Adapting Dickens

  1. Martínez-Alcañiz, Violeta
Journal:
Cauce: Revista Internacional de Filología, Comunicación y sus Didácticas

ISSN: 0212-0410,  2603-8560

Year of publication: 2016

Issue: 39

Pages: 91-105

Type: Article

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Abstract

The present study looks at the impact of Charles Dickens’ work in early film adaptations, and considers in detail David Aylott’s film The Boy and the Convict (1909). The influence of Charles Dickens’ literature in the evolution of the cinema is undeniable. He is not only one of the authors more widely adapted to the screen, but the narrative structure of his novels has inspired the process of ‘narrativization’ of the motion pictures. Just during the silent era, around one hundred films were adaptations of his literature. Specifically, this research focuses on the earliest attempt at reshaping Great Expectations, a one-reel British production titled The Boy and the Convict (1909). The film was largely ignored by researchers until 2001, when Graham Petrie recognized it as a partial reworking of Dickens’ novel. We aim to analyse both the narrative discourse and the film style of this motion picture in the belief that it will shed some light on the origin of film adaptation.

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