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Nicholas Nickleby
Stars:
Jamie Bell, Jim Broadbent, Tom Courtenay, Alan Cumming, Edward Fox, Romola Garai,
Anne Hathaway, Barry Humphries, Charlie Hunnam, Christopher Plummer, Timothy
Spall, and Juliet Stevenson
Writer:
Douglas McGrath
Based
On The Novel By: Charles Dickens
Director:
Douglas McGrath
Feature
length: 2
hours and 12 minutes
Extras:
“Creating A Classic: The Making Of Nicholas Nickleby,” Director’s Audio
Commentary, The Cast On The Cast, View On The Set Multi-Angle Featurette,
Behind-The-Scenes Photo Gallery, Original Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and French and Spanish Language Dolby
Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 32
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2002/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: United Artists
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Douglas
McGrath’s feature film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby”
is an emotionally uplifting film about family that centers upon the relationship
of young Nicholas Nickleby (Charlie Hunnam) and the young sickly and crippled
Smike (Jamie Bell), who Nickleby befriends and saves from cruel and malevolent
school masters after he is finally driven to intervene to stop their abuse.
Nickleby and his sister and mother are left destitute after the death of his
father. His uncle played wonderfully by Christopher Plummer, has contempt for
them all and coldly dispatches them into lives of servitude and subsequently
becomes increasingly into conflict with his nephew who builds a second family or
support group if you like based on the hearts of those he encounters and not
their social status. To quote dialogue spoken by Nathan Lane in the film
“Family need not be defined merely as those with whom they share blood, but as
those for whom they would give their blood.”
There
have been many dramatizations of “Nicholas Nickleby” that include the nine
hour stage production from 1981 and the 2001 BBC production starring Charles
Dance that premiered on DVD over a year ago from Acorn Media. I have never read
the book, but it stands to reason that this is an abridged adaptation yet even
so I really found it ultimately uplifting and extreme humane as it is human in
the manner in which the film presents the light and dark sides of life in 19th
century England, but somehow enables the viewer to empathize with it so it holds
a ring of truth about our world as much as it did about the time in which it
takes place. Thus I think this film adaptation is endearing because of its
timeless human story, which I hope will get discovered as a classic on DVD.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Entertainment has given “Nicholas Nickleby” the “Special Edition”
treatment with an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation that
presents the film as close as possible to the manner in which it was exhibited
theatrically on home video and a pan and scan (1.33:1) aspect ratio presentation
on the opposite side. I think the disc looks beautiful with solid blacks and
vibrant greens and even beautifully multicolored sequences. There was a slight
bit of grain that can be seen throughout, but I think it is so obscure that it
is easy to not even notice it exists all after awhile. The rest of the features
on this DVD are identical on either side of this DVD-18. I think the English
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack is well mixed with the machinery of
industrial age London jumping out at times to create a somewhat unnerving
experience as if we are like Nickleby and have entered a big city like London
for the first time in our lives and how that might be a culture shock of sorts.
A French and a Spanish Language Dolby Surround Soundtrack is encoded onto the
DVD as well along with English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles included as options.
Extra
features include the documentary “Creating A Classic: The Making Of Nicholas
Nickleby” (29:23), which is composed of 11 chapters that can be viewed
individually or as one long reel covering adapting the novel, the script
reading, casting, performances, costumes, sets, and cinematography. This
documentary is supported by a featurette with videotaped interview clips of
select cast members discussing their fellow actors and actresses and sharing
some of their experiences of working with them on the film (17:02). Then there
are four multi-angle examinations under the scene titles “London” (: 22)
with a comparison of the scene as presented on film and a videotaped scene from
the set, “The Theater” (1:22) with two behind-the-scenes views that can be
compared with the filmed scene, “The Kidnapping” (: 48), which compares one
from the set scene to the filmed scene, “Proposal” (: 50), which compares
two set shots with the filmed scene, and “The Toast” (: 49), which has three
behind-the-scenes production angles that can be compared with each other and the
finished scene as it appears in the film. All four multi-angle demonstrations
can be switched while in progress by using the Angle Button on the user’s
remote control and one can have all the angles for a particular scene onscreen
at the same time as well.
There
are three short still galleries made up of the cast in character, on the set
shots, and the world of the film. The theatrical trailer (2:10) and bonus DVD
trailers for “Die Another Day” (2:23), “The Princess Bride” (1:26), and
“Evelyn” (2:26) along with an “MGM Means Great Movies” promo (1:14) are
included too. Writer and Director Douglas McGrath” gives a detailed screen
specific feature length audio commentary that covers just about every nuance
from adapting the screenplay and designing the title sequence to the coloring
and production design as it represents the characters to the casting itself and
more.
The
menus feature animated transitions to standard interactive still frame menus and
all are easy to navigate. I thoroughly enjoyed this DVD release of “Nicholas
Nickleby” and hope you will too. “Nicholas Nickleby: Special Edition” is
available on DVD-Video now from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Nicholas Nickleby