The novel celebrates the triumph of sweet lively spirits in dark times and places, while this DVD is a tribute to the power of a dismal tone to kill delightful dialogue, hilarious situations and charming characters. Look at that grim haunted face on the DVD case -- it isn't Ralph Nickleby, as I assumed when I bought the set, but this performance's version of sunny, irrepressible, boyishly earnest Nicholas. I like the script and production but the tone starting with Nicholas is just so pervasively wrong that I couldn't see it through.