Oliver! (film)
| Oliver! | |
|---|---|
| File:68a.jpg The movie's poster | |
| Directed by | Carol Reed |
| Written by | Charles Dickens (novel) Vernon Harris |
| Produced by | John Woolf |
| Starring | Mark Lester Ron Moody Shani Wallis Oliver Reed |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Ralph Kemplen |
| Music by | Johnny Green Eric Rogers Onna White |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates | September 26, 1968 |
Running time | 153 min. |
| Country | U.K. |
| Language | English |
Oliver! is an Academy Award winning film and 1968 musical film directed by Carol Reed and based on the stage musical Oliver!. Both the film and play are based on the famous Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist.
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. There was a minor outcry when Shani Wallis was given the role of Nancy in preference to Georgia Brown.
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, but most of them were included. The unused songs 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 play were omitted, so that actor Oliver Reed had an opportunity to play the frightening villain as Dickens created him, and not as played in the watered-down characterization of the stage version.
Reception
Oliver! received extremely favorable reviews and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Picture. As of July 2006, it was the last G-rated film to be so honored. However, if the film were released today it would probably receive a PG rating because of the violence that Bill shows toward Nancy. In 1968 films with no foul language or on-screen sex could receive G ratings much more easily, even if they did have some violence. (Ironically, 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! also won Oscars for Best Director, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation), and Best Sound. Onna White also won an honorary oscar for her choreography.
It was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ron Moody), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Wild), Best Cinematography,which was by the legendary Oswald Morris. Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Trivia
- The film was the last musical to win the Best Picture Oscar until Chicago won it thirty-four years later.
- 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.
- In the frame to play Fagin were Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole
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
- Ent'racte (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)
Words and Music by Lionel Bart, Music 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 CD's of musicals contain additional tracks that were unable to be put on the LP.