"You're a clever boy, my dear," said the playful old gentleman, patting Oliver on the head approvingly. (Charles Dickens)
Here's an impressive new version of the well worn but worn well classic tale about the orphan boy who "asked for more" in the gruesome Orphanage, later flees to London and meets up with the sinister Fagin who runs a gang of child pickpockets lead by The Artful Dodger. The plot thickens when Oliver is rescued short term by a kindly Mr. Brownlow but is later kidnapped by the evil Bill Sikes, in collaboration with Fagin, and forced to rob his benefactor. The story is widely known. Dickens uses it to exemplify the harsh conditions that children of the poor experienced in the times of Queen Victoria.
The great difficulty in adapting Charles Dickens to the screen is the length of his novels and the complex plots and many characters therein. Also much of the Dickens droll humour which lightens the grim situations is in the written word, often lost in translation to film.
So Roman Polanski, that brilliant if sometimes quirky director, has done a truly remarkable job with his Oliver Twist. Controversial Polanski once the boy wonder of the Polish Film Industry, with the film Knife in the Water, and later Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, up to his recent The Pianist, occasionally takes to the classics. Previously he's done a noteworthy versions of Tess and Macbeth. Again he seems totally at home with Dickens England, with the most Victorian looking London since The Elephant Man. He has succeeded in creating a detailed and dismal environment that seems to ring historically true.
Of course there have been several previous and fine films of this story. The most notable being David Lean's magnificent version in 1948, to which all others are compared. Lean made two excursions into Dickens, Twist and Great Expectations. Both text book examples of gifted film making. His superb B&W photography gave them a truly Dickensian look which Polanski and indeed David Lynch in The Elephant Man appreciate. (Polanski starts this film with an engraving under the opening titles which is in black and white, and the first scene is muted in colour, as are many other sequences in the picture which helps the anachronistic mood.) Strong casting from the pool of top actors of the time, combined with exemplary editing and direction made Lean's production something of a masterpiece.
However Polanski has created a new version that must seriously compare with Lean's landmark film, and the others including Carol Reed's "Oliver" the Musical. He faithfully brings the novel to the screen in this lengthy version, (nearly 30 minutes longer than Lean's) including scenes that were omitted in previous scripts. His Oliver as played by Barney Clarke is less precious than John Howard Davies, and gets down and dirty, while Ben Kingsley heavily made-up is a gentler Fagin than the great Alec Guinness.
If perhaps the malevolent Bill Sikes played by Jamie Foreman doesn't quite live up to the legendary Robert Newton, or the overwhelming Oliver Reed he certainly brings a degree of smoldering brutality to the role. While Harry Eden as Mr. Bumble, revives memories of the Dickensian Francis L. Sullivan, and Leanne Rowe as Nancy stands in acceptably for Kay Walsh. The other stock British character players in the new film all look and perform splendidly to add the "Dickens image" to the story.
It is some 35 years since a feature length Oliver Twist has been filmed. So a whole new generation may be introduced to Dickens through this new picture. When Lean's Great Expectations played at the Regent Cinema in Melbourne back in the late forties, it was huge, people queued in the streets to get tickets. I'm not sure that there is the same interest today in Dickens especially with younger people. Polanski does fine homage to Dickens even if the film lacks some of the humour and Gothic impact of the David Lean picture.
Here's an impressive new version of the well worn but worn well classic tale about the orphan boy who "asked for more" in the gruesome Orphanage, later flees to London and meets up with the sinister Fagin who runs a gang of child pickpockets lead by The Artful Dodger. The plot thickens when Oliver is rescued short term by a kindly Mr. Brownlow but is later kidnapped by the evil Bill Sikes, in collaboration with Fagin, and forced to rob his benefactor. The story is widely known. Dickens uses it to exemplify the harsh conditions that children of the poor experienced in the times of Queen Victoria.
The great difficulty in adapting Charles Dickens to the screen is the length of his novels and the complex plots and many characters therein. Also much of the Dickens droll humour which lightens the grim situations is in the written word, often lost in translation to film.
So Roman Polanski, that brilliant if sometimes quirky director, has done a truly remarkable job with his Oliver Twist. Controversial Polanski once the boy wonder of the Polish Film Industry, with the film Knife in the Water, and later Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, up to his recent The Pianist, occasionally takes to the classics. Previously he's done a noteworthy versions of Tess and Macbeth. Again he seems totally at home with Dickens England, with the most Victorian looking London since The Elephant Man. He has succeeded in creating a detailed and dismal environment that seems to ring historically true.
Of course there have been several previous and fine films of this story. The most notable being David Lean's magnificent version in 1948, to which all others are compared. Lean made two excursions into Dickens, Twist and Great Expectations. Both text book examples of gifted film making. His superb B&W photography gave them a truly Dickensian look which Polanski and indeed David Lynch in The Elephant Man appreciate. (Polanski starts this film with an engraving under the opening titles which is in black and white, and the first scene is muted in colour, as are many other sequences in the picture which helps the anachronistic mood.) Strong casting from the pool of top actors of the time, combined with exemplary editing and direction made Lean's production something of a masterpiece.
However Polanski has created a new version that must seriously compare with Lean's landmark film, and the others including Carol Reed's "Oliver" the Musical. He faithfully brings the novel to the screen in this lengthy version, (nearly 30 minutes longer than Lean's) including scenes that were omitted in previous scripts. His Oliver as played by Barney Clarke is less precious than John Howard Davies, and gets down and dirty, while Ben Kingsley heavily made-up is a gentler Fagin than the great Alec Guinness.
If perhaps the malevolent Bill Sikes played by Jamie Foreman doesn't quite live up to the legendary Robert Newton, or the overwhelming Oliver Reed he certainly brings a degree of smoldering brutality to the role. While Harry Eden as Mr. Bumble, revives memories of the Dickensian Francis L. Sullivan, and Leanne Rowe as Nancy stands in acceptably for Kay Walsh. The other stock British character players in the new film all look and perform splendidly to add the "Dickens image" to the story.
It is some 35 years since a feature length Oliver Twist has been filmed. So a whole new generation may be introduced to Dickens through this new picture. When Lean's Great Expectations played at the Regent Cinema in Melbourne back in the late forties, it was huge, people queued in the streets to get tickets. I'm not sure that there is the same interest today in Dickens especially with younger people. Polanski does fine homage to Dickens even if the film lacks some of the humour and Gothic impact of the David Lean picture.