David Copperfield (1969 film)


David Copperfield is a 1969 British-American international co-production television film directed by Delbert Mann based on the 1850 novel of the same name by Charles Dickens adapted by Jack Pulman. The film was made in the UK for 20th Century Fox Television with some exteriors filmed in Suffolk. Some interior scenes were filmed at The Swan Hotel in Southwold.
The film starred Robin Phillips in the title role and Ralph Richardson as Micawber. Among other well-known actors featured were Richard Attenborough, Laurence Olivier, Susan Hampshire, Cyril Cusack, Wendy Hiller, Edith Evans, Michael Redgrave and Ron Moody.

Plot

Charles Dickens's story of a young man's journey to maturity. This version finds David Copperfield as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach. In flashback, David remembers his life in 19th century England, as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school. He relives his struggle to overcome the loss of his idyllic childhood and the torment inflicted by his hated stepfather after his mother's death. Then virtually abandoned on the streets of Victorian London, David Copperfield is flung into manhood and contends bravely with the perils of big-city corruption and vice; hardships which ultimately fuel his triumph as a talented and successful writer.

Cast

The film is available on a variety of budget label DVDs, but all of them are very poor-quality transfers.