The Old Curiosity Shop | |
Director: | Thomas Bentley |
Producer: | Walter C. Mycroft |
Starring: | Elaine Benson Ben Webster Hay Petrie Polly Ward |
Cinematography: | Claude Friese-Greene |
Music: | Herman Finck |
Editing: | Leslie Norman |
Studio: | British International Pictures |
Distributor: | Wardour Films First Division Pictures (US) |
Runtime: | 105 minutes |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Language: | English |
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1934 British drama film directed by Thomas Bentley and starring Elaine Benson, Ben Webster and Hay Petrie.[1] It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1841 novel The Old Curiosity Shop.
The film was produced by British International Pictures, one of the two most prominent British film studios of the time, at its base at Elstree Studios. Bentley was a well-established director who worked on several of the company's presigous historical films during the decade. He had previously directed a number of Dickens adaptations during the silent era, but this was his only Dickens talkie. The film sought to achieve a "painterly" effect in its interpretation of the original work. The recreation of the grotesque elements of Dickens' novel has led to it being described as an "expressionist nightmare".[2]