Oliver Twist ***** (1948, Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, John Howard Davies) – Classic Movie Review 165

Director David Lean’s richly entertaining 1948 movie adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist is still by far the best attempt to put the book on screen. Though he was accused of anti-Semitism in his vocal and physical interpretation, Alec Guinness is superb in a masterly performance as the loveable rogue Fagin, who runs a nest of young pickpockets in Victorian London.

Running through the long, complex narrative of the saga in just 116 minutes, thanks to a crisp, clear, literate screenplay co-written with Stanley Haynes, Lean ensures that his 1948 British film classic is wonderfully pacy, gripping, gorgeously atmospheric and finally rousing.

It is Guinness’s show, and he makes it a total tour-de-force, but young John Howard Davies (as the orphaned hero Oliver who runs away from the workhouse and falls in with the pickpockets), Robert Newton (Bill Sikes), Kay Walsh (Nancy), Anthony Newley (the Artful Dodger) and Francis L Sullivan (Mr Bumble) are all remarkable, backing up the star in their potent portrayals.

Lean makes it look a treat, ensures every one of those precious minutes counts, and digs deep to get in touch with the novel’s often neglected dark side. Guy Green’s gleaming black and white cinematography, Arnold Bax’s rousing score and John Bryan’s wonderful production designs for the sets are the icing on the tasty cake.

More, boy? I don’t think so. You just couldn’t ask for more.

Thanks probably to the charges of anti-Semitism, it did not really earn any awards anywhere, but John Bryan’s production designs won Best Production Design at the 1948 Venice Film Festival. The best BAFTA Film Awards could do was a nomination for the Best British Film.

Jewish protests in the US delayed its release there till 1951. It was banned in Israel for its alleged anti-Semitism and in Egypt for supposedly making the villain Fagin sympathetic.

Davies acted in just three more films, but enjoyed a successful adult career as a BBC TV director, whose work included Monty Python, before his death in 2011, aged 72.

The cast are Alec Guinness, Robert Newton, Francis L Sullivan, John Howard Davies, Kay Walsh, Anthony Newley, Henry Stephenson, Mary Clare, Ralph Truman, Kathleen Harrison, Gibb McLaughlin, Diana Dors, Frederick Lloyd, Maurice Denham, W G Fay, Henry Edwards, Hattie Jacques, Edie Martin, Peter Bull, Ivor Barnard, Josephine Stuart, Amy Veness, Michael Dear, Michael Ripper, Deirdre Doyle, Kenneth Downey, Fay Middleton, Graveley Edwards, John Potter, Maurice Jones, Betty Paul, Erik Chitty, Arthur Mullard, Nosher Powell and Dennis Wyndham.

It is followed by the musical Oliver!, Oliver Twist (1982 TV Movie), Oliver Twist (2005) and Oliver Twist (2007 TV Mini-Series).

On DVD, it is on a double bill with Lean’s Great Expectations.

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 165

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