Watching the classic MGM version of David Copperfield, I couldn't help but feel that too much was cut out of this film. It would have been better done in two parts with one part strictly dealing with David's childhood up to the point where he comes into the custody of his great aunt Betsy Trotwood. Another film would then pick up the slack and follow him through adulthood. MGM did it that way several years later in their life of Thomas Edison, it should definitely have been done for David Copperfield.
Too much of the story is left out and it's assumed since David Copperfield was and is required reading in most high school literature courses that the audience would be familiar with the story. Certainly the fine group of players that George Cukor gathered all do their best and are well cast in their parts.
For the one and only time in his career W.C. Fields played someone other than W.C. Fields on screen. Borrowed from Paramount, Fields is cast as the ever expectant Mr. Micawber who proves to be David's salvation both as a child and as an adult. He also indulges in a little bit of Fields like physical comedy, please note that walk on the roof to enter his dwelling. Still in the key moments you do realize he's Micawber and not Fields in the film.
Freddie Bartholomew followed up his first noticed screen role in Anna Karenina with a winning portrayal as young David the child. I'm sure that Frank Lawton might not have gotten the part had he had to carry a whole film as an adult. Still he's not bad as the adult David for his half of the film.
Dickens's villains are as black as they come in literature and Basil Rathbone and Violet Kemble Cooper as the Murdstone brother and sister are as coldblooded a pair as you'll ever find. And Roland Young as Uriah Heep is one oily insinuating dude.
Rathbone as Murdstone is young David's father who was cruel to his mother Elizabeth Allan who was a kindly, but weak soul. When David grows up he remembers what happened and when another kindly, but weak and also airheaded soul in the person of his first wife Dora comes into his life, his protective instincts are aroused and he marries her. Maureen O'Sullivan who would usually be playing upper crust types plays the simple lisping airhead, Dora. It's an unusual turn for her and a good one. Funniest moment in the film when she invites Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsy and Lennox Pawle as Mr. Dick over and the meal is a disaster.
I liked the film, liked everybody in it. But MGM and George Cukor would have been better off doing it in two parts. Still it's a classic, though don't use it as a substitute for reading the book or Cliff's Notes if you have to do a book report.
Too much of the story is left out and it's assumed since David Copperfield was and is required reading in most high school literature courses that the audience would be familiar with the story. Certainly the fine group of players that George Cukor gathered all do their best and are well cast in their parts.
For the one and only time in his career W.C. Fields played someone other than W.C. Fields on screen. Borrowed from Paramount, Fields is cast as the ever expectant Mr. Micawber who proves to be David's salvation both as a child and as an adult. He also indulges in a little bit of Fields like physical comedy, please note that walk on the roof to enter his dwelling. Still in the key moments you do realize he's Micawber and not Fields in the film.
Freddie Bartholomew followed up his first noticed screen role in Anna Karenina with a winning portrayal as young David the child. I'm sure that Frank Lawton might not have gotten the part had he had to carry a whole film as an adult. Still he's not bad as the adult David for his half of the film.
Dickens's villains are as black as they come in literature and Basil Rathbone and Violet Kemble Cooper as the Murdstone brother and sister are as coldblooded a pair as you'll ever find. And Roland Young as Uriah Heep is one oily insinuating dude.
Rathbone as Murdstone is young David's father who was cruel to his mother Elizabeth Allan who was a kindly, but weak soul. When David grows up he remembers what happened and when another kindly, but weak and also airheaded soul in the person of his first wife Dora comes into his life, his protective instincts are aroused and he marries her. Maureen O'Sullivan who would usually be playing upper crust types plays the simple lisping airhead, Dora. It's an unusual turn for her and a good one. Funniest moment in the film when she invites Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsy and Lennox Pawle as Mr. Dick over and the meal is a disaster.
I liked the film, liked everybody in it. But MGM and George Cukor would have been better off doing it in two parts. Still it's a classic, though don't use it as a substitute for reading the book or Cliff's Notes if you have to do a book report.