IMDb > Oliver Twist (1948)
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Oliver Twist (1948) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   4,368 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 5% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
David Lean
Writers:
Charles Dickens (by)
David Lean (screenplay) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Oliver Twist on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
30 July 1951 (USA) more
Genre:
Adventure | Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
A Screen Event To Be Remembered For All Time !
Plot:
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... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 nomination more
User Comments:
David Lean's superior Dickens adaptation more (49 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
116 min | USA:105 min
Country:
UK
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Australia:G | Germany:12 | Egypt:(Banned) (original release) | Canada:G (Ontario) | UK:A (Janus print) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U
Company:
Cineguild more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Banned on inital release in both Israel and Egypt; in Israel for being anti-Semitic, and in Egypt for making Fagin too sympathetic. more
Goofs:
Plot holes: Bill Sikes and Nancy easily recognize Oliver despite never having seen him before. more
Quotes:
Town Crier: [SPOILER] Murder! Brutal Murder! more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Return to the Edge of the World (1978) more
Soundtrack:
My Hat, It Has Three Corners more

FAQ

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32 out of 35 people found the following comment useful.
David Lean's superior Dickens adaptation, 20 February 2005
7/10
Author: didi-5 from United Kingdom

This excellent film is part of a duo of Dickens' books turned into silver screen magic by David Lean in the 1940s (Great Expectations with John Mills is the other).

Keeping to the spirit of the book (although not leaving the bleak ending intact) it allows us to follow the fortunes of young Oliver (John Howard Davies, who later gave up acting to become a big shot at the BBC), through his unhappy years at the orphanage under the watchful eye of the Beadle (the huge Francis L Sullivan, who played many similar roles throughout the decade), to his association with boy thieves under the thumb of Jewish money-dealer Fagin (Alec Guinness, in one of his career highlights).

The casting is generally superb - Kay Walsh (then Mrs David Lean) is effective as Nancy, while Robert Newton is suitably unhinged and menacing as Bill Sikes. In the undertaker's, Diana Dors is showy as Charlotte the maid; while in London, Anthony Newley makes an early scene-stealing Artful Dodger (like Jack Wild in the musical version, this Dodger isn't all bad and wants to make sure Nancy and Oliver are all right).

'Oliver Twist' is one of the greats of British cinema and does justice to a complex book. Highly recommended.

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Message Boards

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Plot Holes bebop63-1
Napoleon Florent Welch57
Anti-Semitism that_ealing_feeling
An Oscar for the dog (beware spoilers) intray
What was Fagin hanged for? that_ealing_feeling
Davies/Polanski? ohkay43
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