- Acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House) brings to DVD an all new Dickens adaptation starring Academy Award Nominee Tom Courtenay (The Golden Compass), Matthew Macfadyen (MI-5, Pride and Prejudice) and newcomer Claire Foy (Being Human). This gripping new series brings to life Dickens’s powerful story of struggle and hardship in 1820s London. When Arthur Clennam (Macf
Acclaimed screenwriter Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House) brings to DVD an all new Dickens adaptation starring Academy Award Nominee Tom Courtenay (The Golden Compass), Matthew Macfadyen (MI-5, Pride and Prejudice) and newcomer Claire Foy (Being Human). This gripping new series brings to life Dickens’s powerful story of struggle and hardship in 1820s London. When Arthur Clennam (Macfadyen) returns to England after many years abroad, his curiosity is piqued by the presence in his mother’s house of a young seamstress, Amy Dorrit (Foy). His quest to discover the truth about “Little Dorrit” takes him to the Marshalsea Debtors Prison, where he discovers that the dark shadows of debt stretch far and wide. Filled with humorous yet tragic characters, Little Dorrit is a stirring rags to riches to rags story, exposing the underbelly of nineteenth century British society as only Charles Dickens can.Scandalous secrets, strangling bureaucracy, and crippling debts collide in the compelling BBC/Masterpiece Classic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ weighty novel, which debuted in serial form in 1855. Mrs. Clennam (Judy Parfitt), a shut-in, kicks the complex storyline into action when she hires 21-year-old seamstress Amy Dorrit (newcomer Claire Foy, a warm and sympathetic presence) just days before her son, Arthur (Matthew Macfadyen, Pride & Prejudice), returns to London after 15 years at sea. Amy lives with her proud father, William (a heartbreaking Tom Courtenay), in Marshalsea, the debtor’s prison where Dickens’ own father did time. Despite his mother’s denials, Arthur becomes convinced that there’s a connection between the Clennams and the Dorrits, so he attempts to solve the mystery on his own, with help from sniveling rent collector Pancks (Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky) and hindrance from surly servant Flintwinch (Alun Armstrong, New Tricks) and the aptly-named Circumlocution Office.
Last filmed in 1988, Little Dorrit offers material–about greedy lenders and eager investors–ripe for reinterpretation. If the series doesn’t surpass Bleak House, a high-water mark in Dickens adaptations, screenwriter Andrew Davies still does the author proud, despite a sketchy subplot concerning a miserable maid and her mysterious protector. But some things never change, and Dickens presents ample scene-stealing opportunities, of which Amanda Redman as a chilly socialite, Pam Ferris as a shallow governess, Russell Tovey as a lovesick suitor, and Andy Serkis as a Gallic psychopath–his creepiest character since Gollum–take full advantage. In the featurette, cast and crew provide a perceptive look at the making of this timely drama. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
Buy “Little Dorrit” For Only $29.98
April 4, 2008
#1
I thought I’d see if this BBC production was worth watching, I found that it was not. Unlike David Copperfield, Dombey and Son and Martin Chuzzlewit where the speech and accents are understandable, here too many of the actors cannot be easily understood. The only two at the start (I gave up shortly into the first episode) whose speech was clear were the old seamstress and Little Dorrit’s father. Little Dorrit was hopeless: her faint, under her breath delivery in a chip choppy English accent meant only about 45% of what she said was easy to follow. I could not imagine watching much more of a production in which the principal character could not be easily understood. I am not an American who is not attuned to British speech. I have two degrees from Cambridge University and have spent several years in the UK. But extreme British accents are not intelligible to most Americans and this production, unlike the others I mentioned, is full of them. I’d skip this version unless it can be had with subtitles (in English).
April 4, 2008
#2
I love most of Charles Dickens’s stories turned mini-series, but this one was lousy. Very bad. I have no clue as to why so many people have given this movie a good review. To prove that I like a variety of mini-series, see my list of good mini-series at the end of this post. As for Little Dorrit, I give it a D. This is a 14-part series. The first 4 episodes were somewhat interesting. However, the final 10 episodes were illogical, boring, and not well-done. In short, it was painful to watch. I watched the entire series since I had already committed to the first 4 episodes. However, the story never took off. Many of the characters were simply not likeable. Worse yet, many of the story lines never tied in together. When you got to the end, you realized that multiple characters really served no purpose in the movie, whatsoever. None. As for the main “secret” in the movie, it was delivered by a guy speaking British English with a thick French accent. My wife and I had to rewind and replay the critical scene with the sub-titles turned on, so that we could figure out what the heck just happened.
This mini-series seemed more like it was written by some Hollywood sitcom writer and not Charles Dickens. Very poorly done. The main villain in the movie (the guy with the French accent) was downright silly. Everytime he came on the scene, sinister music would be played. It was like when Darth Vader used to come into a scene and the band would kick in. It was downright silly.
The typical love story was sitting there the entire time. This is the ONLY thing that gave this movie anything resembling a pulse. However, it was actually a minor theme in the movie, as we chased one irrelevant character after the next. The worst part was how much attention was focused on Little Dorrit’s father who was in debtor’s prison for 21 years. He was downright annoying. There was nothing endearing about his character. He had the charm of finger nails scraping a chalk board. To make matters worse, at one point, the entire focus was on his life, alone. He got out of debtor’s prison (because he inherited a fortune), tried to act like a rich snob, and then died an old man. This miserably boring subplot took about 4 entire episodes! At the end of his life, you were left thinking: “Okay, Little Dorrit’s dad was a total jerk, in-or-out of debtor’s prison. So, why did we just spend 4 episodes focusing on a guy who, in the end, didn’t really advance the story.” I’m a huge fan of movies that are solely about characters, but, the problem with this movie is that you had no reason to like 90% of the characters.
Other mini-series that I have seen and have really liked are: Pride and Prejudice, Bleak House, Horatio Hornblower, and David Copperfield. I write this so that you realize that I’m not someone who hasn’t seen and understood a good mini-series. Little Dorrit was terrible by comparison.
April 4, 2008
#3
Excellent movie, but there are couple of negative elements. One of the villans gets very fresh with a waitress and a very short bedroom scene follows. Nothing is shown except lustfull kissing which is also short. Camera changes and you can “hear” them. Why writers/directors found it necessary to include the scene, I don’t know. The villan doesn’t even do that in the book. I do hate that there is a scene however short because now, when I recommend this movie, I have to warn my friends. There are few bad words. Other than that, it was an excellent movie!
April 4, 2008
#4
Having also seen the wonderful 1988 production of “Little Dorrit”, I was looking forward to the new version. I have to say that I prefer the former. Andrew Davies is becoming a bit of a disappointment with some of his adaptions. The earlier version cut out minor storylines and characters (this is Dickens afterall) and made the story easier to follow, with better flow. If you get the chance to see the 1988 version, which was recently shown on TCM, watch it and you’ll see the obvious differences. In the current version the Tattycoram storyline could have been given a miss completely. I found it annoying at best and it doesn’t add anything to the story. And Pet Meagle! I don’t know why anyone would fall in love with this self absorbed character, and the actress always looks like she’s not the sharpest tack in the box, which makes Arthur’s infatuation even more bewildering. As far as Amy Dorrit, what the actress in the 1988 version gave Amy was great dignity, and an almost obsessive, complusive quality. I’m not impressed with the current Amy.
Alec Guiness played Mr. Dorrit as delusional, and it was fun watching him preen and portray the character as a celebrity, the “Father of the Marshallsea”. Tom Courtney’s version of Mr. Dorritt is just a sad, mentally unbalanced man. And I love Tom Courtney, but find Sir Alec’s portral more fun and interesting.
If you have not had the opportunity to see the 1988 version, then by all means, see this one and perhaps it will interest you in reading the book.
April 4, 2008
#5
I found Little Dorrit to be… somewhat irksome. I read the book before I watched this miniseries, and honestly I didn’t care for it either. The book was lengthy and tiresome… and I found the bbc production to be much the same. They did a wonderful job with making the book come to life, and it was more exciting then the book… but much darker. The movie was bleak, dark, strange, and depressing… it was hardly enjoyable at all. The father was annoying- just as he was in the book- and I was actually quite thankful when he finally died. The frenchman was disgusting… much more vulgar and disturbing than the man described by Charles Dickens. I believe the film maker felt that he needed to make the movie more morbid to attract modern day audiences, which really just turned me off. I finished the series with mixed feelings… it was by no means a masterpiece- but it was a vast improvement to the book.
However, for its shortcomings, it is worth watching- once. Matthew MacFayden was as dreamy as ever, and was casted perfectly. The actress who portrayed Little Dorrit did an excellent job… she brought Any Dorrit to life. I thought Amy was rather dull in the book, but in the movie she was quite interesting.
I would never buy the series… but it was worth watching that one time at least. I love period movies, and I love Charles Dickens, so if for no other reason than that, I’m glad I did watch it. But I will probably never do so again.