Oliver! (1968)
 "Please
Sir, can I have some more?". Mark Lester nabbed the classic
line as Oliver Twist in this immensely popular musical film
version of Charles Dickens' classic novel.
Set in 19th Century London, the film tells the story of a
little orphan boy who escapes the harsh life of the workhouse and
tries to cope with life on the streets.
Oliver is taken in by a band of street urchins, headed by the
lovable Fagin, his fiendish henchman Bill Sikes and his loyal
apprentice The Artful Dodger.
Through his education in the fine points of pick-pocketing,
Oliver makes away with an unexpected treasure . . . a home and a
family of his own.
John Box, who designed Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor
Zhivago, literally reconstructed 19th Century London in a
dazzling array of architectural splendour, with such an eye for
detail you can almost smell the cabbage leaves and horse dung
under the carriage wheels.
The workhouse where Oliver Twist and the other orphans are
abused, the steaming docks and sweaty smoke-filled pubs, the
whirling vendors, the marching Queen's Guards, the shimmering
green parks full of girls in bright pinafores, and the white
birthday-cake splendour of Bloomsbury are really marvels of movie
excess.
Mark Lester is a blue-eyed photogenic Oliver; Ron Moody is a
scene-chewing Fagin: Shani Wallis is a voluptuous and vibrant
Nancy; and Oliver Reed is just about the most evil villain you
could conjure in one of his juiciest roles as the murderous Bill
Sikes. There is also a battered old dog named Bullseye, who steals
the picture.
Oliver! deservedly won the Best Picture Oscar in 1968,
and features 14 songs, many of them now classics - such as Food
Glorious Food, Consider Yourself, If I Was A Rich
Man and Where Is Love?.
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