IMDb plot summary: Based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist is about an orphan boy who runs away from a workhouse and meets a pickpocket on the streets of London.
Directed by David Lean. Starring Robert Newton, Alec Guinness, Kay Walsh, and John Howard Davies.
This is an extremely straightforward adaptation of the story with pretty good acting and scripting, but where it really stands out is the cinematography. The movie looks gorgeous, playing with shadow and light and composition in a way that really brings out both the beauty and the darkness of the world. Unfortunately, the one person's acting that stood out to me is Kay Walsh's, which I didn't like much -- she plays Nancy as an uncomfortably shrill character, and her big emotional moments didn't work for me at all. The rest of the cast is solid, though, with enough depth to really sell them. It's not going to top the musical for me, but if you're looking for just a simple book-to-film version of Oliver Twist, this is a pretty good one.
3 stars.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Oliver Twist > Monsters University
Oliver Twist < Rurouni Kenshin
Oliver Twist < Hugo
Oliver Twist > The Nanny Diaries
Oliver Twist < Splash
Oliver Twist > Star Trek Into Darkness
Oliver Twist < The Hangover
Oliver Twist > In & Out
Oliver Twist > Badlands
Oliver Twist > Fanboys
Final spot: #984 out of 2374.
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