This film boasts the reunion of a team that seemed to have been the natural choice for bringing Charles Dickens' novel again to the screen. Roman Polanski and Ronald Harewood, who cooperated on the much better film, "The Pianist", show they must have lost the interest along the way, as this picture clearly demonstrates. If there ever was a man who could identify with "Oliver Twist", it was Roman Polanski, whose life sort of parallels that of the orphan boy in London of the Victorian years.
Comparisons are always unavoidable, specially when there are two other versions on record of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist": the magnificent film version of David Lean in 1948, and even the musical "Oliver", directed by Carol Reed, have done much more going for them to involve the viewer in the story. Somehow, this adaptation has a flat feeling that doesn't grab us at any moment.
The casting of Fagin lets a lot to be desired. Sir Ben Kingsley, an otherwise excellent actor, doesn't seem to find his footing in the way the director conceived his Fagin. Alec Guinness masterful interpretation of this evil man is hard to surpass. Barney Clark is a sweet Oliver Twist. Harry Eden appears as the Artful Dodger. Jamie Foreman is Bill Sykes and Leanne Rowe is Nancy.
Watch the film as curiosity, but we would suggest to take a look at the David Lean version which is closer to the spirit of the book.
Comparisons are always unavoidable, specially when there are two other versions on record of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist": the magnificent film version of David Lean in 1948, and even the musical "Oliver", directed by Carol Reed, have done much more going for them to involve the viewer in the story. Somehow, this adaptation has a flat feeling that doesn't grab us at any moment.
The casting of Fagin lets a lot to be desired. Sir Ben Kingsley, an otherwise excellent actor, doesn't seem to find his footing in the way the director conceived his Fagin. Alec Guinness masterful interpretation of this evil man is hard to surpass. Barney Clark is a sweet Oliver Twist. Harry Eden appears as the Artful Dodger. Jamie Foreman is Bill Sykes and Leanne Rowe is Nancy.
Watch the film as curiosity, but we would suggest to take a look at the David Lean version which is closer to the spirit of the book.