Re: The Personal History of David Copperfield reviews
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 4:34 am
I've seen many versions of David Copperfield, all of which are slightly different but turning this great tragedy with comic moments into an outright comedy seems rather bizarre.
I understand the need to compress characters to keep the running time under two hours, but turning David's father's delightfully eccentric aunt, Betsey Trotwood, into his father's sister instead makes no sense, especially since she's being played by a 59-year-old actress anyway. Turning David's beloved Nurse Peggotty into "Mrs. Peggotty" completely guts the character. It not only rules out her brother, Dan Peggotty, and the many colorful characters in his household from existing, but also prevents one of the book's and the 1935 film version's delightful courting of the middle-aged, set in her ways, Peggotty by Mr. Barkis ("tell her Barkis is willing"). That's just for starters.
I understand the need to compress characters to keep the running time under two hours, but turning David's father's delightfully eccentric aunt, Betsey Trotwood, into his father's sister instead makes no sense, especially since she's being played by a 59-year-old actress anyway. Turning David's beloved Nurse Peggotty into "Mrs. Peggotty" completely guts the character. It not only rules out her brother, Dan Peggotty, and the many colorful characters in his household from existing, but also prevents one of the book's and the 1935 film version's delightful courting of the middle-aged, set in her ways, Peggotty by Mr. Barkis ("tell her Barkis is willing"). That's just for starters.