The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | 
| Actors: Alun Armstrong, Suzanne Bertish, Janet Dale, Jane Downs, Lila Kaye
Studio: A&E Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $79.95
Buy New: $32.39
You Save: $47.56 (59%)
New (10) Used (6) from $24.89
Rating:  37 reviews
Sales Rank: 27007
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd, Full Screen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 4
Running Time: 540 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 2.6
MPN: D70608D
ISBN: 0767049152
UPC: 733961706086
EAN: 9780767049153
ASIN: B000068QOG
Theatrical Release Date: January 10, 1983
Release Date: September 24, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Yes, it's nine hours long. Yes, it's Charles Dickens, he of the 900-page novels you had to read in high school. And, yes, it's a film of a play. But the Royal Shakespeare Company's Tony Award-winning 1981 production of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby at London's Old Vic Theatre was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and those of us who missed its Emmy-winning PBS broadcast can be thankful for A&E's superb video boxed set. Dickens's story of greed, poverty, and cruelty in Victorian England is handled deftly by director Jim Goddard and set designer John Napier, who never deny their film's staginess but instead seek to exploit it, unafraid to show the viewer the skeletal nature of the theater and, in one instance, boldly using actors as props. The RSC makes excellent use of this mise en scene, bringing to life Dickens's characters with intensity, verve, and just the right notes of melodrama--this being a Dickens story, after all. Roger Rees plays the young, earnest Nicholas, whose father's death prompts him; his sister, Kate (Emily Richard); and their mother (Jane Downs) to make their way to London to seek out the financial assistance of Nicholas's cold, calculating uncle, Ralph Nickleby (played to scowly perfection by John Woodvine). Ralph grudgingly provides his nephew with employment at a Yorkshire school for abandoned boys under the cartoonishly vile Wackford Squeers (Alun Armstrong), but Nicholas can't stomach the physical abuse Squeers heaps on his students. After lashing out at the sadistic schoolmaster during a particularly savage beating of a child, Nicholas escapes the school, taking with him the most wretched of the young creatures, a limping, crooked-backed boy named Smike (played heart-wrenchingly by David Threlfall). The story unfolds from there, with the now-itinerant Nicholas forced to make his way in the world while adhering to his principles and protecting Kate and their mother from his scheming uncle, who is eventually forced to come to terms with his emotions in the story's shocking conclusion. Typically Dickensian, the characters are neatly divided between good and evil, with little ambiguity. Still, each of the 39 actors in the ensemble does a wonderful job, making it a production that figures to linger in the memory long after you're done clapping. --Steve Landau
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| Customer Reviews: Read 32 more reviews...
 An option to consider January 2, 2009
Shadywood
First, I have not viewed this DVD from A&E. I saw the original PBS broadcast years ago and would like to purchase a digital copy. I gave this entry a 3-star to be neutral. My memory of the broadcast would be 5-star.
Now for the reason for this entry. It appears that there is great dissatisfaction with the A&E transfer. The detractor's comments are very convincing and give me reason to consider another source of the transfer. There is a region 2 (PAL) DVD set available from Amazon UK. The reviews on the UK site make no mention of transfer quality issues. The published list price is 30 or ~43USD. It costs less for the UK version.
All you need is a DVD player that is region free and can play PAL discs. There is such a legitimate beast available from many sources including Amazon. The unit is the OPPO DV-981HD. Check it out. It gets great reviews. I really like mine. It is a terrific upconverting unit that will play both NTSC and PAL formats. It comes as a region 1 player, but can be easily converted in less than a minute to all regions by entering in a cheat code that is published on many web sites. A simple Google search will provide the needed code. OPPO can't provide the code directly due to licensing restrictions.
I have gone to Amazon UK to purchase DVDs that are not available here in NTSC format. I have made many purchases of PAL format programs to watch on my entertainment system. My most significant purchase of a PAL format set was the entire Poldark series that was shown on Masterpiece Theatre years ago.
I realize that I am recommending the purchase of another device, but it is a solution that opens many doors for the legal acquisition of programs not available in the US market. I will be purchasing a PAL version of Nicholas Nickleby in the next few days. It will arrive in less than a week with standard shipping.
Update January 9: I just purchased a PAL copy from Amazon UK for 9.55 or $14.46.
 Nicholas Nickleby on stage and DVD November 9, 2008
Galen Fott
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
First, it seems that there are about half a dozen reviews here which assert that the show was performed on stage in four acts. This is untrue. The first evening was split into two acts, the second into three, for a total of five. This is confirmed in the published script and in Frank Rich's NY Times review of the Broadway run. So it's a little bit less objectionable that the presentation here is split into nine parts; it was already split into five, not four.
I have a version taped off the TV from the early 1980s which is broken into these nine parts. I believe it was broadcast on PBS. (Was there even an A&E back then?) So it seems to me that for good or bad, it was the original conception for Nicholas Nickleby to be presented on television in nine parts. This wasn't a recent decision on A&E's part.
The DVD release is different from the A&E nine-tape VHS release in at least one objectionable way. In the final moment of the show, Nicholas kneels down and picks up the "other Smike" in his arms. On the DVD this concluding gesture is greeted with the sound of a huge cheer from the audience, well before the final blackout. This cheer is entirely absent from the VHS release, as it should be. It's a very moving, somber moment onstage, not one that would ever be greeted with wild cheering. It really kills the moment.
But as many others have stated here, this is certainly one of the most wonderful theatrical productions of all time, and it's generally very well preserved. If aliens landed on earth and asked what "acting" was, I would show them this. Current presentation flaws aside, don't miss it.
 where's the buoyancy? October 3, 2008
S
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The novel celebrates the triumph of sweet lively spirits in dark times and places, while this DVD is a tribute to the power of a dismal tone to kill delightful dialogue, hilarious situations and charming characters. Look at that grim haunted face on the DVD case -- it isn't Ralph Nickleby, as I assumed when I bought the set, but this performance's version of sunny, irrepressible, boyishly earnest Nicholas. I like the script and production but the tone starting with Nicholas is just so pervasively wrong that I couldn't see it through.
 A Very Badly Mangled Version June 21, 2008
Les Chibana (CA, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is incomprehensible why this DVD version of this glorious play is being sold at all. One scene has been entirely omitted from the original telecast and the entire DVD set is as badly recorded as it was edited. Save your money for the set sold through the National Theatre. Currently, it is available only as a Region 2 recording, but with a bit of lobbying, I'm sure a Region 1 or All Regions version will be made available.
Mixed bag of reviews June 12, 2008
Robert Baksa (new york state)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I took a chance on this set in spite of the many reviews which did not like the production values of the product from a technical point of view. I expected the worst but was willing to put up with it to recapture my fond memory of having seen the production on TV. What I found was quite a surprise. The picture on my 32 inch LCD is brilliant and clear. I see no distortion and have no trouble with the sound quality. The acting company is attractive with many superlative actors taking different parts in the large cast of characters. My choice of only three stars is based on several considerations.
There are no subtitles which are often needed when the uneducated characters are speaking in unintelligible dialects. Since actors often play several parts the are often called upon to play minor roles of personages whose sex they do not inhabit. This would be fine in a stage production but a bit unsettling in the closeups. Too often the ruffian boys will turn up as maids in a following scene and vice versa. It is distracting and only adds to the confusion of an already confusing story line.
I will return to the BBC production with Nigel Havers as my video of choice for this story even though that series has more than it's share of uninspired bits.
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