The Pickwick Papers (1952 film)


The Pickwick Papers is a 1952 British black-and-white film based on the Charles Dickens’s 1837 novel of the same name. Both screenplay and direction were by Noel Langley.
The film was made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames, and premiered at the Gaumont Cinema at Haymarket in London on 14 November 1952. In 1954, the Soviet Union paid £10,000 for the distribution rights, and it became the first British film to be shown in the Soviet Union after World War II, premiering on 29 July 1954 in a number of cities with a dubbed soundtrack. The film was followed a month later by a Russian reprint of Dickens's book, in 150,000 copies.

Main cast

gave the film three out of four stars, calling it a "Flavorful adaptation of Dickens' classic"; and TV Guide rated it three out of five stars, writing, "If ever a Dickens novel shouted to be filmed, it was The Pickwick Papers, and a jolly good job was done with this version...It's a very funny film with some of England's best light comedians and comediennes."

Colourised version

In 2012, a digitally restored and colourised version of the film was released on DVD, causing a renewed debate in the UK about colourisation of old black-and-white classics.