David Copperfield was Dickens' own favourite novel among his vast production, and together with "Great Expectations" it is a fictional autobiography - everything is invented, but still there is very much of himself in it, and perhaps even more so for being vested in fiction. Delbert Mann made many important films on classical novels and stories, and they were all generally well made and first class. Here the high level of the procuction is accentuated by the participation of a cluster of great actors, like Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Ralph Richardson, Edith Evans, Cyril Cusack, Richard Attenborough, Susan Hampshire and others, while Delbert Mann's bold venture is to reshuffle the story. Even Dickens' novel provides some flashbacks, which augment the quality of the novel by healthily giving the reader some occasional detachment to the passionate dramas, while Delbert Mann's film consist of almost only flashbacks which are not even chronological. The end result is still an entity, it is all well knitted together, and the flashbacks are never disturbing but occur at appropriate moments, one linking to another. Of all the great performances by the actors, Ralph Richardson as Wilkins Micawber crowns the show, he is the best Micawber I have seen, and second is Michael Redgrave as Daniel Peggotty. Perhaps the greatest asset of all is the beautiful music score by Malcolm Arnold. In spite of all the flashbacks and the short duration of just two hours, Delbert Mann succeeds in including the whole novel, there is not much missing, and the most important parts of the story are nicely given full range. In brief, even Dickens would have been satisfied with this TV illustration of his dearest child of a novel, while of course you would have preferred a greater screen than just TV.