Little Dorrit

"Dash my buttons!" A good dialogue line to use for this award-winner set in 1820's pre-Victorian London. Dickens wrote about class tiers within society, levels of wealth, and the injustices that caused. The Emmy writer, Andrew Davies, condensed the novel, reorganized it's events, and added dialogue into making a series actually considered by some to be better than the Dickens book. That it won 6 Emmys out of 16 BAFTA/EMMY nominations in 11 different area is endorsement enough.

Dickens style was not lost. The series includes the caravan of peculiar, grotesque, quirky, and funny characters; the names being equally odd: Flintwich, Pancks, Fanny Sparkler, Pet, Tattycoram, Chivery, Tip, Affery, & Tite Barnacle. Dickens suspense was mingled throughout the 14 episodes, with the overriding plot related to "Do not forget" inside a watch, and "Make it right" a dad's dying last words, which remains unrevealed till the end (unless you've read the book). Each individual episode ends with suspense, just like Dickens wrote it originally when published in magazine form.

Pure Dickens, but better. What fabulous scenes, sets, locations, costumes, hair, dialogue, props, cast, it's all perfection even Dickens would be proud of. You will fall in love with Amy, Little Dorrit (Claire Foy) much before Arthur (Matthew Macfadyen). What a delightful adventure into period drama, humor sprinkled, intoxicating, till you can feel the grime of Marshalsea Prison, and sparkle to the glamor of the rich in Venice. A sensual presentation of a rags-to-riches tale.

Was it fiction? The bonus material explains that Dickens father spent 14 weeks in the Marshalsea Debtors Prison, and Charles had to work in a factory at age 12 to help meet the financial needs. Dickens also had a mistress, an unhappy marriage, and well, how much of this is a Dickens bio? A very enlightening, and lengthy, bonus feature. ALso as a heLpfuL bonus is the subtitLes in EngLish for deaf, hearing impared, and oLde EngLish diaLogue chaLLenged; which utaLized aLL capitaL "L's" throughout the episodes for some siLLy reason.

So now I've added my 2-cents worth to a TV-series worth more than what is being asked in the purchase price. Before the credits were complete, my wife and I decided to start from the beginning for an immediate reviewing. It's that good.

By being reviewer #73 on this DVD set, it will be interesting to see how many truly get to reading this, but I found this adaptation of Dickens so well done that I had to offer my praise to all who helped make it possible, including "Charles."

PLease Leave a heLpfuL vote to heLp me count reader.

I only recently read Little Dorrit, and it is my new favorite Dickens novel. The story of Amy Dorrit, an honest girl born in debtor's prison, is a wonderful tale full of ups and downs, trials and tribulations, death and romance. As with many Dickens books, it literally has a cast of thousands, and this production follows most of the storylines from the book quite faithfully. I just watched this on the internet, and I thought this version was sensitive to the material and did a good job of keeping the characters engaging and true while obviously having to shorten Dickens' voluminous descriptions into shorter episodes. The story is a bit of a soap opera with plenty of bad luck and broken hearts lying around. However, it totally works for me. When I read the book, I actually couldn't put it down and devoured it in a couple of days. This movie was the same way. I couldn't stop watching it or wait until the next episode. At the end, I was sitting in front of my computer crying. It is just a lovely story, well-scripted, beautifully acted, and engaging throughout. I haven't ordered my copy yet so I can't speak to any issues with the actual dvd yet, and I will admit that I have thus far been unable to sit through the 1988 version. I want to like it since I've heard so many raves about it (and I adore Derek Jacobi--he's my all time favorite Hamlet) but it moves very slowly and ploddingly to me, and I just lose interest. So I highly recommend this version if you like Dickens at all or if you like any of the actors because the cast (Matthew Macfadyen and Claire Foy especially) do a lovely job. UPDATE: I received my dvd from Amazon and am thrilled to have purchased it. I had seen it on the internet and on Masterpiece (I'm in the US) and the episodes on the dvd are a bit different from what was shown on PBS. The dvd set consists of 4 discs in a widescreen format with 14 episodes coming in at a whopping 452 minutes and includes an interesting "making of" feature with info. about Dickens himself as well as the film's production. I'm pretty sure I saw a scene or two here that was missing on PBS, plus I got the widescreen format that I didn't get on my tv. A word of caution: the episodes end in cliff-hangers that make it almost impossible to go to bed without watching "just one more episode." My husband and I both love it and have already recommended it to several people we know. This is a great movie that will make a superb addition to your home dvd library.

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I will always be a tremendous fan of the two part film version with Derek Jacobi and Sir Alec Guiness, now generally only found on used video tape. This wonderful new miniseries does however acquit itself very nicely. Shown earlier in the UK, the acting by Matthew Macfadyn (of Pride and Prejudice fame) captures the well-intentioned and kind hearted Arthur Clennam perfectly. Equally impressive is Claire Foy as the courageous and decent Little (Amy) Dorrit. Still the best may be the character portrayed by Tom Courtenay, William Dorrit, "the father of the Marshalsea" the famous debtors' prison. The series is full of very strong supporting performances, it would take far too long to list the many wonderful actors and actresses who are found in every scene.

The show follows a very typical Dickens plot of slowly developing mysteries and strangely interwoven relationships. Little Dorrit was born inside a debtors' prison and has lived her entire life working unendingly and without complaint to make her father's decades long imprisonment there more bearable. She is the first child born there; this fact and his former stature as a gentleman gives him an informal social superiority inside that he enjoys and uses as possible to his personal benefit. The arrival in London of Arthur Clennam from China to share with his mother the news of his father's death, pushes an already moving story into many surprising turns. Rich and poor, good and bad, people of all social circles find themselves pulled into confronting their changing fortunes. Some who find themselves well-off deal with their new situation far less well than those dealing with adversity.

Dickens is telling a story far too near to his own with the theme of these families forced to see many generations live behind prison walls for the want of a few pounds. The story is one of his strongest and this series tells it honestly and with an incredible strength of cast and script.

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We are watching this now on PBS, and so far it has been a wonderful rendition of one of our favorite tales. It is lengthy and takes its time to tell the story. So far, we are pleased with the screenplay and it has done a very solid job of converting the story.

The setting, characters, and speech all feel very authentic and the efforts which were taken to make all of it so true to the time are impressive.

The primary actor and actress, whatever their names, are doing outstanding jobs. Very earnest renditions of the characters they are playing and charming and worth watching.

We've not had any issues understanding what they are saying the slang is not over-the-top or too accented for us US Midwesterners. I've much more difficulty following Mark Twain than I do listening to this story.

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I too, am watching it on OPB right now and I consider it to be enthralling, romantic, and emotional. The scenery, costumes, actors, and effects are all wonderful. It is great to be able to turn on the TV and watch something wholesome and well-made, not to mention classic! Everyone who appreciates literature and societies of time gone by need to tune in!