George Cukor directed this enduring masterpiece, eliciting, as he did throughout his career, memorable performances from a cast of Hollywood character actors. "In one of the all-time casting coups, MGM borrowed W.C. Fields from Paramount to play Micawber in this highly literate and visually flawless rendering of Dickens' masterpiece. Kith and kin to the irascible domestic lord of It's a Gift and The Bank Dick, Micawber was an ideal role for Fields, whose private eccentricities and mannered conceits could have been taken from the pages of Dickens. Cukor had the good sense not to restrain Fields' hamming his relished part, though he did prevent Fields from adding his juggling routine to the daily itinerary of the great procrastinator. The rest of the all-star cast contribute remarkably consistent performances: especially praiseworthy are Hugh Williams as Steerforth and Roland Young as the unctuous villain Heep." --David Chierichetti