The Pickwick Papers **** (1952, James Hayter, James Donald, Nigel Patrick, Donald Wolfit, Hermione Gingold, Kathleen Harrison, Alexander Gauge, Joyce Grenfell, Harry Fowler) – Classic Movie Review 2,796

Renown Pictures’ 1952 British historical comedy drama film The Pickwick Papers is based on Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel and stars James Hayter as Samuel Pickwick, along with a grand galaxy of Brit character actors of the era.

Writer-director Noel Langley conscientiously works Charles Dickens’s novel over as a jolly 1952 British comedy drama film, made by Renown Pictures who had a hit with another Dickens adaptation Scrooge the previous year.

It offers a big fat star part as Mr Pickwick that might have been tailor-made in the first place for the redoubtable James Hayter, who’s an infectiously amusing presence. The necessarily episodic comic misadventures of a club formed by a group of middle-class gents to study life in Britain climax with housekeeper Mrs Bardell (Hermione Baddeley) suing Mr Pickwick for breaking his marriage engagement vow.

James Donald (as Mr Winkle), Nigel Patrick (as the friendly but disreputable Mr Jingle), Donald Wolfit (as Sergeant Buzfuz), Hermione Gingold (as Miss Tompkins), Kathleen Harrison (as Rachel Wardle), Alexander Gauge (as Tracy Tupman), Joyce Grenfell (as Mrs Leo Hunter) and Harry Fowler as Sam Weller are among those worth picking out among a large cast of British old-time adorables.

The Pickwick Papers is very good fun, and it has worn well, the passage of time and departure of many of the iconic players giving it an added allure in the present era. It runs a brisk-moving 115 minutes with the cut version at 109 minutes.

It is the film debut of June Thorburn, aged 21. Also in the cast are Lionel Murton as Augustus Snodgrass, Diane Hart as Emily Wardle, Joan Heal as Isabella Wardle, William Hartnell as Irate Cabman, Athene Seyler as Miss Witherfield, Sam Costa, George Robey, Gerald Campion, Walter Fitzgerald, Mary Merrall, Raymond Lovell, Cecil Trouncer, D A Clarke-Smith, Noel Willman, Max Adrian, Noel Purcell, Felix Felton, Alan Wheatley, Hattie Jacques, David Hannaford, Barry MacKay, Jessie Evans, Helen Goss, May Hallatt, Arthur Mullard, Dandy Nichols, George Rose, William Strange, Hélène Burls, Pamela Deeming, Joan Benham, John Kelly, John Vere, Marianne Stone, Linda Grey and Raf de La Torre.

Incidentally Gerald Campion (TV’s Billy Bunter in the BBC’s Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School from 1952 to 1961) and Alexander Gauge (TV’s Friar Tuck in ITV’s The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1955 to 1959) might also have been suitable candidates as Mr Pickwick.

Hayter played Friar Tuck in the 1952 film The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men and the 1967 A Challenge for Robin Hood. He was the original voice of the UK TV ads for Mr Kipling cakes (‘exceedingly good cakes’).

It is shot in black-and-white by cinematographer Wilkie Cooper at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames. The sets are designed by Frederick Pusey and the costumes by Beatrice Dawson.

It premiered on 14 November 1952 at the Gaumont Cinema, Haymarket, London.

It won a Golden Bear in Berlin in 1954. Hayter was nominated for the BAFTA Best British Actor award in 1953, and Beatrice Dawson was nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White, in 1956.

It was the first British film shown in the Soviet Union after the Second World War, premiering on 29 July 1954. A Russian reprint of 150,000 copies of Dickens’s novel followed a month later.

A digitally restored and colourised version was released on DVD in 2012.

The cast

The cast are James Hayter as Samuel Pickwick, James Donald as Nathaniel Winkle, Nigel Patrick as Alfred Jingle, Joyce Grenfell as Mrs Leo Hunter,  Hermione Gingold as Miss Tompkins, Hermione Baddeley as Mrs Bardell, Donald Wolfit as Sergeant Buzfuz, Harry Fowler as Sam Weller, Kathleen Harrison as Rachel Wardle, Alexander Gauge as Tracy Tupman, Lionel Murton as Augustus Snodgrass, Diane Hart as Emily Wardle, Joan Heal as Isabella Wardle, William Hartnell as Irate Cabman, Athene Seyler as Miss Witherfield, Walter Fitzgerald as Mr Wardle, Mary Merrall as Grandma Wardle, Cecil Trouncer as Mr Justice Stareleigh, Felix Felton as Dr Slammer, Hattie Jacques as Mrs Nupkins, Sam Costa as Job Trotter, Noel Purcell as Roker, Raymond Lovell as Aide, George Robey as Tony Weller, Max Adrian as Aide, Alan Wheatley as Fogg, D A Clarke-Smith as Dodson, Jack MacNaughton as Mr Nupkins, David Hannaford as Boy, Gerald Campion as Joe the Fat Boy, June Thorburn as Arabella Allen, Barry MacKay as Mr Snubbins, Joan Benham as Miss Tompkins’ companion, Graeme Harper as Master Bardell, Arthur Mullard as Onlooker, Cyril Smith as Ostler, Barry MacKay, Jessie Evans, Helen Goss, May Hallatt, Dandy Nichols, George Rose, William Strange, Hélène Burls, Pamela Deeming, Joan Benham, John Kelly, John Vere, Marianne Stone, Linda Grey and Raf de La Torre.

Anne V Coates 

Anne V Coates (1925–2018).

The Pickwick Papers is the first film as film editor for Anne V Coates (1925–2018), who won an Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia (1962). She died on 8 May 2018, aged 92.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2796

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