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By
FRANK BEHRENS
Those who browse through
catalogues or video sections of local stores might
have run across a boxed DVD set called "The Jane
Austen Collection" on the BBC Video label. Having
already reviewed that magnificent collection, I
turn my attention now to what may be considered a
companion collection of "The Charles Dickens
Collection," a boxed set of dramatizations of six
novels.
The novels included are, with dates and running
times, "Hard Times" (1994,104 m.), "Our Mutual
Friend" (1998, 351 m.), "Great Expectations"
(1981, 351 m.), "Oliver Twist" (1985, 352 m.),
"Bleak House" (1985, 418 m.), and "Martin
Chuzzlewit" (1994, 344 m.).
Where Austen is all gentility with a strong
undercurrent of social criticism, Dickens "tells
it like it is." The video versions make good use
of Dickens' literary descriptions of the nightmare
that were the slums of London by turning them into
sometimes stomach-turning visuals. In "Bleak
House," for example, the sets of the poor sections
of the city resemble those in some
post-apocalyptic sci-fi films in which the
populace lives in mud and fog, truly huddled
masses yearning just to survive.
The acting is very good to excellent, although
much of the dialogue is lost because of regional
accents and lines that are mumbled and whispered.
Of course, as most actors will admit, it is
extremely difficult to play all-good characters,
but well trained actors like Suzanne Burden in
"Bleak House" can pull it off, despite the often
annoyingly slow pacing imposed by the director. At
any rate, all acting honors go to Diana Rigg for
her Lady Dedlock in the same film. Only Joan
Hickson, the most excellent Miss Marple, seems
poorly cast as Miss Havisham in "Great
Expectations."
Along the way, American audiences will spot many
stars that are familiar from several Masterpiece
Theatre series and British films: Denholm Elliott,
Peter Vaughan, Paul Scofield, John Mills, Pete
Postlethwaite, Eric Porter, and Alan Bates.
There is a bonus feature or two at the end of
"Oliver Twist" (Simon Callow plays Dickens reading
a selection from the novel), "Hard Times" (a
Dickens ghost story starring Denholm Elliott), and
"Our Mutual Friend" (a documentary about the role
of the river in Dickens' London).
Newcomers to Dickens should start with the
shortest one and work up to the longest. It will
be well worth the effort, especially if it leads
one to reading the originals. |
