Oliver Twist

This is a fairly well-made version of an old chestnut. Casting and sets are up to BBC's usual high standards, just the music made me pause sometimes (sort of New Age klezmer). The story has a great flaw: the scenes in Mr. Brownlow's house are dull and uninspired, while the scenes in the orphanage and Fagin's hide-away are bursting with life. It's as if Dickens could only trust the criminal side of the story to be truthful. The lop-sided story is still very moving.

I liked Timothy Spall as Fagin very much; he went far to erase some faint memories of Alec Guinness in the part. Spall is more subtly Jewish than Guinness was. Sarah Lancashire is riotously funny, and quite vicious too, as Mrs. Corny. Julian Rhind-Tutt is appropriately villainous as Monks.

Having many successful versions of this immortal Charles Dickens's book, the BBC made in for TV presented as series, the writer Sarah Phelps introduces some slight changes on the original story, as the black character as Nancy, also on Bill Sakes as a remorseful guy, the full length offer enables us know more hidden details if someone hadn't an opportunity to read the book, according Sara the book is too much complex at first reading, sometimes stuck and often hook you again, they made a good job indeed, nearest on the best previous adaptations, for me allowed me learn about the misbegotten Fagin which was splendidly personified by the bulky and remarkable actor Timothy Spall, a role at his size, here ushered more human than others early versions, introducing his religion's roots as true Jewish, revealing multiple layers from the odd Fagin, displaying his chatting with the black bird Ezekiel, funny and weird, the boy William Miller was perfectly cast to play Oliver and Adam Arnold as Artful Dodger staggered us with a haughty acting, Tom Hardy is another high point to share, he is bad as hell, however after his blood boils up hereupon making harshness, afterwards he recovers your mind softy, extraordinary adaptation from BBC that requires to everyone takes a look!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 8

Not the greatest production of Dickens' classic, let down in the main by mixed acting and an over-intrusive musical score at odds with the period in which the drama is set. The casting is unusual to say the least, in particular a coloured actress plays Nancy and although Sophie Okonedo acts well she doesn't quite carry off the novelty. Also Gregor Fisher is unconvincing as Mr Bumble, Edward Fox barely registers any emotion in his part and Tom Hardy as Bill Sykes fails to demonstrate the innate psychopathy, indeed the way the part is played, you almost feel the director is straying dangerously close to glamourising and thus garnering sympathy for what is, on the page a yobbish brute. The whole is dominated by Timothy Spall's take on the Fagin part. For me he grossly overacts in a very mannered way and repels this viewer with some slightly distasteful mannerisms. Better are Sarah Lancashire as Bumble's selfish scheming wife and Rob Brydon in a fine comic turn as a judge with attitude but against that, the child acting is very poor, they merely seem to read their lines, certainly no Jack Wild here and the only really imaginative scenes are those where the murdered Nancy's ghost haunts Sykes as he takes Oliver hostage on his escape to the country and back. This was a made for TV mini-series and it shows. A great story reduced in the re-telling.

I'm surprised that this adaptation of the Dickens classic has received so many negative reviews and that there are comparisons with the musical which is a whole different type of production. All the performances are very strong, although I think that the Artful Dodger could do with a few more acting lessons. I thought that Tom Hardy, Sophie Okonedo and Timothy Spall were particularly outstanding. Viewers seem to expect the characters to be fairly one-dimensional and stereotyped - just because Bill Sykes is a psychopath doesn't mean he has to yell all the time! I think that the director did a good job of portraying the harshness and grime of Victorian London and the cruelty and depravity of the era also. I don't want to see Dickens adaptations through a soft focus lens, this is what I want from a period piece. I do agree about the randomness of the music though.

The performances are excellent all around. Sophie Okonedo is a fine Nancy, so thoroughly believable as is Tom Hardy, Timothy Spall and Sarah Lancashire. The children playing Oliver and Dodger give subtle performances, so were obviously directed extremely well.

I did not have any problems with the changes to the narrative and I know the novel well, but in the time constraints of the series, I thought the changes made sense. At first I thought the music surprising but very quickly I felt it suited the style of the story telling.

Very fine effort from the BBC, they are so thorough with period dramas, I can't remember the last time they stuffed one up.