0:00:27 > 0:00:30# Food, glorious food
0:00:30 > 0:00:33# What wouldn't we give for
0:00:33 > 0:00:36# That extra bit more
0:00:36 > 0:00:39# That's all that we live for
0:00:39 > 0:00:40# Why should we be fated
0:00:40 > 0:00:43# To do nothing but brood
0:00:43 > 0:00:45# Oh, food, magical food
0:00:45 > 0:00:48# Wonderful food, marvellous food
0:00:48 > 0:00:51# Heavenly food, beautiful food. #
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Please, sir, I want some more.
0:01:29 > 0:01:35"My father's family name being Pirrip and my Christian name Philip,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38"my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer
0:01:38 > 0:01:43"or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45"And came to be called Pip."
0:01:45 > 0:01:47WIND BLOWS
0:01:51 > 0:01:53WADING BIRD'S PIPING CALL
0:02:13 > 0:02:14CREAKING OF BRANCHES
0:03:06 > 0:03:08HE SCREAMS
0:03:08 > 0:03:12- Keep still, you little devil or I'll cut your throat.- No, sir, no.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24BOY SCREAMS
0:04:14 > 0:04:16"A fearful man,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19"all in coarse grey with a great iron on his leg.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24"A man with no hat and broken shoes, with an old rag tied round his head.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27"A man who'd been soaked in water and smothered in mud
0:04:27 > 0:04:30"and lamed by stones and cut by flints
0:04:30 > 0:04:31"and stung by nettles,
0:04:31 > 0:04:36"and torn by briars, who limped and shivered, and glared and growled,
0:04:36 > 0:04:41"and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin."
0:04:55 > 0:04:58What are your views on this question of use of dialogue?
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Well, I must say I find dialogue... a bore for the most part.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05If you look back on any film you've seen,
0:05:05 > 0:05:09you don't remember lines of dialogue, you remember pictures.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56"I look into my earliest Christmas recollections,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00"up yonder on the tree, among the green holly and red berries
0:06:00 > 0:06:03"is that infernal snuffbox out of which thus sprang
0:06:03 > 0:06:07"a demoniacal counsellor in a black gown
0:06:07 > 0:06:08"and a large cardboard man
0:06:08 > 0:06:12"who used to be hung against the wall and pulled by a string.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14"And when he got his legs around his neck,
0:06:14 > 0:06:16"which he quite often did, he was ghastly
0:06:16 > 0:06:18"and not a creature to be alone with."
0:06:21 > 0:06:23For Christmas as we understand it,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26that benevolent family occasion,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28was merely invented by Dickens.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31And yet, when we look at this passage describing his early toys,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34there's something very droll to be found there.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35The devil,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39the man who was hanged by his neck until he was dead, the murderer,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41and the mask of death.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43It's very typical of Dickens' work.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46There's always this mixture of black and white,
0:06:46 > 0:06:50of evil and of good, of violence and of peace.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54He tried very hard to separate them.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56He was a very simple New Testament Christian.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59And wanted to have evil over here - the villain, very black.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02And good over here - the hero, whiter than white.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05MANIACAL LAUGHTER
0:07:08 > 0:07:10It wouldn't work that way.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14It always became mixed up in a curious sort of fashion.
0:07:51 > 0:07:58Well, we had great success, David Lean and I, with Great Expectations.
0:07:58 > 0:08:04Such a success that we're eternally grateful to Charlie Dickens,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09and we thought we'd have another go. And so we picked,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13after a lot of consideration, Oliver Twist
0:08:20 > 0:08:24"When this tale was first published, I fully expected it
0:08:24 > 0:08:29"to be objected to on high moral grounds.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36"It seems a very coarse and shocking circumstance,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38"that among the characters in my story,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41"I had chosen from the filthiest, most criminal,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43"and degraded of London's population.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47"The character of Sykes is a thief, Fagin is a receiver of stolen goods,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51"the boys are pickpockets, and Nancy is a prostitute."
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Why d'you look at me like that?
0:08:53 > 0:08:55HE MUMBLES
0:08:58 > 0:09:02I won't scream then. Not once. Tell me what I've done.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04You know.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Nothing to hurt you, Bill, so help me God.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13You was watched. Every word you said was heard.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Then you know that I was true to you, Bill.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19True to you, do you hear me?
0:09:19 > 0:09:21SHE SCREAMS
0:09:22 > 0:09:25I'm not ready to go yet.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28SHE MOANS
0:09:31 > 0:09:35"Yet I saw no reason when I wrote the book, why the dregs of life,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37"so long as their speech did not offend the ear,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40"should not serve the purpose of a moral.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43"In this spirit,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45"I wished to show in little Oliver,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48"the principle of good, surviving through every adverse circumstance,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53"and triumphing at last, amongst what companions I could try him best."
0:09:56 > 0:09:59You write a script or work on a script
0:09:59 > 0:10:03then you get a picture of a certain person on your mind, of course.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08And you begin to think what actor could fit into that picture.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11In Great Expectations,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Alec Guinness played the part of a pale, young gentleman.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19I don't know if you remember but this is what he looked like.
0:10:20 > 0:10:21Mr Pip?
0:10:21 > 0:10:25After I'd finished that film, I decided to make Oliver Twist.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27And in it was the part of Fagin.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Alec came to me and said, "I would like to play Fagin."
0:10:33 > 0:10:37Now, this is what Fagin looked like in Cruikshank's drawings.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Now, as a result of this, I said to Alec,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41"You're out of your mind, you can't play that."
0:10:41 > 0:10:46He said, "Look, just give me a screen test. Just give me a test.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50"I'll put a little makeup on and do various things
0:10:50 > 0:10:52"and I think I can do it."
0:10:52 > 0:10:56I said, "Well, I think you're mad but all right, do it."
0:10:56 > 0:10:58And this is what he did.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Clever dogs. Clever dogs.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Never blowed on old Fagin.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15Why are you awake?
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Speak up, boy, quick.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20I couldn't sleep any longer, sir.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22- What have you seen?- Nothing, sir.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25You were not awake an hour ago?
0:11:25 > 0:11:30- No, no indeed, sir. - Are you sure?- Yes, sir.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Tush, tush, my dear.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40- Did you see any of those pretty things, dear?- Yes, sir.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45They... They're mine, Oliver.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17In the year 1836, Messrs Chapman and Hall, the publishers,
0:12:17 > 0:12:18paid the vast sum of £14 a month
0:12:18 > 0:12:23to a comparatively obscure young journalist of 24 years of age
0:12:23 > 0:12:26to write a series of comic adventures around an imaginary club
0:12:26 > 0:12:29and the misadventures of its members. His name was Charles Dickens
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and he obliged by creating the Pickwick Club,
0:12:32 > 0:12:33forthwith bestowing immortal fame
0:12:33 > 0:12:36upon this little gentleman you now see before you -
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Mr Samuel Pickwick himself.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02This is Dickens' novel
0:13:02 > 0:13:04The Posthumous Papers Of The Pickwick Club
0:13:04 > 0:13:06which is The Pickwick Papers these days.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09It's published not as a novel as we think of it,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12but in 19 parts that came out monthly
0:13:12 > 0:13:15with illustrations in the very beginnings of them.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Dickens would write the part that he was going to publish that month
0:13:19 > 0:13:21and then give it to the publisher
0:13:21 > 0:13:22and then an illustrator would read it
0:13:22 > 0:13:25and then make illustrations for scenes they had agreed on.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27In this case, the meeting.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30And they would be played to be printed on
0:13:30 > 0:13:35and bound at the beginning instead of bound in with the text.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39People would be absolutely hooked to see what happened next.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43There's stories of people getting off the boat in America
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and being jumped on by crowds
0:13:45 > 0:13:48saying, "What happens next?" in whatever the current Dickens title is.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51"What happens next?" "What do the characters do?"
0:13:51 > 0:13:54- Change for the waiter? - No, no, my good sir, our privilege.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56- Please, please.- I insist. - If you insist.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Your health, sir. - And yours, gentlemen.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Fine girl. Not a patch on the Spanish though.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Ah, noble creatures. Jet hair, black eyes, lovely form,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10sweet creatures. Beautiful.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20At the height of its serialisation,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24the Pickwick Papers sold 40,000 copies a month.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29It was a new kind of book, featuring a new kind of person -
0:14:29 > 0:14:35carefree, not trapped by class, motivated by a desire for fun.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39A person not unlike Charles Dickens himself.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45Not the old bearded luminary of the ten pound note.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50He was 25,
0:14:50 > 0:14:54a sparkling rocket rising up in the literary firmament,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58one of the most glamorous young men in London almost overnight.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04Sartorially, Dickens was a dandy.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08He once observed that he had the fondness of a savage for finery.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49His characters proved instantly memorable.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52This was due as much to the illustrations
0:15:52 > 0:15:54as to the writing itself,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58which fixed the characters visually in the reader's mind.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04These were some of the greatest illustrators of the age -
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Robert Seymour, George Cruikshank and most often, Hablot Browne.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Dickens' panoramic powers of description
0:16:21 > 0:16:24became the scenarios for a cinema not yet invented,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26with himself as the director,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29and his illustrators as his cinematographers.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36These pictures would provide the cast, the set designs,
0:16:36 > 0:16:37the storyboards.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14"It is the custom on the stage in all good murderous melodramas,
0:17:14 > 0:17:18"to present the tragic and the comic scenes in a regular alternation
0:17:18 > 0:17:19"as the red and white,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22"in the side of streaky, well-cured bacon."
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Stop, thief!
0:17:29 > 0:17:31"The hero sinks upon his straw bed,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34"weighed down by fetters and misfortunes,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37"In the next scene, his faithful but unconscious squire
0:17:37 > 0:17:40"regales the audience with a comic song.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44"Such changes appear absurd,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47"but they are not as unnatural as they would seem at first.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50"The transitions in real life,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53"from well spread boards to death beds, and from mourning weeds
0:17:53 > 0:17:57"to holiday garments, are not a whit less startling."
0:18:21 > 0:18:25Presenting Gabriel Grub
0:18:25 > 0:18:28or The Goblin Who Stole A Sexton.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34"Little Charles was a terrible boy for reading.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38"He read stories, he told stories.
0:18:38 > 0:18:39"Sometimes he'd come downstairs
0:18:39 > 0:18:42"and say to me, "Mary, clear the kitchen,
0:18:42 > 0:18:43""we're going to have such a game."
0:18:43 > 0:18:47"And then George Stroughill, who was a friend of the family,
0:18:47 > 0:18:50"would come in with his magic lantern,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53"and they would sing, recite, and perform parts of plays."
0:19:00 > 0:19:03"Gabriel Grub chuckled very heartily to himself.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08""Brave lodgings for one, brave lodgings for one.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12"£"A few feet of cold earth, when life is done.
0:19:12 > 0:19:19""A coffin at Christmas. A Christmas box! Ho! Ho! Ho!"
0:19:19 > 0:19:26""Ho! Ho! Ho!" echoed a voice which sounded close behind him.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28"Gabriel started up
0:19:28 > 0:19:31"and stood rooted to the spot with astonishment and terror.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36"For his eyes rested on a form that made his blood run cold.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39"Seated on an upright tombstone close to him
0:19:39 > 0:19:41"was a strange unearthly figure.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44"No being of this world."
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Such are the strange monsters
0:19:51 > 0:19:55that move around in Dickens' wonderful geography.
0:19:55 > 0:20:02Such, really, are the memories, the language of memory that he has
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and it is, I suppose again, the language of childhood.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The way that he sees them comes directly from the way
0:20:08 > 0:20:10that we see things when we are children.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13For Dickens, as I said, invented Christmas,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16did also maybe invent children in fiction.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24For him, children are the exalted and the salt of the earth.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Old heads on young shoulders, wisdom in innocence.
0:20:27 > 0:20:35This we see in Paul Dombey, in Pip, in Jo, in little Nell.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40And Victorian society did desperately, desperately offend against children.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44It brutalised them, keep them ignorant, starved them,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47kept them in terrible fevered tenements.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34We may remember Jo,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37the boy who sweeps the crossings in Bleak House,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39who mostly has to sleep out in the open.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42You'll be busy today, Jo.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44Take you across, sir?
0:21:44 > 0:21:48- You have money for your supper and lodgings tonight? - I can buy me supper.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57""Jo, did you ever know a prayer?"
0:21:57 > 0:22:01""Never knowed nothing, sir. Not so much as one short prayer.
0:22:01 > 0:22:02""No, sir, nothing at all.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06""Mr Chadband, he was praying once at Mr Sangsby's and I heard him
0:22:06 > 0:22:10""but he sounded as if he was speaking to himself and not to me.""
0:22:10 > 0:22:12HE STRUGGLES FOR BREATH
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Jo, did you ever know a prayer?
0:22:19 > 0:22:20No, miss.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Jo, you need to say what I say.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Our father.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32- WEAKLY:- Our father.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Which art in heaven.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43- Art...- In heaven.- Heaven.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Hallowed be...
0:22:57 > 0:22:59Dead.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Dead. Dead, Your Majesty.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18Dead, my lords and gentlemen.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Dead, your worships.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Dead, right reverends of every order and degree.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28Dead and dying is around us.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31Every day.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48What could be more poignant than violence meted out to a child?
0:23:50 > 0:23:54What could be more pathetic than the death of a child?
0:23:56 > 0:24:00What other novelist ever depicted so many moving scenes?
0:24:07 > 0:24:11In the late 1830s - when Dickens came to fame -
0:24:11 > 0:24:14almost half of the funerals in London -
0:24:14 > 0:24:18the city that always his greatest source of inspiration -
0:24:18 > 0:24:21were of children under the age of nine.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26BELL TOLLS
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Does Dickens ever tell a tale without a dramatic death?
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Is there ever a Dickens novel without crime?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37He invokes a world of injustice, populated by lawyers,
0:24:37 > 0:24:43litigants and that great new invention of the age, the detective.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45GUNSHOT
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Could this perhaps be a clue to the unique characteristics
0:24:48 > 0:24:52of a writer whose work would be so readily realised in film?
0:24:54 > 0:24:58This wonderful, peculiar mixture of statistical reality
0:24:58 > 0:25:01with phantasmagorical mystery.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16He'd written in a short time Pickwick Papers,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23All enormous successes.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Humorous, lively
0:25:25 > 0:25:28but sometimes violent and terrible with evil right at the centre.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32GASPS AND BOOING
0:25:32 > 0:25:36It's the quality that comes from fairy stories.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40The fact that THINGS in his books are as alive as people.
0:25:57 > 0:26:03- Am I correct in its content, partner? - Partner...you are.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- Heavy enough.- Take care. Guard it with your life.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17LAUGHTER
0:26:17 > 0:26:22Gentlemen...let us gamble.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24For everything.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The novels of Dickens' bore the same relationship to his readers
0:26:41 > 0:26:44that film bears to the same strata in our time.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49They compelled the reader to live the same passions,
0:26:49 > 0:26:53they appeal to the same good and sentimental elements, as does film.
0:27:15 > 0:27:22- Well, bye Joe.- God bless you, dear old Pip. God bless you.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- Bye, Biddy.- Bye, Pip.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28HORN SOUNDS
0:27:28 > 0:27:30Many of Dickens's major books
0:27:30 > 0:27:33feature the tales of central characters,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36like Pip in Great Expectations.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39One day I'll come and see you in London, Pip.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41And then what larks, eh?
0:27:41 > 0:27:46- Goodbye, Joe.- Goodbye, Pip, old chap.
0:27:46 > 0:27:53Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, Amy Dorrit,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57David Copperfield - all young, unformed and morally innocent
0:27:57 > 0:28:00onto whom readers and viewers
0:28:00 > 0:28:03can project their own journeys through life.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09David admits that he's not absolutely madly in love with actors.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12He loves the technical side of filming
0:28:12 > 0:28:16and he's a genius at it and it was interesting to watch.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I got on very well with David always.
0:28:18 > 0:28:24I remember him saying to me, "Johnny, you know, this is a problem
0:28:24 > 0:28:26"to you, because it really is...
0:28:26 > 0:28:30"Pip is a coat hanger, that's what he is. He's a coat hanger
0:28:30 > 0:28:34"for all these wonderful characters that are hung on him.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36"They're all terrific,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39"the Guinness part, the Magwitch part, the Miss Havisham part."
0:28:39 > 0:28:43He said, "I want you to do it cos I think you hold it together
0:28:43 > 0:28:47"and give a fairly strong performance, but it is a coat hanger." And he was right.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52The picaresque quests of these eponymous heroes
0:28:52 > 0:28:58are always eclipsed by a constellation of unforgettable grotesques.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00What's this?
0:29:00 > 0:29:01Lady Jane, I can read.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I can read, I can read!
0:29:08 > 0:29:10And it's these eccentric characters
0:29:10 > 0:29:14that translate so readily to the stage and then to the screen -
0:29:14 > 0:29:17characters every actor wants to play,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20characters impossible to overact.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26COMMOTION BELOW
0:29:33 > 0:29:35PEOPLE SHOUT FROM BELOW
0:29:39 > 0:29:41TAPS ON GLASS
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Agh! Mr Micawber!
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Children, this is your papa!
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Relentlessly pursued
0:29:48 > 0:29:51on an aerial housetop, and vice versa,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54I have thwarted the malevolent machinations
0:29:54 > 0:29:57of our scurrilous enemies.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59In short...
0:30:00 > 0:30:01I have arrived.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03BABY CRIES
0:30:04 > 0:30:08HE GREETS THEM
0:30:08 > 0:30:09Papa!
0:30:09 > 0:30:12When sound came into film,
0:30:12 > 0:30:18the opportunity arose for actors to exploit not only the pantomime of the silent film,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22but also the dramatic dialogue of the Victorian stage.
0:30:24 > 0:30:25KNOCKING
0:30:25 > 0:30:27Let me do the fatal deed,
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and forget the wretch once known as Wilkins Micawber ever lived.
0:30:31 > 0:30:33He will do away with himself.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36I know it. The father of my children!
0:30:36 > 0:30:37SHE SCREAMS
0:30:40 > 0:30:43I think it is only a scratch, Mrs Micawber.
0:30:43 > 0:30:44Has he gone?
0:30:46 > 0:30:48- Not dead!- My love!
0:30:53 > 0:30:58Dickens always loved popular theatrical melodramas,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01spectacularly presented,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04- prefiguring cinematic special effects. - THUNDERCLAP
0:31:04 > 0:31:06WOMAN SCREAMS
0:31:08 > 0:31:12His daughter Mamie wrote that she would hear him in his study
0:31:12 > 0:31:15playing out the characters as he was writing,
0:31:15 > 0:31:21imbuing them with idiosyncratic mannerisms, gestures and speech.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26His first ambition was to be on the stage.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30He saw himself as an actor manager and ran his own theatrical troupe.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Alone!
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Alone in the African jungle,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40and married to an outlaw!
0:31:41 > 0:31:44The first time I saw that admirable woman, Nickleby,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47she stood on her head on the butt-end of a spear,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49surrounded by blazing fireworks.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Such grace, coupled with such dignity -
0:31:51 > 0:31:52I adored her from that moment.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54And yet another blow!
0:31:54 > 0:31:57My daughter lost!
0:31:57 > 0:31:59Wild beasts beset my path!
0:31:59 > 0:32:01Ah-ahhh...
0:32:01 > 0:32:06My darling, allow me to introduce Mr Nicholas Nickleby and his friend.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08I am very glad to meet you, sir.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Ah-ahhh!
0:32:11 > 0:32:13In half an hour, the sun will set,
0:32:13 > 0:32:16and then, then, where shall I be?
0:32:16 > 0:32:19The end of Act Four, Scene Two, The Mortal Struggle,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23the most heart-rending piece. Ah!
0:32:23 > 0:32:26The Infant Phenomenon, Miss Ninetta Crummles, age ten.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Dickens became a major playwright of his time by default.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37All his books were pirated into stage adaptations,
0:32:37 > 0:32:43often before the final instalment of the story had been published.
0:32:43 > 0:32:48The theatrical pick-pockets who stole his work infuriated him
0:32:48 > 0:32:52because none of the box office receipts went to Dickens himself.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59It's a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03- Let go. I'll get me knife. - STRUGGLING
0:33:03 > 0:33:05You can't drown me.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07AUDIENCE GASPS
0:33:08 > 0:33:12If I have an obstinate dog, I beat him.
0:33:12 > 0:33:13BOOING
0:33:14 > 0:33:16I have something to tell you.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19I am your mother, Esther.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21GASPS AND APPLAUSE
0:33:26 > 0:33:28"Mr Charles Dickens, the eminent novelist,
0:33:28 > 0:33:30"gave the first of three readings
0:33:30 > 0:33:32"in the music hall, Nelson Street, last evening.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35"The hall was filled by a most respectable company,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39"who were gratified with the exquisite treat of hearing David Copperfield
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"read as perhaps no other man living could read it,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45"and without ceremony of introduction of any kind,
0:33:45 > 0:33:47"he commenced his reading.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49"His selection consisted of
0:33:49 > 0:33:52"Boots At The Holly Tree Inn, Sykes And Nancy,
0:33:52 > 0:33:54"a most thrilling episode from Oliver Twist,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57"and the world-renowned Mrs Gamp.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01"As a reader of his own particular work,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04"I advise everyone who can possibly make it convenient
0:34:04 > 0:34:10"not to omit availing themselves of one of the two opportunities of enjoying a similar treat
0:34:10 > 0:34:13"which will be offered tonight and tomorrow night."
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Whenever you get a friend, take him as you'd take an orange,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25and squeeze him. Squeeze him
0:34:25 > 0:34:29until you've squeezed all the goodness out of him.
0:34:29 > 0:34:30Then fling him away.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33"Bransby Williams, the Dickens Delineator,
0:34:33 > 0:34:36"enthralled me with imitations of Uriah Heap, Bill Sykes,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39"and the Old Man of the Old Curiosity Shop.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45"The legerdemain of this handsome, dignified young man,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48"making up before a rowdy Glasgow audience,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52"and transforming himself into these fascinating characters,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54"opened up another aspect of the theatre.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58"He also ignited my curiosity about literature.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04"I wanted to know what was this immured mystery that lay hidden in books,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07"these sepia Dickens characters
0:35:07 > 0:35:11"that moved in such a strange Cruikshankian world.
0:35:11 > 0:35:16"Although I could hardly read, I eventually bought Oliver Twist.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19"So enthralled was I with Dickens' characters,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23"that I would imitate Bramsby Williams imitating them."
0:35:31 > 0:35:32In the early years of cinema,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36with technology at once primitive yet revolutionary,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40producers immediately realised that Dickens' stories
0:35:40 > 0:35:42were a treasure trove of narrative
0:35:42 > 0:35:45and extraordinary characters for the new medium.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47MUSIC: "The First Noel"
0:35:59 > 0:36:03There had been dozens of stage versions of A Christmas Carol,
0:36:03 > 0:36:08and the earliest films might well have been shot on a theatrical stage,
0:36:08 > 0:36:12with the action recorded from one fixed camera position.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19But the cinematograph could present the story
0:36:19 > 0:36:22in ways which had never been achieved before.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24MENACING MUSIC
0:36:24 > 0:36:26GASPS
0:37:19 > 0:37:23One of the great pioneers of American cinema
0:37:23 > 0:37:25was the mighty DW Griffith,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28director of epics such as Intolerance.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30From the beginning of his career,
0:37:30 > 0:37:34he always realised the potential of film
0:37:34 > 0:37:38to tell stories by cutting between different spheres of action.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42He made a film from a Dickens story, The Cricket On The Hearth.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51His first wife, Linda Arvidson,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54who featured in that two-reeler in 1909,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57later told this anecdote.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02"When Mr Griffith suggested a scene showing Annie Lee waiting for her husband's return,
0:38:02 > 0:38:06"to be followed by a scene of Enoch cast away on a desert island,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08"it was thought altogether too distracting.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12"How can you tell a story jumping about like that?
0:38:12 > 0:38:14"The people won't know what it's about!
0:38:14 > 0:38:19""Well," said Mr Griffith, "doesn't Dickens write that way?"
0:38:19 > 0:38:23""Yes, but that's Dickens! That's novel writing. That's different."
0:38:23 > 0:38:28""Oh, not so much. These are picture stories, not so different.""
0:38:38 > 0:38:41It is just cutting, just going from one picture to another,
0:38:41 > 0:38:45so that those numbers of pictures tell a story.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Personally, I enjoyed cutting...
0:38:52 > 0:38:56almost as much as direction, I think. I find it a fascinating job.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58Most people, I think that...
0:38:58 > 0:39:02they think that "cutting" is a question of "cutting out" things.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05It's nothing to do with "cutting out" things at all.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08It's the juxtaposition of pictures and, erm...
0:39:10 > 0:39:12..you can make or mar a film by cutting.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14You can't make a bad film good.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17You can make it tolerable, sometimes.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20And you can certainly ruin a bad...
0:39:20 > 0:39:21ruin a good film.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25As a member of the public watching your film go through,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27would I recognise a piece of good cutting?
0:39:27 > 0:39:28I hope not!
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Like all technique, one should be completely unconscious of it.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14In his essay, Dickens, Griffith and the Film Today,
0:40:14 > 0:40:19Eisenstein goes so far as to credit Dickens as the true progenitor,
0:40:19 > 0:40:23the unknowing inventor of film editing, montage.
0:40:35 > 0:40:42Using Oliver Twist, Eisenstein takes a section of the book to analyse Dickens' literary method,
0:40:42 > 0:40:47to demonstrate the way he uses juxtaposition to create tension,
0:40:47 > 0:40:51to intensify suspense, and to engage the audience.
0:40:52 > 0:40:54- Is that the bookseller?- Yes, sir.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Well, stop the boy. There are some to go back.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59- He's gone, sir.- Oh, dear me! I wanted to return some tonight.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02Send Oliver with them.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04He'll be sure to deliver them safely, you know.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08Yes, do let me go, sir. I'll run all the way.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Scene 1, the old gentleman.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Scene 2, the departure of Oliver.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Scene 3, the old gentleman and the watch: it is still light.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24Scene 4, digression on the character of Mr Grimwig.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31Scene 5, the old gentleman and the watch: gathering twilight.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34Scene 6, Fagin, Sykes and Nancy in a public house.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Scene 7, Oliver is kidnapped on the street.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47Scene 8, the old gentleman and the watch: the gas lamps have been lit.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50Scene 9, Oliver is dragged back to Fagin.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01As we can see, we have before us a model of parallel montage of two storylines,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03where one, the waiting gentleman,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06emotionally heightens the tension and drama of the other,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08the capture of Oliver.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12Well, Mrs Bedwin.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14I'm afraid he's lost his way, sir.
0:42:14 > 0:42:15You mean he never went there, eh?
0:42:15 > 0:42:18There you are. The boy's an impostor!
0:42:18 > 0:42:20It can't be! It can't be!
0:42:20 > 0:42:23What do you mean, "it can't be"?
0:42:23 > 0:42:27You old women never believe anything but quack doctors and lying story books!
0:42:27 > 0:42:31He was a dear, grateful, gentle child, sir.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I know what children are, and I have done these 40 years.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37And people who can't say the same, shouldn't say anything about them!
0:42:37 > 0:42:39That's my opinion.
0:42:39 > 0:42:40That'll be all, Bedwin.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07Ladies and gentlemen, is an exhibition of my profile.
0:43:09 > 0:43:11I have got two.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13In the introduction to his essay,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Eisenstein quoted these words of George Bernard Shaw.
0:43:18 > 0:43:23"I was finding that the surest way to produce an effect of daring innovation and originality..."
0:43:35 > 0:43:36How was that?
0:43:38 > 0:43:40Once the talkies were established,
0:43:40 > 0:43:44the Hollywood studios tried to lure to their script rooms
0:43:44 > 0:43:47with promise of massive fame and wealth,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50any writer of the time with a burgeoning reputation -
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Shaw, Fitzgerald, Faulkner.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Charles Dickens proved to be every bit as bankable.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47If I have an obstinate horse or a dog to deal with,
0:44:47 > 0:44:48what do you think I do?
0:44:48 > 0:44:50I don't know.
0:44:51 > 0:44:52I beat him.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57I make him wince and smart.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59I say to myself, "I'll conquer that fellow."
0:44:59 > 0:45:02And if it were to cost him all the blood he had, I'd do it.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08David O. Selznick's David Copperfield
0:45:08 > 0:45:11was followed with A Tale of Two Cities.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15These high-budget productions were also huge popular hits,
0:45:15 > 0:45:19proving to the studios that the literary classics of Dickens
0:45:19 > 0:45:22could provide the source for box office triumph.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47DRUM ROLL
0:45:47 > 0:45:49'It is a far, far better thing I do...
0:45:51 > 0:45:52'..than I have ever done.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57'It is a far, far better rest I go to...
0:45:58 > 0:45:59'..than I have ever known.'
0:46:07 > 0:46:12Notwithstanding the extravagant resources expended in these films,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16could the single feature ever encompass the social scope,
0:46:16 > 0:46:18psychological depths,
0:46:18 > 0:46:20narrative twists,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23or thematic complexities of the original books?
0:46:37 > 0:46:41So began the next chapter in the story of Dickens' adaptation,
0:46:41 > 0:46:42this time for the small screen.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Five o'clock every Sunday on BBC television.
0:46:52 > 0:46:53Long running, multi-episodic,
0:46:53 > 0:46:57as close to a comprehensive translation
0:46:57 > 0:47:00of his lengthy narratives as had ever been attempted.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07This extended form meant that the longer, more complex books -
0:47:07 > 0:47:10less attractive to feature film producers -
0:47:10 > 0:47:11could be taken on.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17These serials became a fixture of British life.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22Though they were originally designed for children,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24the whole family would sit enthralled.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28No longer viewing with strangers, like in the cinema,
0:47:28 > 0:47:29but in your own home.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37You're here at 11 o'clock.
0:47:37 > 0:47:38No sooner, no later.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41Not before, not afterwards.
0:47:45 > 0:47:46A highwayman?
0:47:46 > 0:47:50Nay, Tom! Highwaymen don't need to be shabby!
0:47:50 > 0:47:52'Tis a better business than you think!
0:47:54 > 0:47:56Sunday tea-time became a dream arena,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00securing a central place for the wonders of Dickens,
0:48:00 > 0:48:01the inimitable,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04in the consciousness of yet another generation.
0:48:07 > 0:48:09You had to make sure, when you were writing the serial,
0:48:09 > 0:48:14that you didn't end a scene with the same two actors in it...
0:48:14 > 0:48:18because the actors have got to go over to another set,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21and there were cables and all sorts of things,
0:48:21 > 0:48:24and lighting and sound cables all over the floor.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26And they had to get time to get to another set,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30so you had to be very clever and start the scene with two other people,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32and introduce them naturally.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35And sometimes, of course, they came in panting for breath!
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Do we want the words, Jim, the previous lines, or not?
0:48:40 > 0:48:42OK.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Quiet. Stand by. No lines for Florence's cue.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Just hand the baby on the cue.
0:48:46 > 0:48:47OK.
0:48:49 > 0:48:50Mama?
0:48:50 > 0:48:51Ah, Florence!
0:48:51 > 0:48:55You may go and look at your little brother, if you like, I daresay.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57- But don't touch him.- Mama!
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Shh! There, there, there, my pet.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02You mustn't cry! It's over.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05You have a new brother.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16Once again, the legend of Dickens was revitalised in these serialisations.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22His characters and stories were now known as much through film and television
0:49:22 > 0:49:24as through the books themselves.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31"In these times of ours,
0:49:31 > 0:49:34"though concerning the exact year - there is no need to be precise -
0:49:34 > 0:49:38"a boat of dirty and disreputable appearance, with two figures in it,
0:49:38 > 0:49:43"floated on the Thames, between Southwark bridge, which is of iron,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46"and London Bridge, which is of stone,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49"as an autumn evening was closing in.
0:49:53 > 0:49:55"The figures in this boat
0:49:55 > 0:49:57"were those of a strong man with ragged, grizzled hair
0:49:57 > 0:49:59"and a sun-browned face,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02"and a dark girl of 19 or 20,
0:50:02 > 0:50:05"sufficiently like him to be recognisable as his daughter.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"The girl rowed, pulling a pair of sculls very easily.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15"She watched his face as earnestly as she watched the river,
0:50:15 > 0:50:19"but in the intensity of her look, there was a touch of dread
0:50:19 > 0:50:21"or horror".
0:50:22 > 0:50:24I'll row, Lizzie.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26No. No, father, I cannot sit so near it.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31- What hurt can it do you?- None.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35None. I cannot bear it.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39It's my belief that you hate the very sight of this river,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42as if it wasn't your living,
0:50:42 > 0:50:45as it wasn't meat and drink to you.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48Television serialisation is perhaps most analogous
0:50:48 > 0:50:51to the original magazine publication.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Increasing production values and escalating budgets
0:50:56 > 0:50:59led to ever more lavish and authentic adaptations
0:50:59 > 0:51:03that the early television producers could never have imagined.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10'Because so much of the action in the book takes place on, or by, the river,'
0:51:10 > 0:51:15obviously we had to find a scale of water that would convey the fact
0:51:15 > 0:51:18that there are people living on the river,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21dying on the river,
0:51:21 > 0:51:26all the kind of heart and life of the city that comes from the water.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29And we couldn't find that anywhere in London for obvious reasons,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32cos the 20th century is rather evident.
0:51:32 > 0:51:37So once we'd made the kind of fundamental decision to build a set,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40that released us to look elsewhere.
0:51:44 > 0:51:49Dickens made use of the grim reality of the river of his day
0:51:49 > 0:51:52just as he documented every aspect
0:51:52 > 0:51:56of the unprecedented revolution in London life.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06But always, behind his journalistic naturalism,
0:52:06 > 0:52:10lies a world of myth and symbol.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13BELLS TOLL
0:52:13 > 0:52:16The classic Dickens scenario,
0:52:16 > 0:52:20is the site for eternal dramas worthy of ancient legend -
0:52:20 > 0:52:23the Bible, the Arabian Nights.
0:52:23 > 0:52:25What is this place?
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Why do you bring me here?
0:52:27 > 0:52:30It's where they brought him, Miss, to bury him.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32What?
0:52:35 > 0:52:38In this dreadful place?
0:52:38 > 0:52:41I have come back! To let in the sunlight!
0:52:41 > 0:52:43DRAMATIC MUSIC
0:52:48 > 0:52:51THUMPING AND BANGING
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Look, Estella, look! Nothing but dust and decay.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19The whole estate has been absorbed in costs.
0:53:20 > 0:53:25And thus the whole suit lapses and melts away.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33Dickens is concerned with stories and issues
0:53:33 > 0:53:37where tension is contingent on deep conflicts and oppositions.
0:53:37 > 0:53:40Good and evil, rich and poor.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44Young and old, imprisoned and free.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48Truth and deception, justice and injustice.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52Crime and authority, order and chaos.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55All on an epic scale.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01Like Shakespeare before him,
0:54:01 > 0:54:07his work most truly lends itself to other forms because of its humanity,
0:54:07 > 0:54:12its inherent grasp of our complex psychologies.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18I'm an unfortunate father.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23Unfortunate but always a gentleman.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30How will a dustman know what to do with such wealth?
0:54:30 > 0:54:34That's for Mr Boffin and his good wife to decide
0:54:34 > 0:54:37when I've explained to them the full extent of their fortune.
0:54:37 > 0:54:38I see.
0:54:53 > 0:54:59Of the work of Dickens in whatever form, it can truly be said,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01all human life is there.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24For the past 110 years, from the earliest days of silent film,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26through the golden age of Hollywood,
0:55:26 > 0:55:29through the urgency of post-war British cinema,
0:55:29 > 0:55:34to the moment when television became THE popular medium of its time,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37film-makers have striven to do justice
0:55:37 > 0:55:41to the dazzling inventiveness of Dickens,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43his imaginative vision.
0:55:58 > 0:56:03Though the techniques of film-making have become ever more sophisticated,
0:56:03 > 0:56:04the story remains the same.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17In 2012, the bicentenary of his birth,
0:56:17 > 0:56:23prestige productions for both film and television continue to be made.
0:56:23 > 0:56:30We have no reason to suppose that on his 300th anniversary,
0:56:30 > 0:56:33the work of Charles Dickens will have ceased to be central
0:56:33 > 0:56:38to forms of storytelling in media known and as yet unknown.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Enduring...as Christmas itself.
0:56:52 > 0:56:53KEYS JANGLE
0:56:53 > 0:56:55I've got it!
0:56:57 > 0:57:01Yep! Why does everything seem to happen to me?
0:57:03 > 0:57:05Oh!
0:57:28 > 0:57:30Marley!
0:57:34 > 0:57:36Jacob Marley.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42Aah!
0:57:42 > 0:57:44Jacob Marley.
0:57:48 > 0:57:49Jacob Marley?
0:57:49 > 0:57:52Aah!
0:57:52 > 0:57:54Oof!
0:57:54 > 0:57:55Humbug.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Oh, Gonzo, speak to me.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01I mean, Mr Dickens, Charlie, are ya hurt?
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:32 > 0:58:36E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk