David Copperfield 1935

I still do not have any followers and I am not really sure if I have any readers either.  If you have come to my blog and looked at my posts, you will notice that I have changed some things up or added some bells and whistles.  First, I have started linking the actors, actresses, and directors to their respective Imdb pages.  I have begun to put the movie poster in the post, and finally I starting with this post I am adding the release year.  I am going to do this for all the films, but it is important in this case because there are multiple releases for David Copperfield.  In some cases, both the original and the release have been nominated, so it helps to differentiate between the two.  Henry V is a perfect example of this.

Today though, we will be talking about David Copperfield, which is a production based on Charles Dickens classic of the same title.  I have yet to read that book, but I have found that the books by Dickens that I have read are far superior to the movies.  I am sure this is the case with this book.

For those unfamiliar with the story David is born and his father dies.  His mom remarries Mr. Murdstone you can tell that life isn't going to be easy for young David.  Murdstone is an abusive step father and he is aided by his miserable sister in the child rearing.  This is a double blow, because Murdstones sister replaces David's beloved Nurse Peggoty.  Eventually David's mother dies, essentially leaving him an orphan.

Murdstone sends David to London to work even though he is a young boy.  He goes to live with Mr. Micawber who takes a liking to the boy and pretects him in his work and shows him some favoritism.  Unfortunately the debt collectors are after Micawber and this situation is short lived.  Micawber leaves to go to Dover and David is all alone yet again.

David then walks from London to Dover.  He arrives in rags at his Aunt Betsey's house.  She takes him in and contacts Murdstone.  When Murdstone arrives she confronts him and tells him that she will become responsible for the boy.  She then sends him to Mr Wickfield in Canterbury to learn and become a gentleman.

He becomes a gentleman and a series of events befalls him.  He meets his friend Steerforth and he falls in love with a girl he first meets at the theatre.  Steerforth ruins David's young friend Emily, and he again finds Mr Micawber who he puts to work with Mr Wickfield.  Mr Wickfield also has a devious book keeper by the name of Uriah Heep.  I will stop here because I do not want to give away any more and I certainly do not want to spoil the ending.

Now I have not yet read David Copperfield and I am an avid reader, so I have every intention of doing so.  I have noticed that while doing research for this blog, that the movie leaves quite a bit out and certainly takes some license with the original text.

Here is the cast so you can put some names to the characters I mentioned earlier.  Freddie Bartholomew as David the child, Frank Lawton as David the man, Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey, Elizabeth Allan as Mrs. Copperfield, Jessie Ralph as Nurse Peggoty, Basil Rathbone as Mr. Murdstone, Violet Kemble Cooper as Jane Murdstone, W. C. Fields as Mr. Micawber, Roland Young as Uriah Heep, Hugh Williams as Steerforth, Lewis Stone as Mr. Wickford, Madge Evans as Agnes Wickford, and Maureen O'Sullivan as Dora.  I am leaving a few people out, just as the movie left some characters from the book out.  It was a long book (800 or so pages) and a little over two hour movie.  It is no surprise that some things get left out.

If memory serves me, the book is probably the most autobiographical of the Dickens novels.  Many of the themes in his novels are similar, but from my understanding many of the characters were based on or inspired by people Dickens knew or came across.

It really is a very sad story and while the movie may end with a positive ending, I found the sadness pervasive in the film.  Therefore I did not enjoy it.  I will admit that I struggled with this one from the get go.  I know many people think this movie is a classic, but I struggled to stay awake. It is probably the first time that has happened since my wife and I began watching these movies.

The only bright star in an otherwise horrible experience for me were the performances by W. C. Fields as Micawber and Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey.  Whenever they were on screen the movie became for more watchable to me.

W. C. Fields is by many accounts perfectly cast for the character of Micawber, though interestingly enough Frank Lawton was originally cast as Micawber.  I found the reason why they switched somewhere on line, but I have since lost the link.  Despite the fact that many think Fields was well cast at Micawber it doesn't stop the detractors from pointing out that he speaks with an American accent throughout the whole film.  I understand that the main reason for this is because of his need to read of cue cards because he had trouble remembering his lines.  They also kept to cue cards because he loved Dickens and Fields wanted to stay as true to the character as possible.  Thus foregoing his typical activity of ad lib and improvisation.

Oliver was equally as engaging in her role as the protective Aunt.  Her scene when Murdstone comes to collect young David was excellent.  Maybe it is because I enjoy mean people getting told off, but I still think she shines in this scene.  Equally entertaining is her disdain for donkeys.  Verbally berating and physically berating anyone who happens to wander on her property with a donkey is very amusing.  I felt that at times she came off as a bit of an eccentric and she might very well be, but that has more to do with the donkeys than anything else.  Her scene with Murdstone shows that while being eccentric she is not one to trifle with.

I probably should also mention Roland Young in his role as Uriah Heep.  He certainly played the villain awfully well, but came across as a bit too creepy for me.  I can't explain it but if I could describe what a pedophile might act like, I would point to some of his scenes in the movie. 

Despite all of these performances and that it seems to be universal that this movie had a fantastic cast, I still did not like it much.  I really don't know what is at fault with that, was it the acting, the directing, or do I simply not like the story.  I can't really put my finger on it, but neither my wife nor I finished watching this movie and thought, gee lets watch it again right now.

It should also be mentioned that although I enjoyed the above mentioned actor or actresses performances, it was not nominated in any acting categories.  It was however, nominated for Best Picture.  Along with the following films.

• Alice Adams
• Broadway Melody of 1936
• Captain Blood
• The Informers
• Les Miserables
• The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Mutiny on the Bounty
• Naughty Marietta
• Ruggles of Red Gap
• Top Hat

As mentioned in a previous post Mutiny on the Bounty won the Best Picture Oscar this year.  I'm sure it was better than David Copperfield.  Broadway Melody of 1936 was clearly better and that is a musical.  I recently blogged about Broadway Melody, so you can see my thoughts on that movie in my blog.  Overall I give David Copperfield one and a half stars.