Little Dorrit (1988)

Director:

Christine Edzard

Writers:

Charles Dickens (novel)
Christine Edzard (writer)

Release Date:

21 October 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Arthur Clennam returns to London after working abroad for many years with his now deceased father. Almost...

Plot Keywords:

Seamstress | Debtor's Prison | Watch | Bureaucracy | Nursing Back To Health

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Derek Jacobi	...	Arthur Clennam
Joan Greenwood	...	Mrs. Clennam
Max Wall	...	Flintwinch
Patricia Hayes	...	Affery
Luke Duckett	...	Young Arthur
Alec Guinness	...	William Dorrit
Cyril Cusack	...	Frederick Dorrit
Sarah Pickering	...	Little Dorrit
Amelda Brown	...	Fanny Dorrit
Daniel Chatto	...	Tip Dorrit
Miriam Margolyes	...	Flora Finching
Bill Fraser	...	Mr. Casby
Roshan Seth	...	Mr. Pancks
Mollie Maureen	...	Mr. F.'s Aunt
Diana Malin	...	Mr. Casby's Maid

Also Known As:

Little Dorrit 1: Nobody's Fault (UK) (first part title)
Little Dorrit 2: Little Dorrit's Story (UK) (second part title)
Little Dorrit's Story
Nobody's Fault
Dorrit Ha-Ktana (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Klein Dorrit (West Germany) [de]
La petite Dorrit (France) (TV title) [fr]
Pikku Dorrit (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

UK:357 min | USA:360 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:G

Company:

Sands

Trivia:

The last film of Bill Fraser.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Arthur and Minnie are in the garden on an apparently warm day. Yet, you can see visible breath vapor as they talk.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 61st Annual Academy Awards (1989) (TV)

One to watch over and over

"Little Dorrit" is hands-down the best movie I've ever seen. One of the best things about it is that it is two movies telling different sides of the same story. I enjoy watching it because I notice something new with every viewing. If you watch one scene in the first movie and watch it in the second movie (e.g., the "parricidal" scene), there are subtle differences based on the storyteller's perception. In "Nobody's Fault", when Amy comes to visit Clennam in the Marshalsea, he sees her wearing the flowered shawl that she always wore when she was poor; when we see the same scene in the second film, she is wearing a black shawl bought when she was wealthy.

The acting is top-notch. The set designs and costumes are the most authentic I have ever seen. The production worked hard to match the original drawings that accompanied the Dickens novel. A sheer delight!