Dickensblog

'The King of Kings': A review

Though The King of Kings is doing great at the box office, I've seen a number of critics and viewers saying that they have trouble with the unusual concept of Christ's story being framed by a story of Charles Dickens and his son Walter. Of course, the reason is that the film is based on Dickens's book The Life of Our Lord -- although many of us diehard Dickensians would simply argue that Dickens belongs anywhere and everywhere he can get! Still, before I saw the film myself, I wondered how well the two aspects of the story would blend.

'The King of Kings' releases tomorrow

The animated film based on Dickens's The Life of Our Lord hits movie theaters this weekend. It's currently rated 68 percent Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. I probably won't have a chance to go until next weekend, but if you go before then, let us know your thoughts in the comments! 

Lucinda Hawksley lectures on 'Dickens and Travel'

Sign up at this link to hear her speaking at 5:30 Eastern this evening at Skidmore College!

Household words

When Typepad was down for a significant amount of time a few days ago, I started looking into what's going on with the platform. What I found was not reassuring. I believe it may be time to think about migrating Dickensblog to a different platform. As someone who knows a lot more about English literature than about how the Internet works, I find this prospect daunting, but not as daunting as the possibility of losing some 16 years' worth of posts. I'm seeking out advice (and would welcome tips from any of you with experience in this area!) and will keep you posted. And those of you on Facebook are welcome to join the Dickensblog group there, where you can always find me if this blog is down!

Inspired by 'Night Walks'

We've seen fashion inspired by Miss Havisham before, but here's a new one: fashion inspired by Dickens's famously atmospheric essay "Night Walks." The Guardian and MSN have articles and photos showing the new Alexander McQueen collection.

A conversation with the author of 'Fagin the Thief'

Allison Epstein, author of the new Oliver Twist spinoff Fagin the Thief, will be interviewed by longtime friend of this blog Rachel McMillan in a Zoom event that's free to the public. Go here to register for the event, which will take place this Wednesday, March 5, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. 

(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)

'Oliver!' cast album released

The cast album of the new Cameron Mackintosh production of Oliver! is now available digitally. (The page I just linked to says it's also available on CD, but I don't actually see any CDs for sale yet -- maybe that's coming soon.) Musical Theater Review has a review of the album here.

TCM alert

Great Expectations (1946) airs on the channel at 7:30 Eastern this morning, as part of 31 Days of Oscar.

TCM alert

A Tale of Two Cities (1935) just started, as part of the channel's 31 Days of Oscar celebration (sorry for the late notice!).

A special new edition of 'Bleak House'

Congratulations to Gerry Mooney, a member of the Dickensblog Facebook group, on the publication of a new edition of Bleak House with his own beautiful linocut illustrations! Gerry has been working on this project for a long time, providing updates at his blog. Now the book is available for sale on Amazon (paperback only), and Gerry is also selling prints of the illustrations in his Etsy shop. You can also learn more at his YouTube channel. We're so proud of you, Gerry!

(Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)