A Christmas carol 1951 - The classic and definitive version of Dicken's novel

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Brian Desmond Hurst
Main Cast: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Mervyn Johns, Hermione Baddeley, Michael Hordern

"A Christmas Carol (Scrooge in UK release) is remarkable for staying faithful to Charles Dickens's classic story as it remains fresh and vivid, even upon repeat viewings. The entire cast is excellent, but it is the great performance of Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge that distinguishes this version from several other adaptations of this work. Sim creates a complex characterization, and, in the film's many flashback scenes, the audience is given a compelling view of the character as he evolves into the not-so-lovable curmudgeon visited by ghosts. Indeed, such complexity is necessary for the story to have its full impact, as the viewer must feel both sympathy and disapproval for Scrooge, a difficult combination for an actor to convey. The crisp, black-and-white cinematography of C.M. Pennington-Richards is also a major asset. This is one of the most convincing of all recreations of Dickens' England, with almost no condescension to sentimentality from director Brian Desmond Hurst." - www.allmovie.com

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Oliver Twist 1948 - Dickens and Lean: Triumphant combination

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IMDB rating: 7,8

Director: David Lean
Main Cast: John Howard Davies, Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Anthony Newley

"David Lean's ambitious interpretation of this Charles Dickens classic is a powerful but flawed film. Guy Green's hyaline cinematography dominates the picture from its opening shots of a terrified young woman stumbling around in a stormy heath to its closing scenes of mob violence. His camera is perched above the characters, implying moral superiority to the many flawed characters, while making the ever-vulnerable Oliver look cowed and beaten. The turbulent world of mid-19th century London, with its incessant hustle and bustle of human industry, is recreated so carefully that the vibrant set designs almost overshadow the memorable characters that roam these streets. A smorgasbord of urban decay, social disorder, and class conflict imbues the film with a potent sensuality, as both natural elements and human architecture conspire to consume the disadvantaged. An unrecognisable Alec Guinness, endowed with pounds of prosthetics to mask his youthful vigour, creates a sympathetic Fagin out of a potentially racist caricature. Robert Newton's Mephistophelean Bill Sikes is exemplary, particularly in the scene in which he brutally murders Nancy then sits in tortured and hysterical contemplation of the deed. Dickens' faith in the human spirit is well-depicted in Oliver's ability to survive despite the cruelty of this unjust world. Both Dickens when he wrote the novel and Lean when he filmed it were men near the beginning of their careers whose optimism shone through the darkness of the material. However, the film closes with scenes of mob vigilantism and sentimentality that carry messages betraying the social commentary that precedes them." - www.allmovie.com

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Great expectations 1946 - Excellent adaptation of the classic Dickens novel

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IMDB rating: 8,0

Director: David Niven
Main Cast: John Mills,Valerie Hobson, Jean Simmons, Alec Guinness, Bernard Miles, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt

"Immediately grabbing the audience's attention with a heart-stopping opening scene in a dark graveyard, acclaimed British director David Lean realizes the cinematic potential of Charles Dickens' classic 1861 novel, and the result is considered by many to be one of the finest literary adaptations ever made as well as one of the greatest British films of all time. Crystallized into a tight 118-minute running time by Lean, Ronald Neame, and a corps of uncredited contributors, this is the story of young Pip, a lad of humble means whose training as a gentleman is bankrolled by a mysterious benefactor. Along the way, Pip falls in love with the fickle Estella, befriends the cheerfully insouciant Herbert Pocket, has memorable encounters with the escaped convict Magwitch and the lunatic dowager Miss Havisham, and almost (but not quite) forgets his modest origins as the foster son of kindhearted blacksmith Joe Gargery. The role of Pip is evenly divided between Anthony Wager as a child and John Mills as an adult; Alec Guinness makes his starring film debut as the jaunty Pocket; Jean Simmons and Valerie Hobson are costarred as the younger and older Estella; and Martita Hunt is unforgettable as the mad Miss Havisham.
Remade several times, Great Expectations resurfaced in 1989 as a TV miniseries, with Jean Simmons, originally the young Estella, tearing a passion to tatters as Miss Havisham; and in 1998 it was remade again, in a contemporary version, with Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert DeNiro, and Anne Bancroft in the Miss Havisham role." - www.allmovie.com

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David Copperfield 1935 - A great adaptation with strong performances

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026266/
IMDB rating: 7,6

Director: George Cukor
Main Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Frank Lawton, W. C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Maureen O'Sullivan, Madge Evans, Edna May Oliver, Roland Young, Elizabeth Allan, Basil Rathbone, Elsa Lanchester

"David Copperfield was MGM's major Christmas release for its 1934-1935 season and also the first of producer David O. Selznick's major 'literary' films for that studio. While a great deal of editing and streamlining was necessary to distill Charles Dickens' massive novel into 133 minutes of screen time, the end result was so successful that only the nittiest of nitpickers complained about the excised characters and events.
This 1935 adaptation of David Copperfield has endeared itself to generations of movie audiences in spite of artistic and technical flaws reflecting the state of the movie art in filmdom's infancy. The success of the production derives mainly from its loyalty to the spirit of the novel, its atmospheric depiction of 19th century England, and its talented adult actors. On the other hand, the child actors - Freddie Bartholomew (David as a boy), Fay Chaldecott (Little Emily), and Marilyn Knowlden (Agnes as a little girl) - all perform with the overwrought theatricality of elementary students in a school play. Moreover, Elizabeth Allan as Mrs. Clara Copperfield fairly reeks of maudlin melodrama. Even her two-second fainting spell is overdone. Director George Cukor may be responsible for the weak performances of Allen and the children; Cukor's choppy transition style also hurts the film. He unceremoniously cuts off one scene, then begins rolling the camera again elsewhere.
Originally, Charles Laughton was slated to play Micawber, but he pulled out of the production, worried that he wouldn't be funny enough. The casting of W. C. Fields was an inspired choice: although he injects his own established screen personality at every opportunity, Fields was born to play Micawber. Likewise, second-billed Lionel Barrymore fits his portrayal of crusty old Dan Peggoty like a glove. In fact, there isn't a false bit of casting in the whole production, and this, as much as Selznick's sumptuous production values, is the key to David Copperfield's enormous success." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/david-copperfield-v12542

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A tale of two cities 1935 - A stepping stone for Selznick to Gone with the wind

IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027075/
IMDB rating: 7,9

Director: Jack Conway
Main Cast: Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Edna May Oliver, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone

"A tale of two cities is well remembered for its rich production values and the charismatic performance of Ronald Colman as the dissipated lawyer drawn to a cause greater than his personal problems. Jack Conway's directing work is solid, but he was pretty much the hired hand of producer David O. Selznick, who was largely responsible for the film's artistic vision. Selznick had the best of MGM's production team, including composer Herbert Stothart, art director Cedric Gibbons, sound engineer Douglas Shearer, and film editor Conrad Nervig. The result is a first-rate example of the production quality typical of big-budget Hollywood studio films of the mid-1930s, particularly the ones from MGM. Surprisingly, the film received only two Academy Award nominations, for Best Picture and Best Film Editing, as MGM successfully focused its awards efforts for that year on The great Ziegfeld.
This adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel, set during the French Revolution, revolves around two men - English lawyer Sydney Carton and French aristocrat Charles Darnay - who share similar looks and a love for the same girl, Lucie Manette." - http://www.allmovie.com/movie/a-tale-of-two-cities-v48478

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