"We all relate to Dickens even if we haven't necessarily read him. We
think we know him, we think we know his characters, and they say something about
us in terms of being British people. I think that's why filmmakers at that
point turned to him."
- Adrian Wootton, CEO, Film London
The postwar years were a time of austerity for Britain. Poverty,
rationing and housing problems were just a few of the big issues facing many
people in the mid-to-late 1940s. But while it was certainly a time of
hardship, it was also one of great optimism: the long war was over, men were
returning from battle and the nation could begin building a better future,
starting with a fairer education system, improved social security and a National
Health Service.
Set against all this was a growing appetite for entertainment, and
cinemagoing was by far the most popular form. The cinema offered an escape
from daily reality, and the studios let go of war stories to satisfy changing
public tastes for comedy, romance and Technicolor, and for stories that
suited the new patriotic mood.
Meanwhile, a number of British filmmakers who had been developing their
skills during the war years were reaching their creative peak. One of
these was David Lean. A respected film editor before the war, by 1945 he had
directed four successful feature films. In 1946, and again
two years later, Lean turned to the works of Charles Dickens
for his subject matter. The result was two of the most celebrated ever
Dickens adaptations: Great Expectations and Oliver
Twist.
Sandwiched between Lean's two films came the Brazilian-born director Alberto
Cavalcanti's adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby. Released by Ealing Studios,
Cavalcanti's film was inevitably overshadowed at that time by Lean's
masterpieces, but now, more than 50 years later, it's arguable that the time is
ripe for its reappraisal.
With the help of Nigel Algar, senior curator of fiction at the BFI National Archive,
and Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London, we look back at these three remarkable
Dickens adaptations and explore the social context in which they were
created.
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Film clips courtesy of Imperial War Museums, ITV Global Enteratainment and Studiocanal.
Thanks also to the Charles Dickens Museum.
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