Oliver Twist (1948)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 116 minuten
Country:
United Kingdom
Directed by: David Lean
Stars: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness and John Howard Davies
IMDb score:
7,8 (14.831)
Releasedate: 28 June 1948
Oliver Twist plot
"A Screen Event To Be Remembered For All Time !"
Film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist is an orphaned boy who one day encounters a pickpocket. The latter teaches a group of young followers from him how best to steal. Oliver Twist wants to be included in this group, but the thefts quickly spiral out of control, prompting a manhunt for the group of thieves.
Actors and actresses
Oliver Twist
Bill Sykes
Fagin
Nancy
Mr. Bumble
Mr. Brownlow
Mrs. Corney
Artful Dodger
Monks
Noah Claypole
Reviews & comments
Roger Thornhill
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- 6070 messages
- 2476 votes
Leans Great expectations from two years earlier may be called the best Dickens film adaptation ever, but I actually think Oliver Twist is just as good and maybe even better. In any case, the film is grimmer, because where in Great expectations we soon have the relief that Pip is freed from his blunt sister and that he can then stand on his own two feet, Oliver remains the whole time the plaything of the unsavory elements around him, and the brief period in which he finds happiness (with the man who turns out to be his grandfather and his sweet housekeeper) is almost immediately followed by an even more cruel "awakening" when he rejoins Fagin and his gang. Plus there's the repulsive character of Bill Sikes, an obnoxious villain who doesn't inherit any sympathetic character traits from Lean and whose murder of Molly is still a shocking and disturbing affair 70 years later. (What also doesn't help is that I secretly have a soft spot for Kay Walsh.)
Cameraman Guy Green won an Oscar for Great expectations, but he really should have received one for this film, because his shots of all those mazes of stairs, dirty stone walls, bizarre bridges and back rooms are complete. with shadows and grays are impressive and exceptionally beautiful, thanks of course to the fantastic production design of John Bryan. (Green himself: "Oliver Twist I think is my best work as a cameraman.") And the opening sequence overshadows the famous opening of Great expectations in the graveyard as far as I'm concerned.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Filmkriebel
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- 10013 messages
- 4679 votes
Last movie for this year. Recently saw the musical from the 1960s and must say that the narrative is identically the same, but then half an hour shorter due to the omission of all that music. Actually, I like this 1948 movie a bit better; it is a lot rawer and darker, although the musical with its large set pieces is much more impressive to watch. But also here strongly portrayed (see eg the stills on IMDB). The England of the 1840s is certainly not a period in which I would like to live. Poverty, social injustice (trial of the child), crime, lack of hygiene... I had not recognized Guinness as the thief Fagin. His anti-Semitic portrayal cost him a lot of backlash from the Jewish community. I can easily agree that this is regarded as the best film adaptation.
Translated from Dutch · View original
clubsport
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- 3890 messages
- 6993 votes
Beautiful black and white filming, lots of atmosphere with a very nice black and white contrast, the story is also nice and smooth
with good acting from almost the entire cast .
I have yet to see the somewhat younger version, but I think this one is hard to top.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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