible that an American movie company could have crafted this gem. One would think the British would have beat us to it--but Dickens would have approved of this version, I'm sure.

The only drawback is the length and the scenes involving David's wife, Dora, as played by Maureen O'Sullivan with a saccharine sweetness that becomes cloying at times. (Thank God she didn't play Melanie in 'GWTW'). Some of the acting is a bit florid but to be expected when you consider this was made in 1935. Roland Young is well cast as Uriah Heep.

Highly recommended. Anyone who cherishes the Dickens novel will not be disappointed. The only flaw is that the story has been compressed in order to limit the running time to two hours and ten minutes and it shows. All the essential characters remain but some of them have little dimension because of time constraints.

December 4, 2007

Too Long, Slightly Boring

David Copperfield is a book by Charles Dickens, so the themes of class struggles and broken family are prevalant here. This movie adaptation features a long cast list of famous classic stars including Elsa Lanchester, Lewis Stone, Madge Evans, and Una O'Connor among others.

David Copperfield (Freddie Bartholomew) is born without a father to a widowed mother who wants the best for her son. She soon falls in love again (Basil Rathbone), but when married finds that the man she picked is a tyrant. Unfortunately, she dies in childbirth, and David is left without a mother and without a home. He goes to a family of poor but happy people with a curmudgeon father figure (Lionel Barrymore) to hold them together. David also meets Micawber (W C Fields), a friendly but eccentric character who takes him in for a short time. When Micawber fails to make enough money to support the troupe, David is forced to seek his stuffy old aunt Betsey (Edna May Oliver) for assistance. Unexpectedly, she takes him in with open arms and educates him as part of society.

David grows up (Frank Lawton) and begins to visit with the people from his past in an attempt to repay them for their kindness. He fields trouble with the Wickfield family due to the sinister Uriah Heep (Roland Young). He also falls in love with a beautiful but childish Dora (Maureen O'Sullivan).

The film drags in places, and becomes too complex in others. Essentially, it is a series of vignettes of David's life. Somehow, despite the cast, the film does not gel the way it should to be a masterpiece that it had the potential to be.

Also included on the DVD are a few unrelated short subjects including a strange technicolor film about a drunken man who imagines the dummies in a department store are alive. October 3, 2007

David Copperfield

Cukor's sensitive, ennobling version of this Dickens classic was sumptuously produced for the big screen by producing titan David O. Selznick. A box-office smash when it was released in 1935, "Copperfield" is eminently faithful to the spirit of the Victorian-era novel, tracing the hardships of Bartholomew's orphan hero as he bounces from home to home in search of a real family. Oliver, Rathbone, Maureen O'Sullivan, and Lionel Barrymore are all superb in their respective roles, while Fields musters up an unforgettably charming mix of eccentricity and warmth as Micawber, a role he seemed born to play. Roll out the welcome mat for "David Copperfield." June 20, 2007

At last, a sparkling gem has been brought to DVD!

1939 has often been touted as the peak of Hollywood's Golden Era. While I would not argue with that (Ted Sennett wrote a whole book about it), 1935 was a Sterling year for American movies also. All the studios turned out fine films that year: "The Little Colonel" and "The Littlest Rebel" at 20th Century-Fox, "Top Hat" and "The Informer" at RKO, "The Ruggles of Red Gap" and "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" at Paramount, "Bride of Frankenstein" at Universal, "The Whole Town's Talking" at Columbia, "Call of the Wild" at United Artists, "Gold Diggers of 1935" and "Captain Blood" at Warner Brothers, and at MGM, "A Night at the Opera", "Naughty Marietta", "Anna Karenina", "Mutiny on the Bounty", "A Tale of Two Cities" and "David Copperfield" (whew!)

David Copperfield is deservedly one of the outstanding pictures of 1935 or any other year! I definitely have to agree with Charles Dickens himself, when he said "Of all my books, I like this the best". And of all the Dickens' books adapted to the screen, I like this one the best, and I bet he would have been pleased, too.

The film has many pleasures: the outstanding cast (of whom Freddie Bartholomew as young David, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsy Trotwood, and W.C. Fields as Mr. Micawber, stand out), the well-written screenplay by Howard Estabrook and Hugh Walpole (why drag a story out for five or six hours and multiple parts, when you can tell it well in two or three hours?), the expert direction of George Cukor, and the period flavor.

But perhaps the reason it is SO good is the genius that was David O. Selznick. He pulled all the parts together to make a thoroughly satisfying whole with a brillent skill that would reach it peak four years later with "Gone with the Wind". The production has "class" stamped all over it, and this was due to Mr. Selznick. We will never see his like in Hollywood again. What a shame.

I highly recommend this film. The use of the English language (have your dictionary ready) by WC Field as Mr. Micawber is worth the price of DVD in and of itself. Buy it to-day! While I'm at it, you'd be wise to watch and/or buy most any movie produced by David O. Selznick (Google his name, you will find a list). He knew how to draw you into a film and entertain you with a great story!
April 16, 2007

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