Oliver Twist

David Lean

United Kingdom

1948

116 minutes

Black and White

1.33:1

English

32

Synopsis

Expressionistic noir photography suffuses David Lean’s Oliver Twist with a nightmarish quality, fitting its bleak, industrial setting. In Dickens’ classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home. Here Alec Guinness is the quintessential Fagin, his controversial performance fully restored in Criterion’s digital transfer.

Cast

Bill SykesRobert Newton
FaginAlec Guinness
NancyKay Walsh
Mr. BumbleFrancis L. Sullivan
Mr. BrownlowHenry Stephenson
Mrs. CorneyMary Clare
Artful DodgerAnthony Newley
Oliver TwistJohn Howard Davies

Credits

DirectorDavid Lean
ProducerRonald Neame
MusicSir Arnold Bax
CostumesMargaret Furse
EditingJack Harris
CinematographyGuy Green
ScreenplayDavid Lean and Stanley Haynes
Based on the novel byCharles Dickens

Disc Features

  • The original theatrical trailer
  • Subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired

From the Current

Oliver Twist

by Michael Sragow Jan 11, 1999

David Lean followed his prodigious adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations with this brilliant crystallization of Dickens’ Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy’s Progress. It deploys the cinema’s special powers of dash and . . .

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Available Editions

Oliver Twist Criterion DVD Add to Cart

DVD

1 Disc

SRP: $39.95

Criterion Store price

$31.96

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Great Adaptations Criterion DVD Add to Cart

DVD Box Set

4 Discs

SRP: $99.95

Criterion Store price

$79.96