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Dickens Before Sound, a British Film Institute two-disk DVD set with accompanying booklet introduced and compiled by Michael Eaton, 2006. Music by Neil Brand. With the voice of Ken Campbell in Gabriel Grub and The Pickwick Papers.
'Eagerly awaited' is a phrase often used in relation to a work of scholarship or criticism, sometimes in circumstances which suggest that its user must lead a somewhat dull life. But for those who have toiled in the stony fields of Dickens and silent film this is indeed a treasure. The BFI production team and Michael Eaton have brought together a fascinating cross-section of work which it is a joy to view in the comfort of one's own personal circumstances rather than in the often cheerless surroundings in which viewing machines have to be grappled with. Losses may have to be considered too, of course. There is never a fully adequate substitute for direct engagement with celluloid, both in visual terms and in relation to the historical authenticity of the medium itself. Selections have also to be made, but when they are based on sound judgement, as here, they seem perfectly acceptable. Eaton acknowledges the importance of the four feature-length versions of Dickens directed by A. W. Sandberg for the Nordisk company of Copenhagen between 1921 and 1924, but these are works which validate his judgement that 'none of the feature-length silents were anywhere near as bold in their cinematic style as...