At one time,along with the Edmund Gwenn/Natalie Wood version of "Miracle on 34th St" and Robert Youngson's "Golden Age of Comedy",the wonderful MGM "David Copperfield" used to be a Christmas staple on British television. Now it's the loud and bloodthirsty "The Great Escape" where in the key scene dozens of British officers are shot in cold blood by our Common Market partners - well,there's no accounting for taste I suppose,but do the broadcasting companies ever consult their audience I wonder? There's not a better film to complement that satisfied after-dinner feeling than George Cukor's masterpiece.Whatever criticism you may level at MGM ,when they got things right,they got things right.A lot of love went into this film,a lot of care.With the choice of "All the Stars in Heaven" as they used to say,the Studio picked wisely.The incomparable Edna May Oliver stands head and shoulders above them all as David's Aunt Betsy. Bill Fields is an amiable Micawber,Basil Rathbone a blood-chilling Murdstone.Roland Young perhaps surprisingly cast as Heep is really unpleasant.Frank Lawton and Fredddie Bartholomew between them flesh out the young man who never knew whether he was going to be the hero of his own life.Cukor caught the atmosphere of a very long and much-loved novel and turned it into an accessible film that appealled to an audience that might otherwise have never had the pleasure of meeting some of the most wonderful characters in English Literature.
Review of David Copperfield
