MACTBy Steven LaVigne
There are over 500 film adaptations of Charles Dickens’ writing. At least 20 of these are based on his 1838 novel, Oliver Twist. Among them is a 1922 version starring Jackie Coogan as the title character opposite Lon Chaney, “the man of a thousand faces” as Fagin. Taking a look at this version today, it has one serious flaw: the sets designed by Stephen Goosson don’t begin to capture the squalor described in the novel. Still, this version is worth looking at, especially for silent film buffs. (It’s on YouTube)
David Lean’s 1948 adaptation is more faithful to the novel. A young Anthony Newley plays the Artful Dodger, Robert Newton is Bill Sykes, Kay Walsh is Nancy and John Howard Davies (later the producer of Monty Python’s Flying Circus) is Oliver. Due to the casting of Alec Guinness as Fagin, the film was controversial because it was considered anti-Semitic and didn’t see general release until 1951.
Lionel Bart’s musical version, Oliver! was first produced onstage in London’s West End in 1960, and presented on Broadway by David Merrick’s Arts Foundation three years later. It starred (the recently deceased) Clive Revill as Fagin; Georgia Brown as Nancy and Davy Jones (later one of the Monkees) as The Artful Dodger. 15 year old Bruce Prochnik played the title role. Winning a Tony Award for its score, the production ran for 774 performances.
Sir Carol Reed (1906 –1976) made the 1968 musical version.Reed, the son of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (the original Henry Higgins in Pygmalion), was a British producer and director, responsible for the noir classics, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and his masterpiece, The Third Man. Oliver! is his only musical.
The 41st Oscars for 1968 were loaded with nominees whose work had first been produced onstage. Four of the five nominees for Best Picture — Funny Girl, The Lion in Winter, Romeo & Juliet, Oliver! — had origins in the theater. (Rachel, Rachel was the exception). Both Funny Girl and The Lion in Winter honored their leading ladies, Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn with the award for Best Actress; Jack Albertson won Best Supporting Actor for reprising his stage role in The Subject Was Roses; The Lion in Winter won Best Adapted Screenplay; Romeo & Juliet won for its Costumes and Cinematography.
Produced by John Woolf for Romulus Productions and distributed by Columbia (now Sony) Pictures, Oliver! won 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (Carol Reed) and an Honorary Award to Oona White for her remarkable choreography. John Box’s production design was also honored. Oliver! also won Golden Globes for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Ron Moody was named Best Actor. This raises a question: Does this movie deserve all those honors?
Absolutely. It’s an excellent movie musical.
Oliver! opens with a sketch of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and throughout the credits we get illustrations (possibly from Punch Magazine) capture the world we’re about to enter. They fade into a workhouse, where Oliver is among the orphaned child laborers. A whistle blows and the ensemble moves at a similar pace as the workers from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis to eat their daily gruel. Choosing lots, Oliver is recruited to ask for more, which leads to his being sold as an apprentice to an undertaker. After being bullied, Oliver runs away.
A week later, Oliver arrives in London. He meets the Artful Dodger, who brings Oliver to a hideout for young pickpockets led by Fagin, who instructs the gang in the art of stealing. Fagin later meets Fagin’s protégé, Bill Sikes. When he meets Nancy, Sikes’s girlfriend he learns how to steal. After Dodger steals Mr. Brownlow’s wallet, Oliver is arrested. Found innocent, Oliver goes to live with Brownlow. Paranoid, Nancy’s sent to kidnap Oliver, who bears a striking resemblance to Brownlow’s niece, Emily.
Nancy and Sikes take him back to the hideout. Having been threatened by Sikes, Fagin begins “reviewing the situation” of his life. After Bumble presents a locket belonging to Oliver’s mother. It’s clear that Oliver is his nephew. When Sikes takes Oliver on a botched robbery, Nancy plans on returning the boy to his uncle. Having caught on, Sikes murders Nancy. An angry mob, let by Sikes’ dog, Bullseye, corners Sikes, who is shot. During the commotion, Dodger steals a wallet, bringing it to Fagin, now clearly partners-in-crime.
Oliver! Is perfectly cast. Ron Moody as Fagin; Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger; Harry Secombe as Mr. Bumble; Hugh Griffith as the Magistrate; Joseph O’Coner as Mr. Brownlow; Sheila White as Bet; Shani Wallis as Nancy and director Reed’s nephew, Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes. Mark Lester was given the title role. Moody was nominated for Best Actor (Cliff Robertson won for his performance in Charley) and Jack Wild was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (awarded to the aforementioned Jack Albertson for The Subject Was Roses.
Moody went on to co-star with Frank Langella in Mel Brooks’ delightful, underrated film The Twelve Chairs. Wild starred on US Saturday morning TV’s H.R. Puffnstuf. Sadly, he succumbed to oral cancer due to smoking, in 2006 at the age of 53. Mark Lester made films into his early 20s. He became an osteopath and acupuncturist. Reed starred in such films as Women in Love, The Who’s Tommy and The Three Musketeers (1973). He died of heart failure in 1999.
Beyond the story are the magnificent musical numbers staged by Onna White (The Music Man, Bye, Bye Birdie, 1776, The Great Waltz). From the opening Food, Glorious Food, to such production numbers as Consider Yourself, Where is Love? and I’d Do Anything, to the charming As Long as He Needs Me, the lively You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two and (my personal favorite) Oompa-pa, the songs and dances pop as they bring Oliver! to full life on the screen.
Even better, the Original Soundtrack spent almost two years on Billboard’s top 100 charts.
While many movie musicals from this era have aged poorly, Oliver! has not! As stated above, this is an excellent movie musical!