Oliver Twist (1948)
Directed by David Lean

Film Review

David Lean followed his superlative Great Expectations (1946) with this equally impressive re-telling of a popular Dickens classic novel.  Of the numerous film and television adaptations that Oliver Twist has undergone, Lean's is by far the best, surpassing even Carol Reed's version of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! (1968).  It is often cited as Lean's finest film, rating at least as highly as his other great cinematic achievement, Brief Encounter (1944).

What makes David Lean's Oliver Twist so memorable is that it evokes so perfectly the world that Dickens creates in his famous 1838 novel.  It is a world of unremitting cruelty, in which violence is endemic, and where a seemingly impassable gulf separates the educated rich from the miserable poor.  It is a world where most characters are either irredeemably bad or inherently good, a world of kindly innocents and wicked monsters.  Through the prism of a vulnerable eight-year old boy, Lean, like Dickens, shows us the best and worst that humanity can offer.

Much of the film's impact derives from its excellent cast.  In only his second major film appearance (having debuted in Lean's Great Expectations) Alec Guinness is the definitive Fagin, capturing both the outwardly sinister and inwardly tortured aspects of Dickens's original character.  When he first heard that Lean was intending to make the film, Guinness put his name forward for the part with great enthusiasm, even though he was only 34.  Thanks to some very effective make-up, Guinness is transformed into a man who is convincingly almost twice his age.  Unfortunately, his large prosthetic nose caused problems for the film's American distribution.  When the film's portrayal of Fagin was judged to be anti-Semitic, several of Guinness's scenes had to be cut prior to its US release. 

After a nationwide campaign which drew over 1,500 applicants, the part of Oliver finally went to John Howard Davies, the eight-year old son of a screenwriter friend of the film's producer Ronald Neame.   It was a perfect piece of casting - under Lean's skilful direction, Davies succeeds in conveying both the vulnerability and resilience of his character, giving the film some moments of great poignancy.  The actor would appear only in a further three films, before retiring from the limelight.  He would go on to become one of the most significant figures in BBC light entertainment from the 1970s, producing and directing such shows as The Goodies, Monty Python's Flying Circus and Fawlty Towers.

One of the film's stronger performances comes from Robert Newton.  His portrayal of the villainous Bill Sikes ranges from the quietly menacing to the utterly terrifying, and yet throughout there is also a suggestion of pathos.  Like most of the characters in the story, Sikes is shown to be the victim of forces which cannot be controlled and which ultimately lead to his downfall.  At the time of making this film, Newton had a drink problem, something which may have helped his characterisation but which also caused great difficulties during the shoot.

Nancy, the film's tragic heroine, was played by Kay Walsh.  She had previously worked on the screenplay for Great Expectations and was married to David Lean at the time.  It was Walsh who suggested the opening sequence for Oliver Twist, the hauntingly poetic scene in which Oliver's pregnant mother is making her way across a windswept moor.

There are two more notable members on the cast list - Anthony Newley as the Artful Dodger and Diana Dors as the undertaker's servant - very early film appearances for both actors, who would each have a long and successful acting career.

Cinematographer Guy Green and designer John Bryan deserve great recognition for their contribution to the film.  They had each won an Academy Award for their earlier work on Great Expectations and here they both did an equally good job.  The intricate false-perspective sets of Bryan, combined with Green's effective use of high contrast photography, creates a distinctive look that is reminiscent of German expressionism.  In many of the interior scenes, dense shadows add greatly to the sense of menace and reinforce the impression that the boy Oliver is caught in a nightmare from which there can be no escape.

Green is also to be credited for some very ingenious point-of-view shots, notably those where characters are struck, suggesting extreme violence without showing physical contact.  Another good example of this "less is more" principle of which David Lean was particularly fond is the traumatic scene in which Bill murders Nancy - the film's most shocking sequence.  Rather than show Bill cudgelling his victim to death, the camera cuts away to his dog, which tries frantically to get away from the scene of the killing - arguably the most potent image in any of Lean's films.

Although David Lean would go on to make many great films - notably The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Oliver Twist marks the creative highpoint of his career.  It is not only one of the finest adaptations of a Charles Dickens novel but also one of the true masterpieces of British cinema.

Film Synopsis

An unknown young woman dies whilst giving birth in a provincial workhouse.  Her son, Oliver Twist, grows up under the tyranny of the workhouse supervisor, Mr Bumble.  At the age of eight, Oliver is sent away to work as an undertaker's assistant.  Ill-treated in his new home, Oliver decides to run away to London.  There, he falls in with a gang of boy pickpockets who are led by the miserly Jew Fagin.  During a bungled robbery, Oliver is caught by the police but gains the protection of a kindly gentleman, Mr Brownlow.  The boy's happiness isn't to last long, however.  Fearing that Oliver may betray him to the police, Fagin sets about trying to recapture him...