My cousin, a fellow Dickensian, was here last night for a little Dickens party. We had pizza and brownies — for a full-fledged Dickens party, I suppose, we should have had something like steak and kidney pie, but somehow we managed to do without it — and watched the 1983 miniseries of Dombey and Son. Neither of us had seen it before, but Dombey is Annie's favorite Dickens novel (whereas I haven't read it in a long time), so she was able to give me some details about what was left out, what was changed, and what was true to the book.
On the whole, I think we both enjoyed it very much. The acting was really excellent — with the exception of little Paul Dombey. I hate to criticize a child actor, but this one didn't put much into the part. In fact, by Annie's account, he and his sister seemed to have switched places, with Paul being the serious one in the family and Florence considerably more lighthearted.
I remembered the basic outline of the story, more or less, but there was an awful lot I'd forgotten. I really don't know why I've never yet read this one a second time, but now I'm dying to. I don't own a copy of the book — haven't even been able to find it at B&N or Borders, so I may have to order it — but after the movie last night I was skimming through it online, trying to find out more about what was originally in the book and what was exclusive to the movie. But some things were a given even before I looked. No one but Charles Dickens, bless him, could have come up with "Where are you staying, abomination?"
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