Charles Dickens Movies

Mr. Bean star Rowan Atkinson steps into the role of comic landlord Mr. Micawber for director Peter Howitt's screen adaptation of the classic novel by revered author Charles Dickens. Widely regarded as one of the author's most autobiographical works, David Copperfield follows a young orphan coming of age on the streets of Victorian-era London. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol features Barbie in the role of Eden Starling, singer extraordinaire for a grand theater in Victorian London. When Eden decides to force her fellow performers to work on Christmas day, three spirits arrive to take her on a magical journey in hopes of re-instilling Eden with the proper holiday spirit. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A young girl and her doting grandfather flee from a vicious debt collector and a mysterious stranger in this made-for-BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale. Deep in the heart of London, Little Nell Trent (Sophie Vavasseur) lives with her grandfather (Sir Derek Jacobi) in his Old Curiosity Shop. There, dust-coated treasures cover the walls, and line the shelves. But Little Nell's grandfather is a compulsive gambler, and eventually his debts become so large that the malevolent Quilp (Toby Jones) seizes the shop. Desperate, Little Nell and her grandfather flee the city. But no matter how far they run, it seems like Quilp and the mysterious stranger are always hot on their heels. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Roman Polanski gives one of Charles Dickens' best-loved stories a new and dynamic interpretation in this period drama. Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is a young orphan in Victorian England who has been sent to a dank workhouse run by the miserly Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when it is learned there is no one to care for him. When Oliver dares to ask for more gruel, he is sent away to live with an undertaker, who treats him poorly. Preferring life on the streets to the treatment he's been receiving, Oliver runs away to London, where he falls in with the Artful Dodger (Harry Eden), a youthful pickpocket. The Artful Dodger is one of a gang of young thieves overseen by Fagin (Ben Kingsley), a paternal but sinister criminal mastermind. While Oliver finds a home of sorts with Fagin and his young cohorts, he also falls into a dangerous life made all the more threatening by the presence of Fagin's menacing overlord, Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman). Oliver Twist was Polanski's first feature film after enjoying a major career resurgence following the international success of his Oscar-winning World War II drama The Pianist. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Tim Greene takes Charles Dickens' classic novel of an orphan in Victorian England and transports it to present-day Cape Town, South Africa, for his feature debut, Boy Called Twist. Newcomer Jarrid Geduld stars as the boy, who is sent to an orphanage when his mother dies shortly after giving birth to him. He's given his new name by Mrs. Corlet (Terry Norton), an orphanage director with a literary bent. Years later, with the orphanage in dire financial straits, Corlet sells a group of the older orphans to Bedel (Goliath Davids), who brings them to a farm where they are fed little and worked mercilessly. When Twist dares to demand more food, Bedel beats him, then brings him to a family-run funeral home, where he starts work as a gravedigger. He does well there, until his fellow workers grow jealous of him and start trouble. Faced with returning to the farm, Twist chooses to run away. At a highway rest stop, he's found by Dodger (Tertius Swanepoel), who brings him to the vicious Bill Sykes (Bart Fouche) and his pretty girlfriend, Nancy (Kim Engelbrecht). They take Twist to Cape Town, where he falls in with Fagin (Leslie Fong) and his crew of young scam artists, including Charley Bates (Ndyebo Mgaga). Twist is arrested for robbing an old man, but rather than press charges, Ebrahim (Bill Curry), a wealthy Muslim, takes Twist in and shows him a new way of life. Greene drew a lot of attention when he raised the production cost of the film by getting a thousand people to donate one thousand rands apiece. Greene attended the film's U.S. premiere at the 2005 New York African Diaspora Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

One of Charles Dickens' best-loved (and most complex) stories receives its fourth feature film adaptation in this lively historical comedy-drama. Nicholas Nickleby (Charlie Hunnam) is a 19-year-old who becomes the head of the family when his father dies unexpectedly. Keeping watch over his mother (Stella Gonet) and his sister Kate (Romola Garai) becomes an even greater challenge when Nicholas discovers that his father lost the family fortune due to ill-advised investments. Without a shilling to his name, Nicholas turns to his wealthy but unforgiving Uncle Ralph (Christopher Plummer) for help; Uncle Ralph offers to find work for all three, and Nicholas becomes a teacher at a school for unfortunate boys run by Wackford Squeers (Jim Broadbent) and his wife (Juliet Stevenson). Squeers and his wife are cruel and frequently violent toward their charges, and when Wackford, without cause, beats a weak and timid student, Smike (Jamie Bell), Nicholas decides he can take no more and runs away, with Smike in tow. The two young men fall in with a traveling theater troupe run by the genially eccentric Vincent Crummles (Nathan Lane) and his equally flamboyant spouse (Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna Everage). In time Nicholas returns to London to check in on his sister and mother. To his horror, he learns that Uncle Ralph has promised Kate's hand to Sir Mulberry Hawk (Edward Fox), a wealthy older man with a less-than-wholesome interest in young women. Both Kate and Nicholas are upset at the prospect of this union, and Nicholas attempts to tear his family away from Uncle Ralph's control, beginning with a job working for the warm-hearted Charles Cheeryble (Timothy Spall) and his brother (Gerard Horan). Nicholas also falls in love with the fair Madeline (Anne Hathaway), but when Uncle Ralph learns of Nicholas' plot to foil Kate's impending marriage, he strikes back by kidnapping Smike and attempting to force Madeline to wed Sir Hawk. Actor, writer, and filmmaker Douglas McGrath adapted Nicholas Nickleby into a screenplay, as well as directing the picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Hot on the heels of the BBC's multipart 1999 adaptation of Charles Dickens' semiautobiographical novel David Copperfield came this American-financed version, prepared for the TNT cable network as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. Child actor Max Dolbey and adult performer Hugh Dancy share the role of David Copperfield who, after enduring a tempestuous youth at the hands of his cruel stepfather Murdstone (Anthony Andrews), manages to survive into adulthood with the help and support of such sympathetic figures as Aunt Betsy Trotwood (Sally Field), the eternally-in-debt Mr. Micawber (Michael Richards), and loyal old Dan Peggoty (Nigel Davenport). Even so, David's later years are none too serene, thanks in great part to antagonists like the wheedling, "'umble" Uriah Heep (Frank MacCusker), and to his own star-crossed romantic misadventures. At the time of its first telecast on December 10, 2000, this two-part adaptation of David Copperfield was criticized for the "stunt" casting of former Seinfeld regular Michael Richards as Micawber, who is transformed into a Kramer-esque slapstick figure; however, one must remember that not everyone was enamored of W.C. Fields' now-classic interpretation of the same character in the 1935 film version. David Copperfield was lensed on location in Ireland. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 2000 TV miniseries is based on an 1839 Charles Dickens novel, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. The film begins with the burial of Mr. Nickleby beneath snow-covered earth. Attending are Nickleby's wife and teenage children, Nicholas (James D'Arcy) and Kate (Sophia Myles). Because Mr. Nickleby died broke after speculating on stocks, Nicholas needs money fast to provide for his mother and sister. When he seeks help from his uncle, Ralph Nickleby (Charles Dance) -- a cold-hearted businessman -- Ralph refuses cash and instead arranges for Nicholas to assist at a boarding school operated by Wackford Squeers (Gregor Fisher), a sadistic overlord who whips and starves his students. Soon, Nicholas rebels against the inhumane conditions at the school, thrashes Squeers, and flees. A pitiful and sickly student named Smike (Lee Ingleby) joins Nicholas and becomes a family friend. After working as an actor, Nicholas gets a good job at a counting house operated by the kindly Cheeryble brothers. Meanwhile, Ralph Nickleby tricks Kate into meeting his friend, Sir Mulberry Hawk (Dominic West), who wants to defile her. When Hawk strongarms her onto a billiard table, Kate escapes. Enraged, Nicholas and Ralph become thoroughgoing enemies. When Ralph uses his financial leverage to force an innocent young woman, Madeleine Bray (Katherine Holme), to marry one of his cronies, Nicholas foils the plot -- then falls in love with Madeleine himself. Ralph tries to strike back at his nephew through Smike, but fails -- although poor Smike dies. As the production reaches its climax, Ralph learns a startling secret when he and Nicholas confront each other. The final scenes of the film reveal the fates of the principal characters. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

A distinguished cast highlights this made-for-TV adaptation of one of Charles Dickens' best-loved novels. Young David Copperfield (Daniel Radcliffe) is loved by his mother Clara (Emilia Fox), but does not get along with his foul-tempered stepfather, Murdstone (Trevor Eve). After biting Murdstone during a fight, David is forced to attend a boarding school operated by the vicious and humorless Mr. Creakle (Ian McKellen). After Clara suddenly dies, David is sent to work; while his labors are tiring and poorly compensated, he finds a benefactor in the good-hearted Mr. Micawber (Bob Hoskins) and his wife (Imelda Staunton). However, Micawber does not manage money well, and winds up in a debtors prison. Left to his devices, David sets out to find one of his few surviving relatives, his eccentric Aunt Betsy (Maggie Smith). The years pass, and the grown-up David (Ciaran McMenamin) has struggled to build a better life for himself, with the help of Betsy's attorney, Mr. Wickfield. David also becomes friendly with Wickfield's daughter Agnes (Amanda Ryan), but he finds a nemesis in the lawyer's clerk Uriah Heep (Nicholas Lyndhurst). David also marries a simple woman named Dora (Joanna Page), but their union brings him little happiness. David Copperfield was a co-production of the BBC and WGBH Boston. It received its American premier on the acclaimed anthology series Masterpiece Theatre. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Charles Dickens' classic novel, which has been brought to the screen at least six times in the past (including a modernized adaptation released in 1998), is committed to film once again in this production for television by the BBC. Pip is an orphan who lives with his older sister and her husband Joe, a blacksmith. Pip is occasionally sent to visit Miss Havisham (Charlotte Rampling), an eccentric old crone who lives in a huge but filthy mansion and is always dressed in a decrepit bridal trousseau. Miss Havisham has a ward, a lovely young woman named Estella, with whom Pip is immediately smitten. However, Pip is convinced a boy of poor circumstances could never win her heart, which fills him with a desire to better himself. While economics would dictate a fate as Joe's assistant, one day Pip receives a message from a lawyer named Jaggers -- an anonymous benefactor has made it possible for Pip to leave the blacksmith's shop and pursue a gentleman's education in London. Pip (played as an adult by Ioan Gruffudd) soon moves to the city, where he hopes to gain knowledge, wealth and the affections of Estella (Justine Waddell). This version of Great Expectations made its American premier on the PBS cultural series Masterpiece Theatre, where it was shown as a three-part miniseries. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Alfonso Cuaron (The Little Princess) directed this Mitch Glazer screenplay, a modernization of the 1860-61 classic by Charles Dickens. Some situations in the film are presented as memories -- the way the central figure, Finnegan Bell (Ethan Hawke) recalls events many years later. At a Florida fishing village, eight-year-old orphan Finn Bell (Jeremy James Kissner), talented at art, is left in the care of his sister and her husband, Joe (Chris Cooper). One day, Finn helps a chained, escaped convict who appears in the surf. On other days, he visits Paradiso Perduto, where he plays with young Estella (Raquel Beaudene), niece of the mansion's colorful, flamboyant, and extremely wealthy owner, Ms. Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft), who parallels the novel's tragic Miss Havisham, a woman jilted at the altar and left emotionally scarred and mentally imbalanced. As Ms. Dinsmoor watches Finn draw a portrait of Estella, she plots to mold Estella into a hard woman capable of destroying men. In a flash forward to the '90s, Finn (Hawke) and Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow), now in their late teens, re-create the water-fountain kiss of their childhood, but Estella vanishes, breaking Finn's heart to such a degree that he doesn't draw or paint for seven years, choosing to eke out a marginal existence with his uncle Joe (after Finn's sister abandons the two). Then Manhattan art representative Jerry Ragno (Josh Mostel) turns up with a startling offer -- if Finn will return to painting and relocate in New York, Ragno will give him a one-man show. With an apparent assist from Ms. Dinsmoor, Finn makes the move and begins his new life with great expectations and a deadline of 10 weeks to complete the necessary paintings. When Finn next encounters Estella, she has a wealthy boyfriend, Walter (Hank Azaria). As Finn once again becomes entranced by Estella, he also begins to question exactly how his life is being manipulated. Francesco Clemente did the paintings and drawings seen in the film. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In 1974, Cicely Tyson and director John Korty (The Ewok Adventure) worked together on the acclaimed The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (winner of nine Emmys), and they reteamed for this updating of Charles Dickens' 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol. When miserly banker Ebenita Scrooge (Tyson) is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael J. Reynolds), visions prompt her to reflect on her life. An earlier female Scrooge was played by Susan Lucci in 1995, and a Mrs. Scrooge with Sally Kellerman is also in development. The TV movie Ms. Scrooge premiered December 10, 1997 on the USA Network. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide