Oliver! (film)

Oliver!
File:68a.jpg Theatrical release poster by Howard Terpning
Directed by	Carol Reed
Written by	Vernon Harris
Story by	Charles Dickens (Novel) Lionel Bart (Musical)
Produced by	John Woolf
Starring	Mark Lester Ron Moody Shani Wallis Oliver Reed Jack Wild
Cinematography	Oswald Morris
Edited by	Ralph Kemplen
Music by	Johnny Green Eric Rogers Onna White
Production company	Romulus Films
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	26 September 1968 (UK) and December 11, 1968 (USA)
Running time	153 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$16,800,000

Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris.

Both the film and play are based on Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. The musical includes several musical standards, including "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" and "Where Is Love?".

The film version was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey.

At the 41st Academy Awards in 1969, Oliver! , which had earlier been nominated for eleven Academy Awards, won six, including Awards for Best Picture, and Best Director for Carol Reed. At the 26th Golden Globe Awards the film won two Golden Globes for Best Film - Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor - Musical or Comedy for Ron Moody.

Background

File:Oliver!'68.jpg

l-r: Mark Lester as Oliver, Ron Moody as Fagin and the amazing Jack Wild, as the Artful Dodger.

The film used mostly young unknowns: Ron Moody (Fagin), Mark Lester (Oliver), Jack Wild (Artful Dodger), and Shani Wallis (Nancy), but also had some 'big names' (Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes, Harry Secombe as Mr Bumble, British classical stage actor Joseph O'Conor as Mr. Brownlow, and Hugh Griffith, an Oscar winner for Ben-Hur, as the Magistrate; Secombe, however, was hardly known in the United States, and Reed had just begun to make a big name for himself). Ron Moody recreated his London stage performance, after Peter Sellers, Dick Van Dyke and Peter O'Toole reportedly turned down the role.

The screenplay was adapted from both Lionel Bart's play and Dickens's novel. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris, and the film was directed by Sir Carol Reed, who was also Oliver Reed's uncle. A few of the songs from the stage production were not used in the movie, although they often make appearances in the incidental music. For example, the music of Sikes' song "My Name" can be heard when the character first appears, and several other times whenever he is about to commit some nefarious deed.

The film also included extended choreography sequences not found in the original show, and some additional scenes which expanded the role of Bill Sikes, making him closer to the Sikes of the original Dickens novel. In the stage version, he did not even make his entrance until the second act. The songs that Sikes sang in the stage version were omitted.

The beginning section of Dickens's novel, in which Oliver is born in the workhouse, was never filmed, although there is evidence that it was supposed to have been. Still photos of this section exist in an "Oliver" novelization for children, published in 1968.

In this same Oliver! storybook, Nancy has a final moment in which, after being fatally beaten by Bill Sikes, she gasps out her dying words to Mr. Brownlow, but there is nothing to indicate that this was actually filmed, so it may have been dramatic license on the part of the authors of the storybook. However, when Brownlow runs down the steps of London Bridge toward Nancy, she is clearly still alive - her feet are seen to be moving. The film, rather than following through on this, then cuts away to a scene showing Sikes trying to kill his bull terrier for fear that the dog may lead the police to him, and when the film returns again to Brownlow, Nancy has already died.

Shooting at Shepperton Studios, England, began on 23 June 1967.

Differences between stage and film version

Overall, the film was quite faithful to the show, but it changed some aspects of the musical's plotline, as well as expanding some of the music. Most of the changes occur towards the final section of the film, but a few occur in the first half.

• In the film, the song "I Shall Scream,", sung by Mr. Bumble and Widow Corney, is omitted.
• In the film, the song "My Name", which is sung by Bill Sykes in the play, is omitted, although it is frequently heard as background music, played in a slow, ominous tempo.
• "That's Your Funeral" , the only song sung by Mr and Mrs Sowerberry, is omitted from the film.
• The Act II reprises of "Where Is Love?", "It's a Fine Life", "Oliver!", and "As Long As He Needs Me", are all omitted.
• Mr. Sowerberry was given a comical moment not in the original show, where he returns to his shop drunk. As a result, he becomes utterly confused about the commotion caused by Oliver when the boy attacks Noah Claypole.
• Oliver's trial and exoneration after being arrested for stealing Brownlow's wallet are shown, with Nancy secretly attending it. (In the play, Nancy does not attend Oliver's trial, which takes place offstage - presumably between Acts I and II.) Nearly all of the dialogue in this sequence was taken directly from Dickens's novel. The magistrate Mr. Fang, who does not appear in the stage musical but does appear in the Dickens novel, was added to the film, identified simply as "The Magistrate" , and portrayed by Hugh Griffith in a cameo appearance. The magistrate, rather than being depicted as cruel, as in Dickens's novel, was played with a humorous touch as an incompetent drunkard who is so hungover that he is scarcely aware of the goings-on inside the courtroom.
• In the stage version, Act I ends just after Oliver is mistakenly arrested, while in the film the intermission break occurs right after Mr. Brownlow takes him to his (Brownlow's) house.
• Oliver is a horrified witness to the murder of Nancy, while in the stage production Sikes knocks him temporarily unconscious so that he can commit the crime without a witness.
• The song "Oom Pah Pah" was moved to a late spot in the second act of the film, rather than being placed at the beginning of the second act. In the play, it is simply a song sung by Nancy just for entertainment; in the film she sings it as a ruse to divert Bill Sikes's attention and get the tavern crowd dancing, so that she can use it as camouflage to sneak Oliver to London Bridge and back to Mr. Brownlow. The ruse, of course, fails - Bill's bull terrier, who had been guarding Oliver, begins to bark and alerts him. Bill secretly follows them and surprises them at the bridge.
• In the stage version, Brownlow does not arrive at London Bridge until after Nancy has been killed, while in the film he is already there when Nancy and Oliver show up, making it rather unbelievable that he would not have heard Nancy's dying screams (actually, he whirls around as she yells "Stop!" to Sikes, but does not immediately rush down to see what is happening).
• Bet, Nancy's best friend, who also works at the tavern, is not seen again in the film after the song "Oom-Pah-Pah", while in the show, she is among the crowd at London Bridge which discovers Nancy's body after Sikes has murdered her, and she breaks down in tears. Some sources describe her as being Nancy's sister in the stage version (although in the Dickens novel, as in the film, she is simply Nancy's best friend).
• The second half of the film contains fewer songs than the first, while in the stage version both acts contained a fairly equal amount of music.
• The film contains a scene in which Sikes forces Oliver to help him burgle a house. The scene, not found in the original stage version, is taken from a similar episode in the Dickens novel; however, the outcome is slightly different.
• Sikes' final attempt to escape does not take place at London Bridge as in the stage version, but on the rooftops of London, as the crowd below watches while Sikes forces Oliver to balance himself on a dangerously thin wooden hoist and loop a rope around it so that he (Sikes) can swing from one rooftop to another. The idea of Sikes taking Oliver as a hostage over the rooftop was taken, not from Dickens's novel, but from David Lean's 1948 film version of Oliver Twist, although in the Lean film, Oliver tied the rope to a chimney, instead of looping it over a hoist. Lean was, according to one of his biographers, deeply hurt that a fellow director whom he regarded highly (Carol Reed) would borrow a significant plot development from him without acknowledging it in the film's credits (the credits for Oliver! merely say Screenplay by Vernon Harris freely adapted from Charles Dickens's "Oliver Twist"). In the Lean film, Sikes is wounded, and the pain causes him to lose his grip and accidentally hang himself; in Oliver!, when Sikes is shot, the rope is around his waist rather than his neck; the shot itself kills him, so he does not hang himself.
• The so-called "fourth wall" finale, in which all the characters sang a medley of three of the songs, was completely eliminated so as to not destroy the impact of the final scenes, although Fagin and the Artful Dodger are last seen humorously reprising "Reviewing the Situation" (with additional lyrics written for the film), and dancing off happily to continue their life of crime. The closing credits are seen against a replay of part of the "Consider Yourself" sequence, in which we see the chorus singing and dancing.
• Although Sikes clubs Nancy to death, as in the original Dickens novel as well as the London and Broadway productions of the show, he kills her offscreen, partially blocked by the wall of the staircase. In the stage production, because of the set design, the actors are always in full view of the audience, so the beating had to be staged in a highly artificial way (with no blood). Later productions have changed it so that she is strangled, making the scene more realistic, while others honour the beating but have it so the bridge blocks Nancy from view.
• The film adds a poignant moment seconds before Nancy is killed by Sikes at London Bridge. Nancy and Oliver share a farewell embrace; Sikes then appears and grabs both of them. Nancy tears Sikes away, the two scuffle (although their dialogue is difficult to make out), and Sikes eventually drags Nancy to the offscreen side of the staircase, where he kills her.
• Three songs, "Boy for Sale", "Where Is Love", and "Reviewing the Situation" had added extra lyrics in the film version. For "Boy for Sale", an extra verse, including a faster melody in the bridge section of the song, was added, as well as a slower section, as Mr. Bumble tries to auction off Oliver, at three pounds ten, with the words: "GOING, GOING,"; however, with nobody wanting to bid for the boy, sings the word: "GONE." The added section to "Where is Love" begins: Every night I kneel and pray/ Let tomorrow be the day, etc. The reprise of "Reviewing the Situation" is, as previously mentioned, longer and more humorous, as Fagin and the Dodger decide to continue their life of crime.
• Most of the choreography was greatly expanded for the film. The stage version featured very simplistic dancing.
• The Old Sally scene from the play is omitted with Mrs Bumble having kept the locket herself.
• The stage production honours the novel in having Nancy help kidnap Oliver by posing as his aggrieved sister. In the film she pretends to find him by accident as he watches a puppet show. He tells her (inaudibly) that he must return Brownlow's books to the bookseller and she seemingly convinces him to follow her in a different direction. As they walk down an alley, Sikes, waiting at a nearby carriage, suddenly grabs Oliver and orders Nancy to also get into the carriage.

Reception

Oliver! received extremely favourable reviews. It was hailed by Pauline Kael in her The New Yorker review as being one of the few film versions of a stage musical that was superior to the original show, which she, according to her own review of the film, had walked out on. "The musical numbers emerge from the story with a grace that has been rarely seen since the musicals of René Clair."

However, many have criticized Oliver! in retrospect as not being of a high enough quality to merit the Academy Award for Best Picture; especially when compared to the now highly revered and unnominated 2001: A Space Odyssey. Many of these critics are huge fans of the Kubrick classic.

Songs

• Overture (heard before the film begins)
• Main Title (heard over the opening title sequence)
• Food, Glorious Food/Oliver!
• Boy For Sale
• Where is Love?
• Consider Yourself
• Pick a Pocket or Two
• It's a Fine Life
• I'd Do Anything
• Be Back Soon
• Entr'acte (heard during the film's intermission, just before the second half begins)
• Who Will Buy?
• As Long As He Needs Me
• Reviewing the Situation
• Oom-Pah-Pah
• Reviewing the Situation (reprise)
• Finale (Where Is Love?/Consider Yourself)
• Exit Music (heard after the Finale, while the audience is filing out of the movie theatre showing the film)

The words and music were written by Lionel Bart, and were supervised, arranged and conducted by John Green.

The pre-credits Overture as heard on the actual soundtrack of the film is not included on the soundtrack album. Instead, an abbreviated version of the Main Title is labeled "Overture". For the convenience of the original LP, the order of some of the songs was shuffled, but this was not corrected on the CD issue; instead, the film soundtrack CD is an exact duplicate of the LP - nothing on the CD has been expanded to its full-length, as on other CD soundtrack albums. The movie's soundtrack was originally issued in the US on Colgems Records; it was later reissued on compact disc on the RCA Records label.

Mark Lester's singing voice in Oliver! (1968) was dubbed by Kathe Green, the daughter of Johnny Green, the musical director on the film. She was brought in when it was found that Lester couldn't sing, although this was not made public until 1988 during an interview with Johnny Green on the 20th anniversary of the film (he stated that Mark Lester was "tone deaf and arrhythmic"). He originally had two boys set to dub his singing but during post production it was felt that their voices did not match Mark's look, so they used Johnny's daughter instead.

Awards

1968 Academy Awards

• Best Picture (Winner)
• Best Director - Carol Reed (Winner)
• Best Actor in a Leading Role - Ron Moody (Nomination)
• Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Jack Wild (Nomination)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Nomination)
• Best Original Score for Motion Picture (Winner)
• Best Art Direction (Winner)
• Best Sound (Winner)
• Best Costume Design (Nomination)
• Best Film Editing (Nomination)
• Special Academy Award for Choreography - Onna White (Winner)

Oliver! was the only G-rated film to receive an Academy Award for Best Picture (though some pre-1968 Best Picture winners were rated G when re-released to theaters after 1968); the following year saw the only X-rated film to win a Best Picture Oscar, Midnight Cowboy (which was re-rated R two years later). Oliver! was also the last musical to win the Best Picture Oscar until Chicago (PG-13) 34 years later.

1968 Golden Globe Awards

• Best Film (Musical/Comedy) (Winner)
• Best Director - Carol Reed (Nomination)
• Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) - Ron Moody (Winner)
• Best Supporting Actor - Hugh Griffith (Nomination)

References

only for one.

External links

• Oliver! at IMDb
• Oliver! at AllMovie
• Oliver! at the TCM Movie Database
• Oliver! at Rotten Tomatoes