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Oliver Twist (1948) [The Criterion Collection #32]

Posted By: Notsaint

Date: 17 Sep 2013 17:13:12

Expressionistic noir photography suffuses David Lean’s Oliver Twist with a nightmarish quality, fitting its bleak, industrial setting. In Dickens’ classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home. Here Alec Guinness is the quintessential Fagin, his controversial performance fully restored in Criterion’s digital transfer.

Director: David Lean
Cast: Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, Francis L. Sullivan, Henry Stephenson, Mary Clare, Anthony Newley, Josephine Stuart, Ralph Truman, Kathleen Harrison, Gibb McLaughlin, Amy Veness, Frederick Lloyd, John Howard Davies, Henry Edwards, Ivor Barnard, Maurice Denham, Michael Dear, Michael Ripper, Peter Bull, Deidre Doyle, Diana Dors, Kenneth Downey, W.G. Fay, Edie Martin, Fay Middleton, Graveley Edwards, John Potter, Maurice Jones, Hattie Jacques

The Criterion Collection

Disc Features
- The original theatrical trailer
- Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

IMDb

Based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist is about an orphan boy who runs away from a workhouse and meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. Oliver is taken in by the pickpocket and he joins a household of young boys who are trained to steal for their master. This version of Oliver Twist is topped by Alec Guinness's masterly performance of arch-thug Fagin.
~ Jenny Evans

Still the most Dickensian of all the Oliver Twist films David Lean's inspired version, never the less is much indebted in its style to the German Expressionist Cinema. It's London is more related to Fritz Lang than Victorian England but the spirit of Dickens is alive and well in the accurately drawn caricatures from the novel. Outstanding performances by Francis J. Sullivan as ridiculous Mr. Bumble, Alec Guiness's chillingly evil Fagin despite a badly judged nose job, and the eye boggling twitching Robert Newton as the ferocious Bill Sykes. Even his dog trembles at his temper, in fact the dog is a major actor in this version.

John Newton Howard is a rather angelic Oliver, with a more refined delivery than one would have expected from a workhouse background. But it all goes decidedly well thanks to Lean's superb direction, stunning images, clever editing and a sterling cast. Viewed today so many years after it was filmed it remains the most vivid and Gothic recreation of the story. Probably Charles Dickens would approve. The heroic length recent version by Roman Polanski is generally faithful to the novel but lacks the pizazz and humour that is in Dicken's writing. David Lean made only two excursions into Dickens (Oliver Twist and Great Expectations) both milestones in cinema. One can but wonder how well he may have brought Bleak House or Our Mutual Friend to the screen.
~ John Bale

DVDVerdict

Oliver Twist has always been one of Dickens' most melodramatic novels. Perhaps this is because the novel comes from early in his career, before he learned to successfully balance his crowd-pleasing sentimentality with the keen eye for social critique that marks his more accomplished, later work. Or perhaps it is the fault of the central character, Oliver himself. Oliver, like a stock melodramatic hero, is more reactive than active. He never precipitates any action in the story, but only follows the lead of everyone else. Indeed, poor Oliver is the least interesting character in his own story, carried along by the plot as the innocent pawn of others' schemes. Compare him to Pip in Great Expectations, who is necessarily reactive when confronted with the social obligations of Mrs. Havisham's world, but takes charge and acts on his own in dealing with Magwitch. This contrast gives Pip a depth that Oliver never achieves, and Pip's story is better for it.

All of which leads me to wonder why David Lean chose to follow such a strong film as Great Expectations with this adaptation of Oliver Twist. Certainly, the latter book has always been a popular one, direct and accessible. And Lean's film does have plenty going for it.

Lean is in full command of his visual technique here. The world of Fagin and Bill Sykes, the underworld of London, is rendered in a shadowy, expressionistic style, with striking angles and images of decay. All in all, Oliver Twist is a much darker film than its predecessor, with Oliver carried along from one horrible environment to another. The only light and straight lines come when Oliver arrives at the kindly Brownlow's house. Otherwise, this is a dark world with darker characters.

Performances are fine all around. Alec Guinness, fresh from playing the young Herbert Pocket in Lean's previous film, transforms himself into a remarkably convincing Fagin. Wrinkled and decrepit, but with a false sincerity that makes him both comical and threatening, Fagin steals the film whenever he is on screen. There is a slightly disturbing undercurrent of Jewish caricature here (more evident in the novel and most other film versions—Dickens was so disturbed by the charges of anti-Semitism that he created a more sympathetic Jewish character years later in Our Mutual Friend), but Guinness succeeds in creating a distinctive character. In fact, all the villains are excellent, and the performers show great chemistry when on screen together. Robert Newton plays Bill Sykes with seedy, paranoid menace. Kay Walsh imbues Nancy with righteous defiance. And Anthony Newley gives the Artful Dodger a feral quality (much less charming than the Carol Reed musical Oliver!) that seems quite convincing for a boy raised on the dirty and dangerous streets of London.

As usual, Criterion does a solid job with the transfer. While this is a darker film visually than Great Expectations, the image is still crisp and shows plenty of detail. Minor nicks and scratches mar the print, but overall, it is in great condition. The sound is also clean, essential given Lean's careful use of sound mixing. For instance, when Oliver first arrives in London, Lean suggests the scope of the crowd with cuts of running livestock and animal noises mixed with the chatter. This allows him to give a sense of London's claustrophobic bustle while still maintaining close focus on Oliver as he travels though the streets.

DVDBeaver