Classic British Cinema: 1968
As far as British entertainment goes, I’ve always been much more of a telly watcher than a film buff. My Twitter handle is @brittellyaddict after all. But recently while stuck at home on medical leave, I decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to increase my knowledge of classic British cinema. Perusing a couple of Best British Films lists, I noticed many familiar titles that I had never watched. Indeed, there some which I’d never heard of period. Ready to set off on this new project, I figured if I’m going to watch these movies, I might as well take you all along with me. So here we go, starting with three very different films that were released in the UK fifty years ago.
Oliver! – Directed by Carol Reed
Oliver! is certainly the most famous in this trio of films I’m highlighting. Based on the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist, the adventures of the eponymous orphan boy were brought to the silver screen in 1948 before being turned into a successful West End musical by Lionel Bart in 1960. The screen adaptation of the musical arrived in cinemas eight years later to great acclaim, as well as eleven Oscar nominations and five statuettes including the one for Best Picture of 1968. Oliver! also found its way onto the British Film Institute’s list of greatest British films of the 20th century and was ranked as Time Out magazine’s 69th best British film ever.
(Whew.)
While I had seen a local stage production and a few of the big song and dance numbers from the film, I had never watched Oliver! in its full two-and-a-half-hour glory. (Yes, there is an intermission.) I have to say it was the most entertaining portrayal of poverty, domestic violence and child exploitation I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. It’s true that some pretty grim stories have been set to music over the years (Les Miserables, anyone?) and you can’t get much bleaker than the social commentary of Dickens’ Victorian England. Though it may seem strange to say, the almost two centuries-old setting of this story makes it feel timeless rather than dated - a fate that has befallen many a contemporary film of the late 60's era.
To the film’s credit, the production numbers ("Consider Yourself", "I’d Do Anything" and the cheeky "Oom Pah-Pah" stood out to me) were beautifully choreographed by Onna White who won an honorary Oscar for her work on this film. Most importantly, young Master Oliver finds a happy, if not strangely coincidental, home. Can’t ask for much more than that from a lavish big screen musical, can you? My only complaint is that Mark Lester’s performance as Oliver was lacking. He didn’t actually sing the solos, but was dubbed by the daughter of the film’s musical arranger and his on-screen presence was overshadowed by his co-star Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger.
