Offering
an intoxicating cavalcade of absorbing drama (including tragic elements),
enlivening comedy, beautifully constructed and performed musical numbers, and a
host of richly drawn, unforgettable characters portrayed in pitch-perfect style
by an ideally chosen cast, 1968’s rousing Oliver! provides veteran
director Carol Reed the chance to gain a late-career crowning glory helming a
colorful change-of-pace production with his distinct taste, style and talent.
Based on the 1960 London hit (which also scored on Broadway in 1963), the
moving, creditably drawn musical retelling by Lionel Bart of Charles Dickens’ Oliver
Twist reaches the screen with maximum impact, thanks to Reed’s sure hand in
opening up events to bring a spontaneous, natural flow to Vernon Harris’
involving screenplay, specifically when moving into some artfully setup,
enthralling numbers aided by Oona White’s playful, exhilarating chorography.
Also utilizing a cast of pros to emphasize their multi-talents in stunning
fashion as they enact all the humor, humanity and heartbreak found in the story,
Reed is able to craft a singular musical entertainment that deserves mention
among the best works of its genre.
By this
stage in his esteemed career Reed, who become “Sir” in 1952 upon his
knighthood, had gained fame and respect as one of the cinema’s most valued
talents, with a 1935 start in British films via Midshipman Easy, before
helming such classic offerings as The Stars Look Down, Kipps, then
co-directing The True Glory with Garson Kanin, which went on to win the
Best Documentary Oscar. Reed moved onto “Heavyweight” status among directors
with his incredible late-1940’s one-two-three punch of Odd Man Out, The
Fallen Idol and closing out the decade at his zenith with The Third Man.
All three landmark films won British Academy Awards for Best British Film
(with Third Man also winning the Grand Prize at Cannes),
with the last two also gaining Reed Best Director wins from Britain and Oscar
nominations for his direction. The 1950s also proved fruitful for Reed, with
the fascinating Outcast of the Islands, A Kid for Two Farthings, gaining
a major hit with the entertaining Burt Lancaster-Gina Lollobrigida-Tony Curtis
starrer Trapeze, The Key, then finishing the decade with the bright
comedy of Our Man in Havana, penned by Graham Greene and starring Alec
Guinness. The new decade would see Reed slowing down his film output while
maintaining his status as a top-tier director, taking on the challenging The
Agony and the Ecstasy prior to his work on Oliver!
However, despite his honorable
achievements, Reed was a somewhat out-of-left-field choice to oversee an elaborate,
large scale musical comedy/drama, and it’s admirable how effectively Reed,
seemingly in his comfort zone, appears to skillfully ensure one excellent
staged sequence following another, be they of a musical or dramatic ilk, from
the introduction of the orphaned title character toiling at a workhouse before
famously asking for “more” gruel, to the joyous, free-spirited ”Consider
Yourself” jaunt through London after Oliver meets the Artful Dodger, then
emphasizing the comic liveliness on display in “Be Back Soon” and “You’ve Got
to Pick a Pocket or Two,” with Fagin and his brood, before later switching to
the delicate aura maintained throughout the lovely “Who Will Buy” number, wherein
Oliver witnesses marketers beginning to sell their wares at the day’s onset. Reed
is firmly in control of each tonal shift in the eventful storyline, and, as in
his best films, he maintains a clear rapport with each actor, allowing them to
offer believable, stellar characterizations that allows an audience to
understand their motives and strongly relate to them. Reed would only direct
two more movies following this astounding effort, ending his career with 1972’s
Follow Me! Before his passing in 1976, with Oliver! serving as
his last great success, and one that aptly illustrates Reed’s undimmed mastery
of his craft.
For the title role, Reed was
fortunate to have largely unknown Mark Lester cast in the demanding part. Born
in 1958, Lester started in British television, before making his film debut in
1964, followed by a cameo in Fahrenheit 451 and fine work in 1967’s
tense and unusual Our Mother’s House. The maturity and acting skill
Lester demonstrated in House served him well as Oliver Twist, with
Lester definitely lending both angelic countenance and an apt streetwise
toughness to the role, making one believe the fragile-looking but contemplative
lad possesses the nerve and knowhow to face the many adversities that come his
way with fearless resolve, starting with his initial conflict with the
foreboding Mr. Bumble over the aforementioned gruel. Lester’s likable presence
and unforced, earnest playing style has the audience firmly rooting for
Oliver’s well-being throughout, as a strong protective leaning towards the
character grows with every scene. Although he is at least partially dubbed
during his musical moments such as “Where is Love?” the singing tones of Kathe
Green are an excellent match to Lester’s speaking voice, and one can buy it’s
Oliver thrilling the lovely refrain of “Who Will Buy?” After his high-profile
breakthrough, Lester would continue in films throughout his adolescence,
including the intriguing Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? opposite Shelley
Winters, then retire from the screen with 1977’s The Price and the Pauper before
studying for, then adopting, a career in osteopathy.
Recreating his star-making stage
appearance in the original production, Ron Moody puts his stamp on the
flamboyant role of Fagin, the masterful pickpocket who oversees a stable of
young boys, and trains them to excel in his ignoble chosen profession. Performing
in an animated, free-spirited manner, Moody turns the seedy character into a
likable comic figure for the most part, specifically while cavorting with the
boys in rollicking fashion in Fagin’s big musical moments, wherein Moody is
inspired and irresistibly funny, bringing great levity to the film amid squalid
surroundings, with his constant sense of fun making later scenes wherein Fagin
faces serve setbacks all the more profound. Moody manages a convincing shift
into this more dramatic territory wherein Fagin’s fortunes are quickly altered,
and audience sympathy moves to Fagin, despite his criminal background, thanks
to Moody’s emotionally centered work. After his major accomplishment Moody, who
started in British films in 1958, would foster many more credits on the stage
and screen, making another fine comic impression in Mel Brooks’ The Twelve
Chairs from 1970, then gaining a Tony nomination for recreating
Fagin on Broadway in a 1984 revival of Oliver!, before his final screen
work in 2005, then retirement before passing in 2015 at 91.
Theater veteran Shani Wallis, who
started on the London stage in the early 1950s but had limited film credits,
pours all of her substantial talent into her best chance on the screen to
create the definitive portrait of Nancy Sikes, perfectly illustrating the
loving character’s compassion, humor and world-weariness as she forms a bond
with Oliver and becomes a protective force in his life, thereby facing conflict
with her brutish husband, Bill. Wallis, utilizing her solid background as a
singer, puts over the show’s big ballad, “As Long As He Needs Me,” with a
soulful, poignant persuasion, while adopting a more uplifting, buoyant tone to “It’s
a Fine Life” and the incredibly effective and climatic “Oom-Pah-Pah” number,
wherein a seemingly carefree Nancy cheerfully attempts to get patrons at the
barroom she toils in to join in the lively number and dance along with her, in
order to help Oliver out of a dire situation. It’s one of the most dramatic and
compelling numbers found in a musical, and Wallis is thrilling to watch as
Nancy throws herself into the song with heart and purpose. Wallis instills so
much warmth and humanity into the part, that Nancy’s ultimate fate can leave
any viewer with a pulse emotionally shattered. Although Wallis never again
found a choice part on the level of Nancy, she enjoyed an active career post-Oliver!
on the stage and in television (with Columbo, Gunsmoke, Night Gallery and
Murder, She Wrote among her credits) and films, including vocal work
for 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective (more on Wallis' stellar work in the Oliver! here).
Scoring perhaps his finest screen
role as Bill Sikes, Fagin’s nefarious colleague in crime, Oliver Reed comes
through for his uncle Carol with a forceful sinisterness that adds a sense of
unease to any scene wherein Sikes appears, as one ponders how far the immoral
burglar is capable of going to achieve his aims. Surly and unkept, Reed
suggests the seething, diabolical aspects that are integral to Sikes’ hateful
makeup, and is truly frightening in his violent outbursts. Starting in films in
1955, Reed would gain notice in Hammer movies, particularly as the lead in
1961’s The Curse of the Werewolf, while also gaining noticer for his bad
boy persona on and off screen, during the age wherein “The Angry Young Man”
become a key factor of British Cinema. After his breakthrough in Oliver! Reed
would reach his peak of success in the 1970’s, particularly working with Ken
Russell (with whom Reed started collaborating with in 1965) in such notable
fare as Women in Love, featuring his famous nude grappling with Alan
Bates and 1975’s surreal Who rock opera Tommy, as well as scoring as
Athos in The Three (then Four) Musketeers. The 1980’s would
prove a downturn in the quality of Reed’s output, but he would rise again for a
glorious posthumous final curtain after his passing in 1999 via 2000’s
Oscar-winning Gladiator, standing out in the elite cast as Proximo, a
tough, sage teacher to the heroic protagonist, Maximus.
Also enacting a signature screen
role as the nimble, quick witted Artful Dodger, Jack Wild gives one of the more
assured, entertaining teen performances in film. Starting in movies the year
prior with a bit in Poor Cow after appearing on stage (including playing
on the West End in Oliver! as one of Fagin’s brood, Wild is
remarkably self-assured and mature in the showy role, adding impish flair and
immense good nature to his ace interpretation of the sly Dodger. Clearly
defining the Dodger’s street smart makeup and quick wit, Wild glides through
the part with an easy charm, while also handling the Dodger’s final meeting
with Fagin, as the youngster shows his support and loyalty towards his father
figure, with an intelligence and simplicity that makes the moment one of the
most moving in the picture, with an impact that lingers in memory for viewers.
After this resounding success, Wild would immediately gain a second major
credit as Jimmy on television’s H.R. Pufnstuf, which also hit the big
screen in a 1970 iteration, Pufnstuf. Post adolescence, Wild would have
trouble maintaining his career wherein, in addition to the normal challenges
faced by child stars vying for work as an adult actor he also battled substance
abuse issues, but occasionally an interesting opportunity arose, such as a role
in 1991’s big hit Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, before his death from
oral cancer in 2006 at 53.
Among others in the imposing cast,
as the formidable Mr. Bumble Harry Secombe is all one could ask for in the
part, in physical stature and thespian temperament, starting out with his
“More!?” reply to Oliver, then with his compelling rendering of “Boy for Sale”
as he traverses the city streets with the unwanted orphan, using the famous
tenor voice that had gained him fame on records to touching effect. Hugh
Griffith gives one of his direct, gruff, ostentatious performances as the
Magistrate, while Shelia White has a sweetly plaintive quality as Bet, a friend
of Nancy. Joseph O’Conor is appropriately fatherly and gentle as Mr. Brownlow,
who becomes a benefactor for Oliver, and Megs Jenkins makes an impression as
Brownlow’s housekeeper, Mrs. Bedwin, similar to her work in the same occupation
in 1961’s The Innocents.
Oliver! proved a major success
with both critics and audiences upon its release in late 1968, going on to
place among the top ten box-office hits of the year (according to Variety)
with an eventual gross of $16,800,000, while scoring a host of rave reviews,
helping it stand out during the 1968-69 award season. The film was ranked on
the National Board of Review’s list of top ten films, while also scoring Golden
Globes for Best Musical/Comedy Picture and Actor (Moody). In a competitive
year, Oliver! would go on to win five Academy Awards, including Best
Picture and Director, and a special Oscar for Oona White’s inventive
choreography. However, due to the Oscar wins (especially Best Picture), Oliver!
has faced backlash over the years, falling prey to a lot of barbs being thrown
its way as a “lesser” effort that shouldn’t have won over rival nominees,
specifically the tonier The Lion in Winter. Used as one of the ultimate
examples supporting the tired bias that lighter comedies or musicals don’t
merit awards over serious drama, actually watching Oliver! one is hard
pressed to measure how Reed and a prodigious cast and crew could
have brought the story as gloriously to life as they manage to, bringing
Dicken’s timeless tale to the screen with an abundance of riveting drama,
comedy and musical elements. One of the most satisfying entries in filmdom’s
musical catalog, viewers need only journey along with Oliver! to
experience an engrossing adventure filled with laughs, heartache and thrills.
