Along with the science fiction genre, musicals have been very nearly the exclusive province of Hollywood. European producers haven't often been inclined to underwrite the massive production costs that typically go into the elaborate production numbers for a good musical. Films about rock or soul bands, such as A Hard Day's Night and The Commitments, though fine films, don't truly qualify as musicals. Neither, in my opinion, does the brilliantly unconventional Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which defies classification. So, British director Carol Reed was going against form when, in 1968, he engineered the highly successful and critically esteemed musical Oliver!

Historical Background: Carol Reed (1906-1976) got something of a slow start on greatness but ended his career with a flourish. Reed began directing in 1935, but for the next dozen years generated mostly low-budget quickies. Only The Stars Look Down (1939) and Night Train to Munich (1940) during that time exceeded mediocrity. Then, during World War II, Reed found himself making documentaries for the British Army's film unit, two of which were especially worthy: The Way Ahead (1944) and True Glory (1945). It was not until after the war that Reed's career really began to take off. In a nine year span from 1947 to 1955, he directed a string of superlative films that included Odd Man Out (1947), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949), Outcast of the Islands (1951), The Man Between (1953), and A Kid for Two Farthings (1955). Then his luster faded somewhat while he returned to cranking out more lackluster films. From 1956-1967, only Trapeze (1956) and Our Man in Havana (1959) were better than average. Then, when Reed's career seemed to be waning, he directed the present masterful musical, Oliver! (1968), which ran away with several Oscar trophies and put a remarkable capstone on Reed's career.

The Story: After an overture and opening credits superimposed on some lovely brown-and-white lithographs, the story opens on a squalid workhouse where orphans and abandoned children are sheltered under deplorable conditions. The young charges toil all day at menial jobs, for which they receive only the most meager portions of disgusting gruel. The boys are reduced to fantasizing about the appealing morsels ("Food, Glorious Food") that pass briefly by on the way to the dining hall where the adult overseers eat in style. Desperately hungry, the boys draw lots to determine which of them will exhibit the sheer effrontery to ask for seconds. It is the young orphan Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) who draws the odd straw. Mr. Bumble (Harry Secombe), the parish whip, demands to know the name of this audacious ingrate ("Oliver!"). As example to the others, Oliver is expelled and sold off to the highest bidder ("Boy For Sale"). That turns out to be the undertaker, Mr. Sowerberry (Leonard Rossiter). Sowerberry's wife (Hylda Baker) is not so sure that such a scrawny lad is worth it. He might eat more than his work will cover. Noah Claypole (Kenneth Cranham), an older boy also working at the Sowerberry establishment, torments Oliver. When Claypole disparages Oliver's mother, Oliver pummels the older lad and gets thrown into the cellar where he dolefully wonders "Where Is Love?" He escapes through a small window and heads off to London to find his fortune.

After hiding himself in a produce cart, Oliver finds himself alone and inexperienced in the big city. His luck seems to turn when he encounters a street-wise waif of about his own age, Jack Dawkins (Jack Wild), a.k.a. "The Artful Dodger." Dodger makes a living as a pickpocket and invites Oliver of join the gang ("Consider Yourself"), which is operated by a sly fence, Fagin (Ron Moody), out of a dilapidated warehouse. Fagin is a greedy, selfish kind of rat, though softened by just a smidgen of genuine concern for his derelict boys. In a lively production number, Fagin explains to Oliver the reality of their meager existences ("Pick A Pocket or Two"). Fagin also fences goods stolen by the vicious Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), a burglar with a violent temper. Sikes has a girlfriend, Nancy (Shani Wallis), with whom he lives. Nancy is the veritable hooker with a golden heart, who croons, "It's a Fine Life." Nancy takes a shine to the pretty and relatively unspoiled Oliver, singing, "I'll Do Anything" for you. In the morning, Fagin sends Oliver and the rest of the boys out to their jobs ("Be Back Soon"). Oliver's first job doesn't go well. He's sent to observe the Artful Dodger, but the intended mark, Mr. Brownlow (Joseph O'Conor), catches on. Artful Dodger and the other experienced boy working with him disappear before Brownlow can spot them, but Oliver innocently remains standing nearby and is presumed to be the culprit. After an exciting pursuit, Oliver is nabbed by a bobby and carted off to the police station.

Following the "Entr'Acte" (intermission), the story recommences with Oliver's case being heard by the magistrate (Hugh Griffith), who is a pompous old fool. He's about to sentence Oliver to three months at hard labor, but a witness intervenes and testifies that it was two other boys who were guilty. The good-hearted Mr. Brownlow takes pity on Oliver's orphan status and takes him home to live with him in his fancy townhouse in Bloomsbury Square. The almost idyllic life there ("Who Will Buy") is a glorious change of circumstances for Oliver.

This turn of events does not sit well with either Fagin or Bill Sikes, who worry that Oliver might reveal something vital about their respective criminal operations. Sikes is insistent that Oliver be reclaimed and is rather abusive to Nancy when she disagrees. Nancy, however, remains loyal to Sikes ("As Long As He Needs Me") and ultimately helps with kidnapping Oliver and returning him to Fagin's domain. After Sikes threatens Fagin's life, the latter begins to have second thoughts about his chosen way of life ("Reviewing the Situation"), but the alternatives (a 9-to-5 job, a boss, a wife, paying taxes) offer little appeal.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bumble and his domineering wife, Mrs. Bumble (Peggy Mount), pay a visit to Mr. Brownlow, who is distraught about the disappearance of his young charge. Mrs. Bumble turns over a locket to Brownlow that had belonged to Oliver's deceased mother. Brownlow immediately recognizes it as one that he gave to his long-lost niece on her 18th birthday, thus confirming his intuitive suspicion that Oliver might be his niece's child and making Oliver's recovery all the more urgent.

Nancy, hoping to help Oliver return to his life of promise with Brownlow, pays the gentleman a visit, offering to meet him at London Bridge at midnight to deliver Oliver, but refusing to name Oliver's abductor. That night, Sikes takes Oliver out on the job so the lad can squeeze through a small window of a house to be burglarized and open the front door for Sikes. After the job is botched, Sikes returns with Oliver around 11 pm to the tavern where Nancy works. Nancy has to organize a distraction ("Oom-Pah-Pah") in order to spirit Oliver away under Sikes's watchful eye and that of Sikes's dog, Bullseye. At the base of London Bridge, Sikes catches up with the pair of fugitives and beats Nancy to death. Brownlow hears the commotion from atop the bridge but arrives only soon enough to spot Sikes's dog. Sikes has raced back to Fagin's warehouse with Oliver, but the townspeople, recognizing Sikes's dog, have Sikes pegged as Nancy's murderer and are soon pursuing the culprit. Fagin and the boys abandon the warehouse and head off in various directions. Sikes, holding Oliver as a hostage, is cornered outside the upper story of an old tenement building. Sikes endangers Oliver trying to devise himself an escape route, but the villain is ultimately shot and Oliver rescued. Fagin, after losing his stash in a muddy swill and once again finding himself "Reviewing the Situation," encounters the Artful Dodger and they pair up anew. Oliver returns home to a new life in the Brownlow dwelling.

Themes: Dickens's theme was the tragic damage done to the poor by the inflexibility of the British class system, especially as it relates to social outcasts, such as orphans and poor children. He wanted the world to understand that the systematic exploitation of young boys by poverty damages their minds, morals, and bodies, and leads inevitably to criminal activity. Much of that message is badly undermined in this musical presentation. The Artful Dodger and his friends are having too good a time for viewers to be terribly concerned about their lot. The song "Reviewing the Situation" even suggests that Fagin's lot may be better than that of an honest laborer or clerk that chaffs under a cranky boss, nagging wife, and the tax collector. Another problem is the musical's presentation of Oliver himself. Lester's Oliver is such a clean cut and polite little darling that one has to wonder about the inferences. Why would a kid born into a well-to-do family but orphaned on his first day of life and brought up in a grisly workhouse still have all the gentility and pampered soft blond looks of an aristocratic brat? Apparently poverty gave this lad no calluses. Why does he also find his way back to his "rightful" social plane? It badly undercuts the Dickensian message in relation to poverty, implying that genetics have more to do with social position than opportunity. In this musical rendition, Oliver isn't so much an impoverished, mistreated orphan as a rich kid who goes slummin' for a bit.

Production Values: The screenplay, written by Vernon Harris, was based on a successful, long-running stage musical by Lionel Bart, which was, of course, based on the great novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. The play ran for many moons in London's West End and was later imported to Broadway. Three of the songs from the musical were removed for the film version in order to tighten the story and reduce the length to something more typical of feature films. Compared to both the novel and David Lean's great 1948 film adaptation, Oliver Twist, the present script sharply reduces the emphasis on the title character in favor of the colorful characters that Oliver encounters. Here, after a few establishing scenes to ensure that audiences identify with the young orphan, Oliver is reduced to something akin to the ingénue of a horror film – a character representing the audience's point of view and through whom we can vicariously experience the frightening events that follow. That works well for this musical presentation because the seedy characters of the London underworld are inherently more interesting than Oliver. Furthermore, Mark Lester, however, adorable he might look, really had less of a reservoir of talent to bring to his part than many of the more accomplished performers.

The narrative details of the story remain essentially true to the Dickens novel. Carol Reed struck a pretty fair balance between retaining the bleak, cruel, and frightening aspects of the novel without exceeding what a "G" rating would permit. Most reviewers also claim that the musical retains the novel's basic moral stance in relation to nineteenth century social injustices, but I'm not at all convinced on that point. I would dispute the idea that singing and dancing about social injustices has as much of an impact on viewers as a dramatic presentation of the story has. There's too much joy in songs like "Pick a Pocket or Two" and "It's a Fine Life" and too much supportive camaraderie in "I'll Do Anything" for viewers to develop any real concern about the horrors of poverty. I don't say that there's no place for a musical about abandoned street kids living in poverty and surviving on criminal pursuits. I'm only saying that we should be honest about what this musical version of the great Dickens novel does and does not accomplish. Another script problem is that some plot elements are given very cursory treatment in this musical. Viewers who have read the novel or previously seen Lean's film version will have no difficulty, but novice viewers may find some developments confusing.

The magnificent sets by John Box are an unqualified success. He captures the Victorian era very effectively, but with a sparseness fitting the rowdy and seedy atmosphere of the London underworld. The costumes are also splendid. The Columbia TriStar DVD presents these visual assets to maximum effect. The film was fully restored using a pristine copy from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Archive. The original aspect ratio (2.35:1) was retained. The colors are excellent. The choreography for this film is competitive with the best musicals ever made.

Musically, Oliver! is a mixed bag. Some of Lionel Bart's tunes are memorable and lyrical but some others are a bit weak. The songs I consider to be top drawer are "Who Will Buy," "Pick a Pocket or Two," "I'll Do Anything," "Be Back Soon," and "Reviewing the Situation." "Consider Yourself" and "Oom-Pah-Pah" are only one step below. The remaining six numbers are musically pretty weak in my judgment. The orchestration provided by John Green is consistently strong throughout the musical but the song lyrics are almost as consistently weak. This is a very good musical, but, based on music alone, not on a par with the very best musicals, such as Oklahoma!, Westside Story, Carousel, Fiddler on the Roof, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Singing in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz, Cabaret, or South Pacific. I'd rank it about even musically with Show Boat, Mary Poppins, Camelot, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Kiss Me Kate.

Oliver! hit a bull's eye in the casting domain. Reed went mainly with British stage actors rather than established movie stars. Ron Moody is, in my judgment, the clear star of the film. His performance as Fagin is one for the ages. It's satisfying to see him not overdoing the Jewish associations that Dickens built into the novel. Moody appeared two years later in The Twelve Chairs (1970). His dancing and singing are as good as his acting, which is saying a lot. Shani Wallis is attractive as Nancy and has a strong voice. Unfortunately, she got stuck with two rather musically weak numbers and only really gets to shine in "I'll Do Anything" and "Oom-Pah-Pah." Oliver Reed, the director's nephew, does a fine job in the non-singing role of Bill Sikes. His appearance here helped launch a career that has since found him in such films as Women in Love (1969), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), Tommy (1975), The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989), Funny Bones (1994), and Gladiator (2000). Mark Lester is perhaps the cast's weak link, but he's decent enough. His main job is to look cute. Jack Wild had a lot more to do in his role as the Artful Dodger. Harry Secombe and Joseph O'Conor provided good supporting performances. I suppose I should also throw a bone to Bullseye the dog, who wasn't half-bad either.

Bottom-Line: The Columbia commemorative edition DVD offers a restored video transfer in widescreen format. Extras include a short behind-the-scenes featurette and a photo gallery. You can listen to the soundtrack in English or French. Optional English and French subtitles are also available. The running time is 153 minutes. You have to turn the disc over at intermission. The DVD is paired with a CD of the 14 songs, which I've been enjoying on and off for the last few days while riding in my car.

In 1968, Oliver! won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Carol Reed), Best Musical Score (John Green), Best Art Direction (John Box), and Best Sound (Shepperton Studio). A special Oscar was given to Onna White for her outstanding choreography, which is not a usual Oscar category. Other nominations were for Best Actor (Ron Moody), Best Supporting Actor (Jack Wild), Best Adapted Screenplay (Vernon Harris), Best Cinematography (Oswald Morris), Best Film Editing (Ralph Kemplen), and Best Costume Design (Phyllis Dalton). This is a delightful musical and visual treat even if it buries most of the social conscience of the original story. I highly recommend it, though not as highly as David Lean's 1948 dramatic version, Oliver Twist.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12