Rating: 
Summary: Stunning
Review: Lock your doors, turn off the phones and enjoy the best theatre there is. Very true to the Dickens novel, this production brings the wonderfully rich characters to life. Ironically, the character of Nicholas, his mother and sister Kate are the least interesting. It is the many minor characters who are such a delight. My only complaint is that we are not told which actors play which roles. These are tapes to see again & again. A Treasure.
Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Theatrical Experience
Review: Neither the 2000 television version nor the 2002 film could ever hope to match the magic, passion, dramatic heights and emotional involvement of this nine hour Royal Shakespeare Company production. All the characters and subplots of Dickens' novel are presented in a whirlwind of drama, comedy, tragedy and romance. It was a wise decision, when putting the production on film, to retain as much of its theatrical flavor as possible. Because it is that theatricality that produces as much of an impact and lasting impression as the characters and plot.
Originally staged by the RSC in the early 80's at the Aldwych Theatre, this version was taped at the Old Vic before the company took the show to New York. At times, an audience is visible (and audible) especially when various characters leave the stage to wander or race through the aisles or along the front of the balcony. It must have been a wonderful experience. But the DVD compensates us for not actually being there by providing that which you cannot get in a theatre - close-ups of the actors. Only once is this overdone - when Ralph Nickleby is finally denounced, the camera lingers much too long on an extreme close-up as the other characters are only heard revealing the sins of his past. But other times, such as during the silences between lines or the looks between characters, the close-ups are quite wonderful.
A cast of 30-some actors portray about 150 characters between them. Of course, doubling or even tripling is an ancient theatrical convention. But never have I seen it used as effectively as here. Only Roger Rees, as Nicholas, plays a single part. This is real acting we are witnessing.
The nine hours are divided into four acts spread over three discs. Each act is divided into two or three parts, each with the same opening and closing credits. This makes it possible to watch in installments although one at a time never seems enough. My wife insisted that we watch the entire 167 minute final disc in one sitting. The time flies by.
The story is typical Dickens, full of noble poor people and disreputable rich ones, with complex plotlines that would be the envy of any modern soap, complete with Dickens' famous penchant for incredible coincidences. But this is more than mere melodrama and everything about the production combines to make it all fresh and exciting and involving. These are characters you genuinely care about (or, in a few instances, love to hate). And there will not be a dry eye in the house during Smike's final scene.
As I said, all the actors are brillian but most memorable are Roger Rees (who seemed born to play the part), David Threlfall as Smike (an astonishing performance), John Woodvine as the evil Ralph Nickleby (cool underplaying with bursts of temper), Alun Armstrong as Squeers, the villain from hell, Edward Petherbridge as Newman Noggs, Suzanne Bertish in several roles, a pre-Edge Of Darkness Bob Peck as two wildly different characters, and Emily Richard in the thankless role of goody-goody Kate Nickleby.
One word to anyone who has never seen this production. Act One is decidedly grim and occasionally brutal. When this was first shown on television, I knew several people who never got beyond that part. But don't give up. Once Nicholas rebels against Squeers and leaves the school, everything lightens up considerably. And no one should miss the marvellous finale to Act Two when Nicholas and Smike and a travelling theatre company perform the final scene from Romeo And Juliet, complete with exaggerated Victorian acting and a happy ending ("I wasn't dead - I was stunned")!
I'm absolutely delighted that Nicholas NIckleby has become available on DVD. I recommend it to anyone who loves theatre, great acting or just a rollicking good old-fashioned story.
Rating: 
Summary: Great RSC production deserves better DVD
Review: One of the finest theatrical productions of all time, no question. Beautifully staged and brilliantly performed; 39 of the world's best actors play more than 150 roles.The DVD set should be better than this. (The play gets 5 stars; the DVD gets 1.) It is improperly cut and sloppily transferred. A&E has released it (after much anticipation) not in its original four 2-hour acts but in the nine 1-hour episodes that they cut for broadcast on television, with intros and credits every hour. All they've done is transfer their 9-cassette VHS release, with intros, opening and closing credits and a "previously seen" commentary (meant for the TV audience watching it over a period of nine days) onto four DVDs, frustratingly marring the flow of the production. Not only does the play get interrupted every hour, but at one point you have to change discs mid-scene. In addition (and inexplicably) this DVD version is missing a scene that's on the VHS. If A&E gets their act together, they'll rerelease this set and return this incredible play back to its original structure, without the cuts and interruptions. Isn't that the point of DVD? Bear in mind also that many of the glowing reviews on this site refer to the VHS set (and the play itself) and don't address the inept job of transferring the VHS onto DVD. (Amazon's reviewer even credits Jim Goddard as the director, when all he did was arrange cameras and make adjustments for taping; the actual directors of the play, Trevor Nunn and John Napier, go unmentioned.) As you may have read in other reviews, the original stage production was four 2-hour acts in two parts (the running time of the play is actually 8 hours without the intermissions, not 9, as is stated in Amazon's review), and Parts I and II could be seen all in one day or over two consecutive nights. The designers of this set could have devoted one disc per part, without interruption, with one more disc for any extras (there aren't many). A four-disc set is excessive and inappropriate; it allows them to up their price while it weakens the experience of the play. (Peter Brook's 9-hour stage production of "The Mahabharata" is on two DVDs, in fine quality and half the price.) I saw the play on Broadway in 1981 and, like most in that theater, fell in love with it. I've had the VHS version all this time and hoped that eventually it would be on DVD, carefully restored. I would avoid buying this set and wait until they release one that's complete, uncut and faithful to the play. It's one of the greatest stage productions of all time. It features the Royal Shakespeare Company in its prime. It deserves better than this. The movies "Pearl Harbor" and "Dogma" got better DVD treatments. That's pretty sad.
Rating:
Summary: amazons review is "NUNN" too accurate
Review: Onstage "Nicholas Nickleby" was the event of a lifetime.On television it is still the definitive adaptation of Dickens'book.All the reviews on this site agree on that,but Steve Landaus review for Amazon unfairly miscredits the artists most responsible for this incredible feat of storytelling.To say that Jim Landau directed the show is only true insofar as cameras were present at Londons Old Vic Theatre.The co-directors of the show and the men most responsible for Nicholas Nickleby are John Caird and Trevor Nunn the dynamic duo who directed another classic literary adaptation for the Royal Shakespeare Company five years later --"Les Miserables".Buy this video-- eight hours is not enough!!!
Rating:
Summary: Memorable Experience
Review: Plays on tape usually don't tickle my fancy. I'm not even a "Masterpiece Theatre" type of guy, however this production of Nicholas Nickleby is incredibly absorbing and entertaining. It runs the whole gamut of human emotions. Hollywood may have made Dickens nauseating to an extent, but the RSC really brought the novel to life, in a brilliantly fast moving, well acted and staged production. - - I remember watching it when it originally aired on PBS, and I was only 11 I stuck through all 9 episodes. Now rewatching it almost 18 years later, everything has come back like it was yesterday. - - Dickens was a master architect at creating memorable charactors, and forever, it will be the faces and images of this production that I'll think of if I ever reread the novel ! - Don't be surprized if you sit through the whole thing in only a few nights. Its a Dickensonian soap opera, and the ending of each tape will get you running to get the next volume in the VCR.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Program - Inexcusable transfer
Review: This DVD presents one of the finest stage productions ever preserved on film. Other reviews have very ably pointed out the transcendant writing and performances. HOWEVER...these disc are truly the most careless tranfer I have ever seen outside of the public domain. The broadway production was offered in 2 parts, each part contained 2 acts. If you really wanted the full immersive experience you saw part one on a Saturday or Sunday Matinee, broke for dinner and returned that same night to complete the epic. Some of the power of the piece comes in the cumulative effect of losing yourself in Dicken's world. The original broadcast was similarly aired with no commercial interuptions (Thanks, I believe, to Exxon) over four nights. WHY then has A&E broken its 4 discs into hour long segments, each containing the begining and ending credits? (You can't skip these segments, only fast forward over them.) The transfer, even on my 24" TV looks like a VHS copy recorded on the economical speed, grainy and washed out. Don't even try to play it on a large screen TV. (I just read a review of their transfer of the Miss Marple series which makes similar complaints.) It feels like A&E literally had some authoring house get a VHS copy of a copy of a copy from the store and record it as is. I am very glad I bought this box set for 2 reasons. 1... I've long wanted to revisit the brilliant production unvailable for so many years. 2... I learned to NEVER buy another A&E disc until they start respecting the shows they transfer.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Program - Inexcusable transfer
Review: This DVD presents one of the finest stage productions ever preserved on film. Other reviews have very ably pointed out the transcendant writing and performances. HOWEVER...these disc are truly the most careless tranfer I have ever seen outside of the public domain. The broadway production was offered in 2 parts, each part contained 2 acts. If you really wanted the full immersive experience you saw part one on a Saturday or Sunday Matinee, broke for dinner and returned that same night to complete the epic. Some of the power of the piece comes in the cumulative effect of losing yourself in Dicken's world. The original broadcast was similarly aired with no commercial interuptions (Thanks, I believe, to Exxon) over four nights. WHY then has A&E broken its 4 discs into hour long segments, each containing the begining and ending credits? (You can't skip these segments, only fast forward over them.) The transfer, even on my 24" TV looks like a VHS copy recorded on the economical speed, grainy and washed out. Don't even try to play it on a large screen TV. (I just read a review of their transfer of the Miss Marple series which makes similar complaints.) It feels like A&E literally had some authoring house get a VHS copy of a copy of a copy from the store and record it as is. I am very glad I bought this box set for 2 reasons. 1... I've long wanted to revisit the brilliant production unvailable for so many years. 2... I learned to NEVER buy another A&E disc until they start respecting the shows they transfer.
Rating: 
Summary: clever stage production, some poor editing
Review: this is a fairly faithful and literal adaptation of dickens' novel. the acting, as you might suppose, is excellent, and the adaptation to the stage is innovative and takes nothing away from the story. in some ways, this is as close as you can come to realizing a dickens novel. still, i read the book before i watched this film, and no matter how good the acting or the production value, there is no substitute for dickens' prose and the reader's imagination. the reading experience is still better. but this film is not bad -- as a supplement. one criticism of the film is the editing. it seems that some parts of the play have been omitted. for example, an early scene between the 'gentleman with small clothes' and mrs nickleby is missing. it makes a later scene between these characters impossible to understand, if you haven't read the book. another criticism is that the mrs nickleby character has been stripped of many lines. this is unfortunate because she is easily the funniest character in the book. in fact, some would go so far as to say that she is the best thing about the book. i'm inclined to agree with this opinion and really regret the omission. still, a film worth watching. rent it. buy it only if you really, really love dickens film adaptations.
Rating:
Summary: "Capital, wouldn't you say, Pluck?" "Truly wonderful, Pyke."
Review: This is currently the most wonderful set of movies I have ever seen. I exaggerate not. I am now in the process of reading the book (faster that I've ever read any novel of that size) and I assure one and all that it is already on my list of favorite books. Nicholas Nickleby is a work of art and this film should be watched by everyone who breathes, and maybe even those who don't. I have fallen in love with Nicholas. For that matter, every single actor is stunning. Newman Noggs is extraspecially wonderful! I haven't seen a movie in a very long time that has effected me this deeply. The fact that it's a filmed play only adds to its brilliance. I love the sudden shifts of the characters from their parts to narration, and the whole-cast summaries of each act are incredible. If it were possible to rate this 10 stars, or 100 for that matter, I would. This movie glows. As do I when I watch (or read) it. I radiate love for Nicholas Nickleby.
Rating:
Summary: Now on DVD, the best play ever put to video! Magnificent!
Review: This is it! The famous nine-hour Royal Shakespeare Company production of the Charles Dickens classic. It opened June 9, 1980 in London, and this television mini-series was adapted and taped in the summer of 1981 at London's Old Vic Theatre. It then went to Broadway in the Fall of 1981. This video production (in stereo) was finally shown in America in January of 1983. It was originally shown in four acts over four evenings in a row. Eventually it was sold to A&E and divided into nine hours (when this was done and by whom is unclear), and dividing it, to me, was a terrible idea, as the show plays much better in the four act version. I saw the show on TV back in 1983 when it was first shown, and I fell in love with it! It's a glorious play, filled with wonderful actors playing a full cast of characters, and often playing more then two each! They bring Dickens alive, with all the drama, pathos, comedy, social commentary, and deep and rich sentimentality that is presented in an honest and loving way. The music by Stephen Oliver is wonderful, the staging is imaginative, and the costumes are perfect. It came out on Beta many years ago, but it was a poor transfer. Then A&E released it on VHS, which I never bought because of the way it was divided up on many tapes, when it should have been on just four (four acts). Now the DVD is here, but A&E Video (or someone who supplied the mini-series to A&E) didn't do it properly by dividing it into four discs / four acts. They (or the supplier) have it divided into hour-long sections. You will find yourself fast-forwarding through opening and closing credits to get though the original act, then changing discs to continue the act. After watching the last DVD, I noticed one of the scenes has been cut or shortened, compared to the 1983 original. I know for certain the scene with the mad gentleman next door to Miss LaCreevy was cut since it was originally shown. This is a great disappointment with this DVD set. It should have been just as it was presented back in 1983, no cuts, no extra divisions, for what ever reason they were made at one time. However, the picture and sound quality is the best I have EVER seen it! If you don't laugh at the Crummles acting troupe, shed a tear for poor Smike, and jeer at Squeers, you must have a heart of stone. This is the best version of this book presented in any way it has ever been presented, or EVER will be presented! As Mrs. Crummles would say, "It was too... tremendous!" I just wish A&E Home Video would have been able to present it in a better manner, and not to fit some past, hour-long time-slot.
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