The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947 film)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | |
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14th Baron Berners | |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date |
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Running time | 108 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £146,069[1] |
Box office | £139,314 (UK)[1] |
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (also known simply as Nicholas Nickleby) is a 1947 British
Plot
After the father of a family dies, leaving the wife and children with no source of income, Nicholas Nickleby, with his mother and his younger sister Kate, travel to
Nicholas is horrified to discover that his employers, the sadistic Mr. and Mrs. Squeers, run their boarding school, Dotheboys Hall in Yorkshire, like a prison. They physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse their young charges on a regular basis. Nicholas eventually rebels and escapes, taking with him young friend – the crippled Smike.
Nicholas and Smike take lodgings with Newman Noggs, Ralph Nickleby's clerk. Nicholas tries to find a job, but rejects a low-paying position as a politician's secretary. A job as a tutor of
In search of food and lodging, they stop at an inn, and the proprietor introduces them to actor-manager Vincent Crummles, who owns and operates a travelling theatrical troupe with his actress wife. Crummles hires the two as actors and casts them in a production of Romeo and Juliet, in which they are successful.
Nicholas decides to return to London after he receives a letter from Noggs, who urges him to come back as quickly as possible as his uncle has put his sister in great jeopardy despite his promise to make certain they come to no harm. Kate has been subjected to unwanted attention from Sir Mulberry Hawk and Lord Verisopht, clients of her uncle, and when Nicholas overhears them bawdily discussing her in a tavern he is determined to defend his sister's honour. Hawk refuses Nicholas's demand to "step outside", and they fight in Hawk's carriage, resulting in an accident in which Hawk is injured. Hawk and Lord Verisopht argue over Hawk's lack of honour, and Hawk kills Lord Verisopht in a duel with pistols. As a result, Ralph Nickleby loses £6,000, owed to him by Verisopht, much to the delight of Noggs, who harbours a hidden desire for revenge against his employer.
Nicholas then finds employment as a clerk with the portly, benevolent, twin brothers Cheeryble, whose nephew Frank begins to court Kate. They provide him a cottage in which Nicholas can place his family and Smike, who has been accepted warmly by all. Meanwhile, Squeers returns to London, planning to capture Smike and bring him back to Dotheboys Hall, and is engaged by Ralph Nickleby to stalk Nicholas and Smike. Squeers and Mr. Snawley make off with Smike "on the wishes of his father". Nicholas, aided by Noggs, intercepts them and foils the plot. Smike, severely beaten by Squeers, is nursed by Kate and falls in love with her.
Nicholas meets Madeline a third time when the Cheerybles assign Nicholas to help her situation, in secrecy from her father. His uncle has been trying to coerce her father into giving Ralph her hand in marriage in exchange for settlement of his debt, and Mr. Bray finally accedes. Noggs warns Nicholas, who arrives at the Bray lodgings to find Madeline, unhappily dressed in a wedding gown, awaiting her fate. In a showdown with Ralph, Kate reveals to Madeline the true nature of Ralph Nickleby's character. Madeline's father is found dead in his bedroom, Madeline faints and Nicholas carries her away, warning Ralph to leave her alone as she is now free of all obligations.
Ralph's hatred of Nicholas makes him determined to ruin him, but he is brought up short by Noggs, who has realised from the facts told him by Nicholas that Smike is actually Ralph's son, whom Ralph had secretly put in the charge of a poor family, who kept the money he paid them but sent the boy to Dotheboys. Ralph's hold over Noggs has compelled him to harbour the secret for fifteen years. Smike was sent away after his mother's death, using a forged birth certificate, so that Ralph could keep her inheritance rather than let their child have it, as dictated by law. Further, Squeers hired Snawley to act the part of Smike's father to make his kidnapping appear legal. Noggs delights in telling Ralph that Squeers has confessed the conspiracy to the authorities, and Ralph now faces prison and financial ruin.
Smike, fallen into hopelessness because Kate is in love with Frank, succumbs to his various ailments and dies just before Ralph arrives at Smike's deathbed. The police come to Ralph's house to arrest him. Ralph flees to his garret and hangs himself. True love prevails, and Nicholas and Madeline and Kate and Frank are wed.
Cast
- Cedric Hardwicke as Ralph Nickleby
- Stanley Holloway as Vincent Crummles
- Derek Bond as Nicholas Nickleby
- Mary Merrall as Mrs Catherine Nickleby
- Sally Ann Howes as Kate Nickleby
- Aubrey Woods as Smike
- Jill Balcon as Madeline Bray
- Bernard Miles as Newman Noggs
- Alfred Drayton as Wackford Squeers
- Sybil Thorndike as Mrs Squeers
- Vera Pearce as Mrs. Crummles
- James Hayter as Ned and Charles Cheeryble
- Emrys Jones as Frank Cheeryble
- Cecil Ramage as Sir Mulberry Hawk
- Timothy Bateson as Lord Verisopht
- George Relph as Mr Bray
- Frederick Burtwell as Sheriff Murray
- Patricia Hayes as Phoebe
Reception
Box office
According to trade papers, the film was a "notable box office attraction" at British cinemas in 1947.[2] The film earned distributor's gross receipts of £139,313 in the UK of which £106,427 went to the producer.[1]
Critical response
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "comparison to Great Expectations puts it somewhat in the shade, mainly because the former was so much more exciting as to plot and a good bit more satisfying in the nature and performance of its characters." Crowther considered it "a good whole cut below that of Great Expectations and its tension is nowhere near as well sustained", adding that there was a "failure to get real pace or tension in the film's last half." He highlighted the "compression of details and incidents compelled by John Dighton's script", believing this "overabundance also hampers the rounding of characters".[3]
In a retrospective review,
References
- ^ a b c Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 355. Gross is distributor's gross receipts.
- ISBN 978-1-134-90150-0.
- ^ New York Times review
- ^ Time Out London review
External links
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby at the better source needed]
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby at the BFI's Screenonline
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleb) at IMDb
- Review of film at Variety