Oliver Twist is a 1933 film adaptation of Charles Dickens's popular novel and was the first sound version of the classic.
Released by Monogram Pictures, the film was made on an extremely low budget and makes no real attempt at any period flavor, though the story takes place, as the novel does, in 19th-century London. It stars Irving Pichel as Fagin, Dickie Moore as Oliver, Doris Lloyd as Nancy, and William "Stage" Boyd as Bill Sikes. Pichel playe...
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Oliver Twist is a 1933 film adaptation of Charles Dickens's popular novel and was the first sound version of the classic.
Released by Monogram Pictures, the film was made on an extremely low budget and makes no real attempt at any period flavor, though the story takes place, as the novel does, in 19th-century London. It stars Irving Pichel as Fagin, Dickie Moore as Oliver, Doris Lloyd as Nancy, and William "Stage" Boyd as Bill Sikes. Pichel played Fagin without resorting to any mannerisms which could be construed as offensive. Of the four leads, only Doris Lloyd was English-born. The film was directed by William J. Cowen.
Ultimately, the film, which never really achieved great success, was eclipsed not only by David Lean's 1948 version of the novel, but by other Dickens films released in the 1930s, such as MGM's elaborate and star-studded David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities (both 1935), and their 1938 A Christmas Carol. Even the rarely seen 1934 Great Expectations , with...
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