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image from Bleak House (1920) MAIN FEATURE

Hard Times

Charles Dickens was a gift to cinema. His vividly drawn characters seemed to spring from the page onto the screen, while his narrative genius - not to mention his vast output of novels and stories - provided filmmakers with readily-adaptable subjects with built-in popular appeal.

Our expanded bicentennial collection offers a rich selection of early silent treatments, from short vignettes such as 1901's Scrooge, or Marley's Ghost to later features such as 1920's Bleak House (pictured) and on to more celebrated adaptations such as David Lean's critically lauded, visually adventurous Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), and Alastair Sim's near-definitive characterisation of the great miser in Scrooge (1951).

Dickens on Film

SHHH...

PERSONAL FAVOURITE

MORE HIGHLIGHTS FROM BFI SCREENONLINE

  1. The Great White Silence (1924)
  2. The Silent Village (1943)
  3. Angry Silence, The (1960)
  4. Chinese Whispers (2000)
  5. That Quiet Earth (1972)

RECENT ADDITIONS

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COMING SOON

  • Dickens on TV
image from You in Your Small Corner (1962)  

You in Your Small Corner (1962)

Pioneering TV drama by Jamaican-born writer Barry Reckord, who died in December

AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS

UK schools, colleges, university libraries and public libraries have FREE access to video and audio material through the National Education Networks (NEN) or JANET.

USEFUL LINKS

image of Peter Kosminsky

Mischief maker

In 30 years of TV drama, documentary and all points between, Peter Kosminsky has never shied away from the difficult questions.

Peter Kosminsky (1956- )

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Be prepared

As another term begins, why not explore the huge range of resources in our packed Education Zone?

Education Zone

image: poster of Where No Vultures Fly (1951)

Wind of Change

How feature films came to terms with Britain's abrupt change in status as the Empire crumbled and fell.

The End of Empire

Actor Martin Compston with Ken Loach during shooting of Sweet Sixteen (2002)

'You've been Loached!'

The director and some of his key collaborators discuss Ken Loach's unique approach to filmmaking in a series of short films.

Ken Loach Tours