- Film Review
- Reviewed By Adrian Turner
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5 out of 5
This masterly adaptation of the Dickens novel by director David Lean brims with unforgettable scenes and performances, especially Alec Guinness's Fagin and Robert Newton's genuinely frightening Bill Sikes. From the opening, with Oliver's mother struggling to the workhouse to give birth, to the climax on the roofs of Docklands, the picture brings the novel vividly to life. But here are a few things you may not know: Robert Donat was desperate to play Sikes and did a screen test; when Nancy is bludgeoned to death, Sikes's dog was tricked into scratching at the door by a stuffed cat placed on the other side; the boy who played Oliver, John Howard Davies, became a producer of TV comedies such as Fawlty Towers; and the movie caused riots in Germany and was initially banned and then heavily cut in America for its alleged anti-Semitism.
Plot Summary
Classic drama based on the novel by Charles Dickens, starring Alec Guinness and Robert Newton. When orphan Oliver Twist runs away from the brutality of the workhouse, he little realises the dangers he will face in London - especially when he joins a gang headed by arch-villain Fagin.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Fagin
- Alec Guinness
- Bill Sikes
- Robert Newton
- Oliver Twist
- John Howard Davies
- Nancy
- Kay Walsh
- Artful Dodger
- Anthony Newley
- Monks
- Ralph Truman
- Mr Bumble
- Francis L Sullivan
- Mr Brownlow
- Henry Stephenson
- Oliver's mother
- Josephine Stuart
- Police official
- Henry Edwards
- Charlotte
- Diana Dors
- Chief of police
- Maurice Denham
- Mrs Sowerberry
- Kathleen Harrison
- Mr Sowerberry
- Gibb McLaughlin
- Noah Claypole
- Michael Dear
- Barney
- Michael Ripper
- Singer at Three Cripples
- Hattie Jacques
Crew
- Director
- David Lean
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