ok so PBS was running a brit-made dramatization of Dicken's "little dorrit" and i got sucked in and watched all 270 hrs of it over the last 18 mos. (not really, just seemed like it)
i've read dickens better known works, but i had never heard of this little dorrit novel, tons of characters as usual, but the problem is, in the PBS version (though well produced) they wait till the last 1/2 hr of the last episode to try and wrap up ALL the lose ends to ALL the story lines, AND reveal the big SECRET.
the facts of the secret were told by the actor who played the frenchman who in addition to his over the top accent apparently also had a live squirrel in his mouth to muffle the words. no matter how many times i've rewatched that scene i still don't understand if arthur and amy had the same father (amy's mother was a dancer?) , and how, or from whom mrs clenham stole arthur as a boy? and was miss wade part of that mess? and was the tatty corum character just a device to get the will to arthur? I think alot of characters were introduced just for "texture"?
I'm no literary critic but this just didn't seem as tightly plotted as most of his work. or maybe it was the clod who "adapted" the novel for the screen. I think i have to read the book. any comments or insight welcome.
PS: if u saw it, the actor who played Pancks was brilliant, like he stepped out of a time machine. it also had the guy that played rudge from history boys, giving another great performance here.
i've read dickens better known works, but i had never heard of this little dorrit novel, tons of characters as usual, but the problem is, in the PBS version (though well produced) they wait till the last 1/2 hr of the last episode to try and wrap up ALL the lose ends to ALL the story lines, AND reveal the big SECRET.
the facts of the secret were told by the actor who played the frenchman who in addition to his over the top accent apparently also had a live squirrel in his mouth to muffle the words. no matter how many times i've rewatched that scene i still don't understand if arthur and amy had the same father (amy's mother was a dancer?) , and how, or from whom mrs clenham stole arthur as a boy? and was miss wade part of that mess? and was the tatty corum character just a device to get the will to arthur? I think alot of characters were introduced just for "texture"?
I'm no literary critic but this just didn't seem as tightly plotted as most of his work. or maybe it was the clod who "adapted" the novel for the screen. I think i have to read the book. any comments or insight welcome.
PS: if u saw it, the actor who played Pancks was brilliant, like he stepped out of a time machine. it also had the guy that played rudge from history boys, giving another great performance here.
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