AllMovie

British director Thomas Bentley almost made a career out of making and re-making Charles Dickens' tragedy The Old Curiosity Shop. Bentley first directed Mai Deacon in a groundbreaking 6-reel version back in 1913. This version, his second, featured Mabel Poulton, one of the early British film industry's true genuine movie stars, as Little Nell, with William Lugg as the grandfather and Pino Conti as the nasty Quilp. Bentley would direct a talkie version in 1935, this time featuring Elaine Benson as nell and starring beloved British character actor Hay Petrie as Quilp.