THE PICKWICK PAPERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 783, 23 July 1954, Page 16

THE PICKWICK PAPERS

(Renown-International Films) Before Dickens wrote a single story, he had a kind of vision. It was a vision of the Dickens world--a maze of white roads, a map full of fantastic towns, thundering coaches, clamorous market-places, uproarious inns, strange and swaggering figures. That vision was Pickwick.- G. K. Chesterton, HILE it is possible ‘that Dickensians — using the word in its Pickwickian sense-may consider that Mr, Noel Langley has done less than epic justice to the members of the Club, the present reviewer, who finds himself irrevocably numbered with their less petfervid admirers, is of the opinion that we have here-so far as such is possible within one hour and 49 min-utes--an accurate and éntertaining realisation of the author’s declared objective, videlicet, "To place before the reader a constant succession of characters and incidents; to paint them in as vivid colours as he could command; and to render them, at the same time, lifelike and amusing." x Inevitably the selection of incident (and the omission or inclusion of dramatis personae) will provoke argu-

ment, and perhaps even some measure of dissatisfaction among enthusiasts. Is Mrs. Leo Hunter’s fancy-dress breakfast of greater significance than the political climate of Eatanswill? Can a mere glimpse of the older Weller (a nostalgic glimpse for George Robey’s admirers) leave us with anything but a lopsided impression of that unique father-and-son study in which Mr. Priestley has found the complementary virtues of town and country? Does the appearance of the Fat Boy atone for the absence of Bob Sawyer, and can one imagine Dingley Dell without a Christmas party? These and sundry other matters of omission and commission will doubtless arouse partisan enthusiasms in university common-rooms and wherever there is a local chapter of the Dickens Fellowship. But they are unlikely to produce violent reactions elsewhere. The crucial question-Does the film deserve its title?-can quite safely be answered in the affirmative. Or, at least, one is persuaded that Mr. Chesterton

would have found it so. For, as Dickens gave us a vision of his world in Pickwick, so Mr. Langley has given us at least a vision of Pickwick-and. he could scarcely have done more. The abridgements into which he has been forced by stern necessity have

produced some oddly foreshortened perspectives. In particular, the importance of Mr, Jingle has been magnified to a point where his significance in the narrative tends to overshadow that of Mr. Pickwick himself. So admirably has Nigel Patrick put on Jingle’s character,

BAROMETER FAIR TO FINE: "The = Pickwick | Papers." FAIR: "The Actress." —

and s6 closely doés the story follow his ebcapades, that the screen. Pickwick seems at times more his story than that of the General Chairman. Even James Hayter, in steel-rimmed spectacles and the traditionally tight breeches, can scarcely hold attention when Jingle is in full cry. The film is, you might say, Jingle all the way. But that should not be construed to mean that the other characters fall short. There are more than forty players (ranging from Donald Wolfit, as Buzfuz, to Sam Costa-a morose Joe Trotter), and they are all worth seeing. Dickens characters, of course, are always visually entertaining on the screen, and here they are obviously played with relish. The Pickwick Papers, in short, can be commended not only to Dickensians, but to anyone in séarch of good fun. Neediess to say it completely fulfils the earnest hope of the Author in that "No incident or expression occurs which could call a blush irtto the most delicate cheek, or wound the feelings of the. most sensitive person."