Did anyone else find that Frank Lawton as the older David was a glaring weak link in the David Copperfield cast? While Freddie Bartholomew was enchanting as the younger David, and the supporting emsemble of stars and character actors was a joy from wall to wall, I found Lawton bland and charmless, and the film lost a little of it's magic when he took over the role. Still a terrific movie.
shareLawton did come across as somewhat blaah but I think that may have been the direction with him playing more of a straight man for the cast of characters, humorous or otherwise, in the movies. That role would probably be a thankless one for any actor because all the supporting players like Heep, Dick, the Peggottys, Micawber, et.al got the juicy lines. I doubt there was anything Lawton or even Bartholomew could have done that would have come within ten miles of WC Fields playing off Heep's mannerisms. That little bit right there summed up how DC had to be more of cipher in the story even though it was nominally about him.
Good entertainment though.
'Cause I'm Black you think I did it?
I thought the same thing about Frank Lawton, but the book itself may be part of the problem, where the adult David is also rather stuffy compared to the child David and all the colourful supporting characters.
shareLawton gave a bad performance, but he was nowhere near as infuriating as that kid pulling cutesy faces and being unable to utter a single authentic-sounding syllable. What a terrible brat.
"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan
My sentiments exactly. The movie loses some of its charm after Freddie Bartholomew leaves.
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