David Copperfield
Composite Score: 84.6
Starring: Freddie Bartholomew, Frank Lawton, Edna May Oliver, Elizabeth Allan, Jessie Ralph, Basil Rathbone, Violet Kemble Cooper, W.C. Fields, Lennox Pawle, Madge Evans, and Maureen O’Sullivan
Director: George Cukor
Writers: Hugh Walpole and Howard Estabrook
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family, Romance
MPAA Rating: Passed
Box Office: $3.06 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
David Copperfield is the 1935 film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel of the same name about an orphaned boy’s coming of age in Victorian England. The film stars Freddie Bartholomew as the younger version of the titular protagonist and Frank Lawton as his adult counterpart, joined by Edna May Oliver as David’s benevolent Aunt Betsey, Basil Rathbone as the villainous Mr. Murdstone, Jessie Ralph as the lovable Nurse Peggotty, and Maureen O’Sullivan and Madge Evans as the two love interests to Mr. Copperfield – Dora and Agnes, respectively. The film received Oscar nominations for its assistant director Joseph M. Newman, its film editing, and for Best Picture in the year that it came out, and it is considered one of the better adaptations of Dickens’s works in film history.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
I think that David Copperfield works as a true to the source material adaptation of the original novel, but the film does very little to justify such an adaptation. It doesn’t really offer much in terms of visual, narrative, or character innovation that you so often see in literary adaptations to film (granted, they don’t always work), and it suffers heavily for it. The film never fully achieves a level of audience engagement to warrant giving it the full time of day unless you need to watch it for an English class (or need the basics of the story without actually reading the novel for the same English class). Otherwise, the film feels fairly generic outside of a couple of stand-out performances, and its social commentary feels unfortunately lost in the generation (or two) gap between the writing of the novel and the production of the film. Ultimately, I think that it’s a love of Dickens and very little else that has earned this film a spot among the greats.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
David Copperfield’s saving grace (both in the narrative and in terms of entertainment) comes in the form of two performances – that of Edna May Oliver as Aunt Betsey and of W.C. Fields as Micawber. Oliver’s borderline senile but powerful performance as David’s Aunt inserts some life into the story and helps lift the second act of the film, turning David’s story compelling once again. Fields’s Micawber might be the film’s most compelling character – evolving from struggling debtor to humbled clerk to empathetic savior over the course of the film’s story. While David’s story might be the focus of the film’s coming-of-age narrative, Micawber’s redemption serves as the film’s emotional backbone, and Fields’s performance is big and genuine enough that you can’t help but fall for his unfounded charismatic confidence.
Oliver and Fields deliver the memorable performances that David Copperfield needs to elevate its simple retelling of Dickens’s novel and earn it a spot among the greats. Its lack of deviation from the source material is a bit disappointing, but it’s sure to keep fans of the author and his work satisfied. This film is currently available to rent via most streaming services if you’d like to check it out.
