Oliver Twist

I completely disagree with the comment I just read. I thought Roman Polanski did great respects to the story and to Dickens. I thought all of the performances were well done and Ben Kingsley was just amazing. I have been in the production of Oliver! the musical three times and have read the book about a million times. It is one of my all time favorite stories and plays and I have been disappointed with the past Oliver Twist films. I remember a few years ago I saw a very poorly done Oliver Twist with Elijah Wood as the Artful Dodger. This one did not disappoint me as a huge fan in the least. I feel Roman Polanski really understood what Dickens was trying to express in his books. And by the way, the character Oliver is supposed to faint, it is a sign of his weakness. I know I am repeating myself but I really did love the performances. The Artful Dodger was great and Mr.Salsbury was done so justly. Even the smallest characters were performed amazingly. I think the only way someone would foolishly call this off as a poorly written, poorly acted, or poorly done film was if they were blind and deaf! No offense to anyone who is of course, but I was very taken aback, as I said, by the comment I just read about this film. The only thing it has against it is that it's a bit long. I knew where the story was going at every moment but for someone just being introduced to Oliver Twist, it might seem to go on for a while. But if you look back at the history of movies, many of the best films are long. If you are a fan of Charles Dickens, please see this film - you will love it. If you are a fan of Roman Polanski it is one of his best! If you wish to be entertained in a very classic and non-offensive way, please see this film. I just loved it and could go on and on. This is a story and film for all ages!

The film concerns Oliver Twist (Barney Clark), an innocent and ill-treated waif who is living at a workhouse in early 19th-century . The orphan escapes and he goes to London plunging in the underbelly . There he's dragged into a life of crime when is befriended by a band of youthful pickpockets . The little robbers are trained to steal for their master Fagin (Ben Kingsley) . The boy is struggling to flee himself the underworld . He's subjected to many awful incidents before finding somebody to worry for him until his rescue from a miserable life by a noble (Edward Harwicke who replaced Frank Finlay) to whom a sadist thief called Bill (Jamie Foreman) tries to burgle his house .

The picture is a well done co-production , -being specially a British movie- of Charles Dickens immortal story . As Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist includes many more characters and subplots than can be fit into a just-over-2-hours film . This version narrows down and streamlines the story to focus on misfortunes of Oliver , the Artful Dodger , scheming Fagin , evilness by fearful Bill Sykes , Nancy , Mr. Brownlow and other criminal elements of London . The novel's other characters Mr. Bumble, Mrs. Mann, Mrs. Corny, Noah Claypole, Charlotte, Mr. Monks, the Maylie family, the Fleming family, and the Leeford family, are all either relegated to brief cameo roles or omitted entirely from the story .

Ben Kingsley's Fagin is a treat , he's magnificent as the mean and greedy old man creating an under-age army of plunderers ; besides , an awesome portrayal by the support casting . The movie has a clever utilization of effects , colour as well as lighting and with highly smartness use of edition to increase suspense in provoking drama , emotion or horrible events as when happens the killing . The idea of making a new version of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" was suggested by Emmanuelle Seigne r, director Roman Polanski's wife , while he was looking for a plot that their children would find interesting. Director Roman Polanski's children have parts in the film, in fact , Morgane Polanski plays the farmer's daughter and Elvis Polanski plays the boy with the hoop . It's colorfully and sharply photographed by Pawel Edelman . Glowing cinematography of the rustic outdoors in Pre-Raphaelist style and gorgeous Victorian landscapes , just like urban London ; though , all of them were filmed in Czech Republic , at Prague Studies . In addition , excellent scenarios of dingy and dirty settings of the slums where the narration is developed . This is the best (along with David Lean version and the musical by Carol Reed) of many renditions about the unforgettable novel . Other retelling results to be the followings : by Frank LLoyd 1922 , by David Lean 1948 , and by Carol Reed 1968 . The motion picture was shot with nice detail and imaginatively realised by Roman Polanski .

There was little that Charles Dickens didn't know about human nature. Who better to interpret his work for the screen than the similarly gifted Roman Polanski.

Polanski's film allows everyone their humanity. Even the extras who people the immaculately designed sets, seem to have a life outside of this film. Ben Kingsley's performance as Fagin is not held in aspic in old age, but is full of hints about his earlier life. Oliver's sufferings seem to mirror that of children in many places and in all times. When it is alleviated it is not by those worldly motivations of charity or civil duty. While a carriage full of prosperous people studiously ignore his plight, a poor old woman who has little herself cares for him. While the wealthy city is content for him to die on the street, a criminal feeds him. When Oliver finally takes his place in the middle class, a priggish religiosity reminds us of Victorian society's cure for criminality. In the end Polanski knows and Dickens asserts that individual decency and humanity alone provide hope.

Perfect, there is no better way to describe this wonderful production by Roman Polanski. This time honoured story by one of the world's greatest writers has been given excellent treatment by a fantastic director.

First, the acting is quite good, not just as one would expect from Ben Kingsley (who out does himself as the scheming cantankerous Fagin), but from the child actors as well, most notably Barney Clark and Harry Eden (who play Twist and Dodger, respectively). Another notable aspect of the cast is they all speak with a thick 19th century British accent, and yet manage to be perfectly intelligible to the audience.

As for the story, well, what can I say, it's Dickens! Some characters are of course cut from the book, and some plot points and elements are missing, but that is to be expected when a book is translated into a film. Despite the cuts, the movie is very faithful to the book, and one could hardly ask for a better translation of written medium to the visual.

Despite wonderful acting and excellent story, my favourite part of this movie is definitely the visuals. The set and costume crew has done an amazing job of recreating the London in which Oliver lived. Every nuance of London, from the slums to the well to do areas has been very faithfully realized on screen. The squalor of the back alleys is almost palpable as the characters trod through the mud, and one is almost tempted to doff their hat when the scenery moves to the middle class homes.

Overall, I can find very little to not praise about this movie, the only thing I can find some flaw with is the soundtrack, as it seems a bit sparse in some areas, and perhaps a bit too repetitive. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of any genre.

The 1948 David Lean film is a classic, that is well worth watching for the outstanding performance of Alec Guiness. This adaptation was very good indeed, but I do think it is inferior to the 1948 film.

The film does look splendid, with fine period detail, and the cinematography is gorgeous. I also thought the score by Rachel Portman was beautiful, and very fitting. Roman Polanski's direction is excellent, and although it is a long time since I read the book, it is fairly true to the source material. Barney Clark gives a charming and vulnerable performance in the title role, and the Artful Dodger and the other boys are well done. Nancy was well portrayed and her character's death was very disturbing, I have to admit. The end scenes were very well staged and perfectly captured on camera.

However, the film does have some less impressive bits. I will confess I was disappointed in Ben Kingsley as Fagin, he wasn't terrible, he just wasn't quite my idea of Fagin. Fagin is supposed to be oily and manipulative, and while Kingsley occasionally had these in his performance, compared to the outstanding performance given by Guiness, it was somewhat anaemic. Jamie Foreman looks the part of Sikes, and evidently has the acting ability, however I felt that something was holding him back, as if he was reluctant to be violent. The dog wasn't quite as convincing as the dog in the 1948 film, in the case of the 1948 film, if there was such thing as an Oscar for animals the dog should've got it. I did like the fact that the film tried to be faithful to the spirit of the book, but it felt a little bloated at times.

Don't get me wrong, it is not a terrible movie, it's just that I preferred the David Lean film, but I did like this film a lot. 7/10 Bethany Cox