The DAVID COPPERFIELD franchise (1935-2019)

Well, from what I've gathered, a canonical problem with David is that the adult is less interesting then the child. David O. Selznick understood that when he had Hugh Walpole adapt the novel for the 1935 film, but refused the allowance of any fixes: he felt that 'fixing' the flaws of the novel might hurt the assets that made the work appealing. I suppose this might be a subjective point, but I liked the performances in the 1935 film: Edna May Oliver's Aunt Betsy, W C Field's Micawber, Maureen O Sullivan's Dora, Jessie Ralphs' Peggotty, Roland Young's Uriah Heep, Basil Rathbone's Murdstone. The performances were cited as being on-key to Dickens' characterizations.

I take it the 1993 version is the animated, animal version with Murdstone's workhouse having a dark underground of slime monsters? I saw that one on its NBC premiere. Ugh to that one.

There was the 1970 TV Film with Susan Hampshire, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Edith Evans, Susan Hampshire, Michael Redgrave, and Pamela Franklin. That adaptation is mostly flashback as sad-sack grieving David mopes around the countryside thinking about the past events out of order.

There were several BBC-TV Serials in 1966 (mostly lost), 1974, 1987, and 1998. The latter had Daniel Radcliffe, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith, Trevor Eve, Ian McKellen, and Emelia Fox. There was also a 2001 TV Miniseries with Hugh Dancy, Sally Fields, Michael Richards, Anthony Andrews and Eileen Atkins.