Oliver! (film)
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| Oliver! | |
|---|---|
 The movie's poster |
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| Directed by | Carol Reed |
| Produced by | John Woolf |
| Written by | Charles Dickens (novel) Vernon Harris |
| Starring | Mark Lester Ron Moody Shani Wallis Oliver Reed, Jack Wild |
| Music by | Johnny Green Eric Rogers Onna White |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Editing by | Ralph Kemplen |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 26, 1968 |
| Running time | 153 min. |
| Country | U.K.  |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Oliver! is a 1968 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 the famous 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", "Oom-Pah-Pah" and "Where is Love?".
The film version was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. Filmed in studio in London, Oliver! won an Academy Award for Best Picture.[1]
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[edit] Background
The film used a mixture of young unknowns and 'big names': Ron Moody (Fagin), Oliver Reed (Bill Sikes), Harry Secombe (Mr Bumble), Mark Lester (Oliver), Jack Wild (Dodger), Shani Wallis (Nancy) and Joseph O'Conor as Mr. Brownlow. Ron Moody was able to recreate his stage performance, beating out Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole for the role. However, there was a minor outcry when Shani Wallis was given the role of Nancy in preference to Georgia Brown[citation needed].
The movie was adapted by Lionel Bart and Vernon Harris, and 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 dialogue scenes which expanded the role of Bill Sikes, who, in the stage version, did not even make his entrance until the second act. The songs that Sikes sang in the stage version were omitted.
Shooting at Shepperton Film Studios, England, began on June 23, 1967.[2]
[edit] Differences between stage and film version
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The film changed some aspects of the musical's plotline.
- Oliver's trial and exoneration after being arrested for stealing Brownlow's wallet were 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, 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 viciously, as in Dickens's novel, was played with a humorous touch as a harsh but incompetent drunkard who is so hungover that he is scarcely aware of the goings-on inside the courtroom.
- Sikes was introduced into the story much earlier, and Oliver, rather than being unconscious while Sikes kills Nancy, is a helpless and terrified witness to her murder (which, in the film, was made unusually dramatic for what was supposed to be a family musical).
- 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 basically taken from a similar episode in the Dickens novel; however, the outcome is slightly different.
- The song "Oom Pah Pah" was moved to a late spot in the second half of the film, rather than being placed at the beginning of the second half. It is sung by Nancy at the tavern in order to distract 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 Sikes's bull terrier, who had been guarding Oliver, begins to bark and alerts him. Bill secretly follows them and surprises them at the bridge.
- Sikes's 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")[3]. 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.
[edit] Reception
Oliver! received extremely favorable 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.
[edit] Setting
Oliver was set at Shepperton Studios all on set for the production.
[edit] Songs
- Overture (heard before the film begins)
- Main Title (heard over the opening credits)
- 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)
- 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)
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; rather incredibly, the film soundtrack CD is an exact duplicate of the LP, with no additional material added, although some film soundtrack CDs of musicals contain additional tracks that were unable to be put on the LP. 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.
[edit] Awards
The film garnered 11 Academy Award nominations and won 5:
- Best Picture
- Best Director, Carol Reed
- Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation)
- Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
- Best Sound
It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ron Moody), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Wild), Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
A special Academy Award was awarded to Onna White for her elaborate choreography.
Oliver! was the first and only G-rated film to be honoured with an Academy Award for Best Picture (the following year saw the first and 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 34 years later.
[edit] References
- ^ Oliver! at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ [http://www.oliver1968.co.uk/stage_screen.htm filming began on 23/06/67 Shepperton
- ^ Template:Http://www.amazon.com/dp/0789306263
[edit] External links
- Oliver! at the Internet Movie Database
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by In the Heat of the Night |
Academy Award for Best Picture 1968 |
Succeeded by Midnight Cowboy |
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