“Please, sir, I want some more”

Plot Summary: Based on Charles Dickens’s second novel, Oliver Twist tells the story of an orphaned boy who manages to escape from a workhouse only to fall in with a young pickpocket known as The Artful Dodger and a den of thieves led by the wretched Fagin.

Review:

Oliver Twist, one of the greatest cinematic adaptations of a literary classic, is by far Lean’s best film. The extraordinary opening sequence, a glorious example of pure cinema, sets the tone: under a dark sky full of menacing black clouds a pregnant woman struggles though fierce wind and pounding rain to reach a distant shelter illuminated only by intense flashes of lightning. Somewhere in the dark night the branch of a brier tree twists violently in the wind, its prickly thorns jabbing and thrusting through the air in unison with the woman’s intense labor pangs. She finally makes it to the shelter, only to then die during childbirth, leaving a baby boy, soon to be named Oliver, wailing plaintively in the dark, stormy night. A birth occurring under such ominous conditions can only portend a bleak future, and so it is with Oliver, whose life becomes one hardship after another.

To Lean’s credit he doesn’t shy away from depicting the abject cruelty to which the sympathetic young Oliver is subjected, which makes it tough to watch at times but remains generally faithful to the tone of the original work. And what villains Oliver must contend with! Alec Guinness’s bizarre yet utterly compelling Fagin, who looks as if he sprung directly out of Cruikshank’s original engravings, is unforgettable, as is Robert Newton’s chilling portrayal of Bill Sykes, whose brutal murder of his sympathetic girlfriend, Nancy, who makes the fatal mistake of trying to help Oliver, is deeply disturbing. During this horrific murder sequence Lean, in an inspired directorial choice, cuts to Sykes’ terrified dog frantically scratching for release at a closed door as we hear Sykes clubbing poor Nancy to death; it’s a strangely haunting, deeply poignant shot that powerfully underscores Nancy’s futile effort to escape her tragic fate.

Perhaps what most distinguishes the film is its visual style, which is every bit as impressive as that of Lean’s later epics. Featuring stunning low-key black and white photography, magnificent period flavor, and striking, meticulously designed sets, Oliver Twist is one of the most richly atmospheric films ever made. Even more remarkably, Lean’s beautifully economic direction always places the visuals in the service of the story, ensuring that his remarkable eye is given full expression without ever sacrificing pace, clarity or characterization, which is more than can be said for some of the bloated epics he made later.

Posted on January 26th, 2008 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Reviews