Review of Oliver! (1968) by Peter P — 29 Aug 2011

This multi-Oscar winner is the film version of the satge musical adaptation of the classic novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. As you might expect, it's a sumptuous well-done British affair filled with excellent sets and costumes, good music, and some decent performances. As for how it fares as an adaptation? Well, pretty decently. It's certainly entertaining, though I can't say I've ever really been all that into Oliver Twist (in any form). That makes my praise seem odd no doubt, but I'm the sort of person who can give praise to something when it is well done, even if it's really not my thing.

The casting is good, as are the performances, but special credit must be given to Oliver Reed as Bill Sykes, a chilling performance that the Nostalgia Critic (Doug Walker) rightfully included on his list of the Top 11 Scariest Performances. He's a real creep, and Reed's take is wonderfully done. Shani Wallis's Nancy and Ron Moody's Fagin are pretty good too. Mark Lester is capable as the title character, but his voice (mostly singing) is a bit much for me. I know I can't fault him for not hitting puberty by the time this film was made, but damn. It's not distracting enough to take the movie down though.

Carol Reed, the director behind the masterpiece that is The Third Man, does a really good job of bringing this musical to life on the big screen. There's nothign really cinematically showy going on, but it's solid and well played nonetheless.

If you happen to like musicals or the source material, then yeah, give this one a go. Unlike almost all 1960s movie musicals, this one is at least under 3 hours.