David Copperfield Comparisons Part Two...

Continued from part one...

1999

While this version has its flaws, it’s definitely my favorite of all the versions. Some of my favorite performances by my favorite actors are on here…specifically Maggie Smith as Betsy Trotwood – the best, IMO, period. “Janet – Donkeys!!!”  Exactly how I pictured Betsy Trotwood. Betsy’s one of my favorite characters in DC, and as one of my favorite actresses, Maggie Smith did a fantastic job.  While sometimes she can be a bit too “serious” in the role…she’s still fantastic. 

Emelia Fox (well known in Jane Austen circles as Georgiana Darcy in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice) is completely and totally perfect as David’s mother, soft-spoken, gentle and sweet…managing to show the young mother overpowered by Mr. Murdstone and somehow at the same time keeping her from being annoying (am I the only one that gets annoyed by the other mousy, simpering versions?). She’s exactly what I imagined his mother as and this role shot her up to the list of favorite actresses for me. Her performance as Mrs. Copperfield sparked an inspiration for a similar character in one of my novels, so I’m partial to her performance. :-) Definitely the perfect Mrs. Copperfield.

Bob Hoskins is fabulous as Mr. Micawber…it’s hard to get exactly that character, and I think he did a great job. Some people say that his Mr. Micawber wasn’t over-the-top enough and too “realistic”, but I rather liked that approach…it made it seem more like someone you might actually meet, you know?  Imelda Staunton (Sense and Sensibility, Cranford) as Mrs. Micawber was just a delicious extra. “I will never desert him!” :-) The attempted suicide scene was absolutely hilarious.

Ian McKellan has a disgustingly slimy cameo as Mr. Creakle, and the young David is an adorably cute pre- super fame Daniel Radcliffe who does, IMO, the best young-David job of all the child actors in the role I’ve seen. And of course, the alumni of Dickens adaptations, the marvelous Alun Armstrong, gives a wonderful performance as Dan Peggoty (but then, when has he ever done a bad performance?). My favorite Peggoty – Pauline Quirke (she might be familiar to viewers as Dixon, the Hale’s servant from North and South), while not exactly the book’s description, conveys the character of the faithful servant, and I think that is the key. The more I’ve seen films-adapted-from books, the more I’ve realized that it doesn’t always matter if they’re exactly like the description of the character, as long as they capture the character themselves. They may not have the same hair color or be quite the same age, but if they manage to bring across what the character was supposed to, that’s what makes you remember them.

Agnes fell just a bit short…you never really felt like she was in love with him, and just wasn’t quite right. Hallelujah, Rosa Dartle had a good, obvious scar, but looked quite older than Steerforth. However, her scene when *SPOILERS* they hear of Steerforth’s death was absolutely incredible. Very happy there.

But I definitely thought this had the strongest performance for Ham Peggoty, played by James Thornton. Unlike most that show him as a thickheaded, ugly dolt who somehow managed to win Emily’s hand because there was no one else around, this Ham is strong, manly, and handsome in his own rugged way. He is uneducated, yes, but there’s a masculinity and rough chivalry in him that makes you love him from the moment he comes on the screen, and that makes his sacrifice in the end so much more bittersweet, because unlike most times when you merely feel bad for Ham (like even in the book for me)…in this one, you like him. Also in this version (unlike others…and I don’t remember if it’s this way in the book) he knows when he goes out to save the man  in the storm that it’s Steerforth, which just adds so much to his noble character. Definitely, definitely my favorite Ham.  Sniff.

There are some weak performances – I’m not crazy at all about the older David. He’s much too bland and just…blah. (And does anyone notice the resemblance to Charles Dickens? I know that David Copperfield is generally considered a sort of autobiography, but it was funny…the very obvious comparisons to Dickens :-)) Dora wasn’t half childish enough and was a bit boring. Uriah just wasn’t quite slimy enough for my taste, and Mr. Murdstone fell a bit short…he was black and menacing and grouchy…but just not quite as menacing as I’d like. Plus there’s no charm to him whatsoever…you’ve got to wonder what on earth drew Mrs. Copperfield to him (I can picture a similar performance if they had cast Mark Strong in the role). I do have to make an exception for one scene right after David’s mother dies when he comes in to David and blurts that he wishes that David had died and not his mother. In that way we get a glimpse that just perhaps, in his own twisted way, Mr. Murdstone might have really loved David’s mother, and resented that David came between them. Which I like…I like a good three-dimensional villain who can show that they have other feelings inside of them other than brutality and hate.  

While I enjoyed the young Steerforth, played by a very young Harry Lloyd, and while the older Steerforth did well enough (he reminded me rather of James McAvoy), he just didn’t quite cut it for me (and this was before I saw the 1974 version, so don’t judge :-P). Plus he butchered my favorite “judicious father” scene. Sigh.

But overall, this is a very good version if you want to see the story. My only complaint is that the last half seems rushed…they spent the whole first part on David’s childhood, going into detail and being almost completely straight from the book, and then the second half is spent rushing through the second part of him as an adult. It could have really used a third part to be able to expound on it more. But overall, highly recommended. And about the only version besides the 1930's one that you can find on DVD.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

2000

 
Does anything think it’s funny how often people will do the same project so close to each other? (Take the recent theatrical and miniseries adaptations of Great Expectations) Just a year after the last miniseries adaptation, this Hallmark version has some great performances that put it almost up to par with the ’99 version.

After that glowing opening I start with Mrs. Copperfield…couldn’t stand her. Sigh. :) Sally Fields was completely out of touch as Betsy and could never quite get the character (and was anyone else annoyed by her “Don-KEYS!”???) . I hesitate to criticize people’s attempts at accents as I know how difficult it must be, but the fact remains. She reminded me too much of my great aunt…which is not a bad thing, btw, because she (my great aunt) is an awesome person. Anyway. But my great aunt is not Betsy Trotwood. Did any of that make sense? :-)

Pegotty was ok, but a bit annoying in places. As for the young David…he was all right, but his hair annoyed me for some odd reason, and he seemed to only have one expression…like, oh-my-soul-what’s-going-on. Even when nothing was going on. He was cute, but…just cute. He never quite got the range of emotions (and for walking all that way from London to Dover, he looked remarkably well-kept). But he was adorable, which I find for child actors often makes up for it.

The amazing Eileen Atkins is the best Miss Murdstone I’ve seen yet…”Edward! I leave at once!”Although she would make a great Betsey Trotwood if another adaptation ever came up. J As usual she was completely fantastic, and was exactly how I pictured her in the novel. And this was the only adaptation that includes the book’s sideplot of her being Dora’s companion. Which was lovely. And which leads me to the main villain of the story…drumroll…

Anthony Andrews as Mr. Murdstone

Oh, look who it is. Hello! What a coincidence.

Yes, I knew about it coming in. And yes, I will admit! It had a large part in influencing my decision to see it. So there. I am not ashamed! 

Theatrics aside. This is the first “villain” role I’d seen him in, and of course he was awesome (a given, I know). While it is hard to picture Sir Percy as a brutal villain, he got what no other Murdstone achieved…although Basil Rathbone came close…the charm. The charm that lured Mrs. Copperfield in. And yet, there was the brutality there, which was nice in a very horrid way. It was a bit odd how they kept sticking the Murdstones in there throughout the story…the purist in me was a bit shocked, yet as a fan I would be lying to say that I didn’t cheer every time they appeared on the screen.   :-) The scenes where Mr. Murdstone manipulated the older David were chilling (and rather like another stepfather/stepson story of mine that was inspired by the characters. I take refuge in the quote that says something to the effect that good writers imitate and great writers steal…) and it does show what a lot of other adaptations tend to gloss over…what an impact the emotional abuse as a child would have on the older David’s life.  Definitely the most menacing version I’ve seen.

Oh, and the dude went through wives faster than anything in this version. He ought to marry one of the Davis women from the Love Comes Softly series…with his penchant for going through wives so quickly and the Davis women’s penchant for the same; between the two of them perhaps they could stay alive through more than just one year of marriage. :-)    

And I always crack up when Ian McKellan as Creakle in the 1999 version tells David that “I knew your stepfather…” I want to go, “Yes. In a different life he beat me at a duel.” Anyway. Random trail there.

To get back to my point…a job well done with this character. And no, it’s not just because he’s my favorite actor…I can hear the protests now (or rather this is why I’d say he’s my favorite…because in every single role I’ve seen him in he manages to exactly capture the character he’s playing).

This picture is completely out of character but it's so cute of the two of them that I had to include it. :-) 

 (And on a total side note…he needs to be in more Dickens/1840’s era films. The clothing really suits him. And the hair. End of total side note.)

Hugh Dancy was without a doubt the best older David I’ve seen, period. He has the vitality, the innocence without looking effeminate, the passionate drive (he would have made a great Nicholas Nickleby, far superior to Charlie Hunnam’s) and yup. Loved the character. And there was a much more subtle resemblance to Dickens. You just don’t always feel like getting hit over the head with the similarity, you know? :-) Anyway. Definitely the strongest performance of David, and actually made him a likeable hero vs. just the view through which we see the story.

The problem with David (and most early Dickens heroes) is that the main character usually isn’t very…interesting. (Think Oliver in Oliver Twist, David here, Nicholas in Nicholas Nickleby). Dickens’ focus seems to be on creating colorful and amazing secondary characters, and it’s those that you remember. The heroes are more there as a lens through which the reader sees the world that Dickens has created. All that said, Hugh did a fine job taking David a step further and make you actually care about him and what happened to him, and not just wish that it would get to the next scene with your favorite characters.   

I was really looking forward to Paul Bettany’s Steerforth…as one of my favorite actors, I was interested to see his take on the character. While as the younger Steerforth (somehow he managed to pull it off better than Anthony Andrews) he did a fantastic job, he’s just not quite charming enough as the grown Steerforth as I would wish. Sigh. And there was no judicious father scene!!!! Of all the nerve!

Mr. Micawber…um. Wow. The worst I’d seen period. Played by American actor Michael Richards, this Mr. Micawber slips and slides everywhere as if he had banana peels strapped to his shoes. Turned the character into a completely and totally slapstick character. Badly done, Micawber. Badly done. And while I love Leslie Manville (North and South, Cranford, among others), she didn’t seem to fit with him (and seemed too old, IMO). Dora was quite a letdown. She wasn’t silly in the least bit…not like she’s supposed to be. Although her death scene was pretty good. But she wasn’t the silly, flighty thing she was supposed to be.

Emily Hamilton's Agnes, on the other hand, was complete perfection. The best Agnes yet, IMO. She was sweet but not too sweet, watching out for David while not being too maternal, and she showed very clearly…yet not too clearly so that everyone in the story could see – how much she loved David. And yet she was so sweet to Dora, especially at the end.    

And Uriah…was all right. Passable. A bit…not quite Uriahish. Dickens describes him like a  skeleton over and over, and so you kind of expect, you know, tall and skinny and whatnot. He just kind of annoyed me, I guess. To be honest, I really haven’t found a Uriah yet that I really like.

So overall...I would recommend it. Definitely. After seeing the 2000 version, I almost have to put it up there with the 1999 as my favorite, the only difference being the far superior Betsy Trotwood, Mrs. Copperfield and Mr. Micawber in the 1999 version. This version is only available in Region Two, so your best bet is watching it on YouTube, as I did. Unfortunately the upload is off-synch...but it didn't keep me from enjoying it. :-) So all you Copperfield fans (or Anthony Andrews fans who want to see him in a totally different role than our beloved Percy), get thee on YouTube! 
  
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
(and ten out of ten for the Anthony Andrews fans ;-))   

So there you have it…my personal (perhaps sometimes biased ;-)) comparisons between the four major David Copperfield versions. Sooooo….now it’s your turn! Have you seen any of these, and which is your favorite? Who’s a few of your favorite characters, and who’s your favorite portrayal of them?