Oscar-winning director Carol Reed helmed this expansive, expensive musical-adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist", which had been a stage hit and here is successfully opened up on the screen. The "Who Will Buy?" sequence with vendors singing in the streets is probably the most splendid scene, featuring one of the many songs you'll either warm to or hate outright. Plot has Oliver Reed doing his scary-villain thing as a henchman for orphaned pickpockets who is determined to get little Oliver away from a rich benefactor. Why does he want him back? And does Oliver feel any compassion for or loyalty to his former friends? The movie doesn't really say. It hasn't got a particular message about love overcoming upbringing, it exists just to be sprightly and fun. Most of the picture is well done and quite stylish, but it is also heavy and a little overly-cute. Jack Wild is charismatic as the Artful Dodger, but Carol Reed is too quick to cut to Wild for reactions, and the camera is always on him a little too soon (it robs Wild of mystery). Mark Lester has a sweet banality in the lead, other performances by Ron Moody and Shani Wallis are solid (if theatrical). Aside from the director, the film won the Oscar as Best Picture, also Best Scoring, and a special award to Onna White for the dancing (which looks rather corny by today's standards). *** from ****
Review of Oliver!
