Two Centuries of Charles Dickens

The greatest novelist of the English language and one of the most imposing figures in all of world literature, Charles Dickens was born 200 years ago in 1812. Immensely popular in his own time—where he helped define the Victorian Era along with Queen Victoria herself—Dickens’ work has endured in film and television so much so that the latest round of landmark small-screen epics like The Wire and The Sopranos can—and have been—described as ‘Dickensian’ in scope, ambition and execution.

Selecting from this expansive cinematic canon—there are more than 50 versions of A Christmas Carol, 10 Oliver Twists and 9 David Copperfields—provides something of a challenge. Dickens adaptations reveal the concerns of the time of their production as much as how that time regarded the Victorian Era. Consequently, this series spans works from the 1930s to the new millennium.

Dickens’ own fascination with social conditions, personal ambition, education, law, and practically all other aspects of English society are, of course, ripely on display in every single one of these extraordinary productions.

Two connections to Nova Scotia are to be noted in the series: Carol Reed’s 1968 musical production of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! saw Cape Breton-born Onna White win a rare Oscar for Choreography, only one of three ever awarded; Halifax’s David Manners stars as the title character in the 1935 Universal Studio production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Finally, Dickens himself visited the province’s capital city in January, 1842, hosted by legendary journalist Joseph Howe.

SCREENINGS WEDNESDAYS AT 8 PM / FREE ADMISSION

18 January - The Pickwick Papers

Noel Langley, UK, 1954, 109 minutes. Dickens’ first novel is a picaresque comic romp populated by rascally but indelible characters, all economically realized in this film version made in black and white in Britain in the 1950s.

25 January - The Old Curiosity Shop

Kevin Connor, Ireland/UK, 1995, 185 minutes. The fate of Little Nell and her grandfather transfixed Victorian Britain and refined Dickens’ sense of tragedy. This Irish-shot TV film of the story features lush exteriors and a fine cast including Peter Ustinov, James Fox and Tom Courtenay as a memorable Quilp.

1 February - Oliver!

Carol Reed, UK, 1968, 153 minutes. Oscar Winner for Best Picture, this musical setting of Oliver Twist contrasts poverty and wealth, and law and order in the dense urban world of mid-1800s London.

8 - 29 February - Bleak House

Justin Chadwick, Susanna White, UK, 2009, 465 minutes. Acclaimed as the best of the recent Dickens TV adaptations—written by Andrew Davies—Bleak House follows a tangled court case over an inheritance through a maze of subplots and incisive characterizations. 

8 February - Episodes 1-3, 120 minutes

15 February - Episodes 4-7, 120 minutes

22 February - Episodes 8-11, 120 minutes

29 February - Episodes 12-15, 120 minutes

7 and 14 March - closed for exhibition installation

21 March - David Copperfield

Simon Curtis, UK, 2000, 180 minutes (3 hours, complete in two parts, one single screening). The most autobiographical of Dickens’ works, this 3-hour version launched Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) on his acting career as the young Copperfield; Maggie Smith, Ian McKellen star alongside Bob Hoskins as Micawber.

28 March - Hard Times

Peter Barnes, UK, 1994, 110 minutes. Compressed and expressionistic, Peter Barnes (The Ruling Class, Red Noses) captures a Northern town on the cusp of change in this visually lush version. Alan Bates, Richard E. Grant and Bill Paterson star.

4 April - A Tale Of Two Cities

Jack Conway, Robert Z. Leonard, USA, 1935, 126 minutes. Ronald Colman stars in this Hollywood Golden Age adaptation of Dickens’ most dashing work, a French Revolution-era adventure tale that takes place between London and Paris.

11 April - Great Expectations

David Lean, UK, 1946, 118 minutes. Acknowledged as the single greatest film of any Dickens work, Great Expectations’ silvery black-and-white cinematography illuminates a coming-of-age mystery tale that has beguiled audiences for generations.

18 April - The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Stuart Walker, US, 1935, 85 minutes. Dickens’ last, uncompleted novel—he only finished six chapters—sees the writer moving from realism to symbolism in this embryonic murder mystery. Halifax’s David Manners stars as Drood.

25 April - Oliver Twist

Roman Polanski, France/UK, 2005, 130 minutes. The most recent big-screen version of Dickens sees the famed director of The Pianist, Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby reflecting his own extraordinary childhood through Dickens’ famous boyhood hero.