Dickensblog

Two silent Dickens films rediscovered

Writing in The Buzfuz e-newsletter (e-mail TheBuzfuz@aol.com to join), Fred Guida reports that two lost Dickens films from 1912 have been recently discovered: Martin Chuzzlewit and Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgers. The films are being restored by Dino Everett of the University of Southern California.

Dickens in color

Flavorwire is featuring some beautiful vintage color illustrations from various works by Dickens, by various artists.

More on 'Two Cities,' and a little on 'Martin Chuzzlewit'

• Here's an article that talks more about that upcoming dramatization of ATOTC, and why Terence Rattigan's adaptation has never been done professionally before. It also mentions that Stewart Agnew will play the lead.
• Elsewhere, the blog The East Room makes a strong argument that "it is impossible to think less of Darnay because of Carton’s act of heroic self-sacrifice." 
• Meanwhile, back at First Things, B. D. McClay has a new post up on how "Martin Chuzzlewit" is doing particularly poorly in that poll on the best and worst Dickens novels.

Review/recap: Your opinion needed!

It's been a while now since I've done a review/recap of a Dickens film or miniseries -- which kind of makes sense, because it's been a while now since a new one has come out. However, I do have two box sets of older adaptations sitting on the shelf, most of which I've never seen before. So I think I'd like to do another one pretty soon. I've narrowed it down to three possibilities to start with:

• Hard Times (1994), starring Alan Bates, Bob Peck, Bill Paterson, Harriet Walter, and Richard E. Grant.
• Martin Chuzzlewit (1994), starring Paul Scofield, Tom Wilkinson, Philip Franks, and Julia Sawalha.
• Barnaby Rudge (1960), starring John Wood, Barbara Hicks, Nigel Arkwright, Newton Blick, and Joan Hickson.

If any of you want to express a preference, put it in the comment section below. If we don't get any votes, I'll just go ahead and pick one!

Dress like Dickens

Do you have what it takes to be a dandy? The Dickens Museum holds a "Sunday Best" event on the first Sunday of each month, offering free admission to those who come "dressed to impress." But you have to meet their exacting standards -- AND you have to speak the right words (from Martin Chuzzlewit). Go here to find out how to pass muster!

Dickens for Breakfast is back!

The group calling itself Dickens for Breakfast is starting another group read! Some of you may recall how these work: They send out PDF files of the original installments of a novel, by e-mail. (Here's my description of their Tale of Two Cities read.) This time they're doing 18 monthly installments of Martin Chuzzlewit, which celebrates its 170th anniversary this year.

If you're interested in participating, contact Yuri Cowan at yuri.cowan@ntnu.no to sign up!

'Martin Chuzzlewit' (1994): A review

By Nina S., guest blogger

Martin Chuzzlewit is one of Dickens' lesser-known, or at least lesser-read, novels.  I first read it a few years ago in my campaign to read everything Dickensian I could get my hands on, and despite its reputation, I was surprised to find I enjoyed it very much, and it quickly became one of my favorite of Dickens' early works!  Recently, I stumbled across the 1994 BBC miniseries on YouTube, and decided to give it a go too, even though it was nearly six hours long. And in my opinion, it turned out to be one of the best Dickensian adaptations I've seen so far.

A few thoughts on 'Martin Chuzzlewit'

I actually finished the novel some time ago, but haven't had a chance to write about it until now.

So . . . this was not one of my favorite Dickens novels. But I didn't expect it would be. I generally favor mid- to late Dickens. And beyond that, a lot of the criticism that this book gets is pretty accurate. Doctor Who, for instance, was spot-on about the "American bit." I know I can't help being a little biased, but the parts about America went far beyond the kind of satire he usually does, and were just plain heavy-handed. Once again, I'm grateful that he at long last made up his quarrel with us, and inserted that conciliatory postscript into the book! But he really should have held off writing this until he was in a bit of a better mood, I think.

Also (spoiler alert) . . .

'The Mumbai Chuzzlewits' on BBC Radio 4

The new reworking of Martin Chuzzlewit has begun airing. As with A Tale of Two Cities, you can subscribe to the podcast or listen on the BBC iPlayer. Be careful if you subscribe, though. The final episode of Two Cities didn't automatically download to my iTunes, and I had to go manually download it before it disappeared off the Web! (Remember, these are only available online for a limited amount of time.)

The Inimitable is inexhaustible

So says biographer Robert Douglas-Fairhurst in this interview about the upcoming adaptations.