Cinema: Curiosity Slop

MR. QUILP

Directed by MICHAEL TUCHNER

Screenplay by LOUIS and IRENE KAMP

In the demise of Little Nell, The Old Curiosity Shop contains perhaps the most famous deathbed scene in English literature. A sentimental extravaganza, it has aroused critical scorn and the common reader's lachrymose appreciation for well over a century. The dishonesty and ineptitude of this wretched musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' novel can be measured by the fact that most of the children at a recent screening did not realize Nell had died. So hastily did writer, director and actor rush past this inconvenience that the kids believed she was literally...