Die Geschichten des Mr. Pickwick

I saw The Pickwick Papers on television some decades ago as a child and recently encountered a poor colourized version of the film. They should had kept the film in black and white.

This film is adapted from the Dicken's source novel and restricts itself to some of the best sequences from the long tome.

You have the caddish Mr Jingle getting others in all sorts of scrapes including getting Mr Winkle involved in a duel. There are scenes of elopements and nearly elopements again with Mr Jingle trying to get away with the loot.

A misunderstanding leads to a court case involving a supposed broken promise of a marriage leading Dickens to have a swipe at lawyers and a sequence in a debtor's prison which suddenly switches the film from its comic mode to serious social issues of Victorian Britain.

James Hayter is very good as Pickwick, Nigel Patrick is a hoot as Jingle, Harry Fowler is memorable as Weller.

It is not the best adaptation of a Dickens novel from that era being rather low budget but amusing enough.