All films are screened at Kino Babylon, Rosa-Luxemburg-Str. 30, 10178 Berlin.
23.11.2011, 7.30pm, Silent Movie Night
David Copperfield,
Thomas Bentley, 1913, 8 mins and Oliver Twist,
Frank Lloyd, 1922, 72 mins
Originally a two hour feature divided into six parts, this silent telling of David Copperfield remains as a short fragment restored by the British Film Institute, with a score by Neil Brand.
A mesmerising silent film version of Oliver Twist, with a magnificent performance from Hollywood legend Lon Chaney portraying the miser Fagin, and a winning embodiment of Oliver from Jackie Coogan, the most famous male child star of the silent era. The film was considered lost until a print surfaced in Yugoslavia in the 1970s and has been restored as part of a wonderful ‘Dickens Before Sound’ collection by the British Film Institute, with a specially composed score by Neil Brand.
29.11.2011, 8pm:
Great Expectation,s
David Lean, 1946, 113 mins
Arguably the greatest film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ work ever made, brilliantly realised by David Lean (the legendary British director of classics such as Lawrence of Arabia).
With an outstanding cast this is a fabulous depiction of a poor boy’s rise from blacksmith’s apprentice to fashionable man-about-town in 19th Century London with dark secrets, suspense and thwarted romance all thrown in.
Starring: John Mills, Valerie Hobson, Alec Guinness
6.12.2011, 8pm:
Oliver Twist,
Roman Polanski, 2005, 130 mins
Set in 1848, Oliver Twist is the story of an orphan, born in a workhouse and brought up in harsh and cruel conditions, half-starved by the corrupt parish authorities. He is unlucky enough to be chosen to ask for more gruel and is immediately found...
With a screenplay by regular Polanski collaborator, Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood, this is a faithful and hugely imaginative interpretation of the classic text.
Starring: Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong
13.12.2011, 8pm:
Scrooge: A Christmas Carol,
Brian Desmond Hurst, 1951, 86 mins
A highly influential and possibly never bettered 1950s film version of Dickens’ Christmas classic, which also gave great British comic actor Alastair Sim - playing Scrooge - the role for which he will always be remembered.
Starring: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison
3.1.2012, 8pm:
A Tale of Two Cities,
Ralph Thomas, 1958, 141 mins
A memorable British film adaptation of Dickens’ tragic classic tale of love and noble self sacrifice set in the turbulence of 18th Century Paris during the French Revolution. Dirk Bogarde is perfectly cast as the doomed hero Sydney Carton, a disillusioned lawyer whose world is turned upside down when events in France encroach on his decadent London life.
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Alfie Bass
10.1.2012, 8pm:
Nicholas Nickleby,
Douglas McGrath, 2002, 127 mins
The most recent film version of Nicholas Nickleby is a handsomely mounted and convincing picture of a young man’s struggle to make his way in the world.
Stylish and star-studded it faithfully follows young Nicholas as he sets out to provide for his family after the death of his father with many adventures, comic and suspenseful, along the way.
Starring: Jamie Bell, Christopher Plummer, Anne Hathaway
17.1.2012, 8pm:
Oliver Twist,
David Lean, 1948, 110 mins
David Lean’s second and almost equally outstanding foray into adapting Dickens is this dark thriller about an orphan’s escape from the workhouse to a child pickpocket gang, living in a thieves’ den in London led by the unforgettably grotesque crook, Fagin (portrayed with relish by the legendary Alec Guinness).
Starring: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh
25.1.2012, 8pm:
Dickens,
Chris Granlund, 2002, 3 x 60 mins
A lively and engaging TV documentary series about Dickens’ life and work presented by prolific writer and Dickens biographer, Peter Ackroyd.
Starring: Peter Ackroyd, Miriam Margolyes, Anton Lesser
Dickens 2012 in Germany 
