Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

merelyaninnuendo Oliver!3 Out Of 5Oliver is a character driven musical about a boy who is adapting and learning as he outgrows difficulties that comes before him in various faces. The camera work is amazing as it lights up the whole screen and fills it up with an energy that can easily feed itself for runtime which may be overstretched but is undeniably glorifying to encounter. It is rich on technical aspects like costume design, production design, choreography, art design, background score and songs whilst is a bit short on editing; it easily could have been of 2 hours. There isn't much work allotted to the writing section as most of the communication is conveyed through musical acts, which are again, beautifully shot and is immensely pleasing on screen. The screenplay by Vernon Harris is neither gripping nor smart, but it certainly has a heart and reasoning in there for the audience to root for its sketchy characters. Carol Reed; the director, has done a decent work on pulling off this act on such a larger scale. The performance by the younger cast is amazing especially all the musical acts that they have pulled off and so are the experienced cast supporting them. Oliver! is neat and essential for the subsequent generations but it may not be as entertaining or wise as it seems.

Leofwine_draca OLIVER! is a strong contender for the title of best screen musical of the 1960s. It's a pitch-perfect adaptation of the famous Dickens novel with the addition of a number of wonderful songs which have expertly-written dialogue. The cast, many of whom transfer across from the stage version, are particularly strong here: Ron Moody delivers the best role of his career as the surprisingly likeable Fagin, while Jack Wild goes down in history as the irrepressible Artful Dodger. Oliver Reed graduates from his slimy Hammer days as an equally imposing villain and even Mark Lester comes across well as the likeable Twist. The production values are exemplary, the story is told at just the right pace, and this goes down in history as not just a fine musical but one of the best Dickens tales adapted for the screen.

Richard Dominguez I Really Really Tried To Write How Much I Love This Movie Without Turning It Into A Small Novel ... But I Can't ... So Let Me Just Point Out That At Times This Movie Makes Me Laugh, Jump For Joy, Fills Me With Sadness, Every Now And Then Brings A Tear To My Eyes And Then It Fills Me With Hope And Inspiration ... And Throughout The Whole Thing It Manages To Keep Me Singing Along To All The Songs ... The World Wide Winner Of 12 Movie Awards And 25 Separate Movie Nominations ... This Is An Amazing Story Put To Amazing Music And Allowed To Shine On The Big Screen ... The Actors Are "ALL" Flawless In Their Performances And The Scenery Capture Is Remarkable To Say The Least ... The Choreography Is An Amazing Undertaking And Achieves A Level Of Perfection I Have Yet To See In Any Other Musical ... Among It's Peers This Musical/Story Will Always Stand Over All The Others Before And After It

mark.waltz O.K., you could make it darker. You could "Sweeney Todd" it up and have Bill Sikes be exactly like that throat slicer who had the victims then turned into meat pies. But what they did with the film version of the 1960 London musical (brought to Broadway in 1963) is keep it faithful to that source, if not the original Charles Dickens novel with all the controversy of so-called anti-Semitism.Sweet little orphan Oliver (Mark Lester) wins the dare to ask for "more!" and when he does, he is throunced, bounced, and sold to a flustered undertaker named Sowerberry. Too sauced to save his purchase, Sowerberry sleeps it off in a coffin while Oliver beats up the older assistant Noah. Oliver escapes to London, meets up with the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild), and is soon off to see the Wizard of Pickpocketing, the hawk-nosed Fagin (Ron Moody), a lovable old codger of thievery with a few tricks up his sleeve. Fagin's co-horts, Bill and Nancy Sikes (Oliver Reed and Shani Wallis) both have different ideas of what to do with Oliver, but first they must get him back from the rich man who saved Oliver from being accused of picking his pocket.Musically, this is exciting, from the pleading "Food, Glorious, Food!" to the touching "Where is Love?" in the beginning, exploding into big city joy in the London-set "Consider Yourself", and then music hall glory with Wallis's loving Nancy singing such showstoppers as "It's a Fine Life!" and "Oom-Pah-Pah!".Title character Oliver is visually perfectly cast with the diminutive Mark Lester who has the right innocence for him with a touch of toughness when he needs to bring that out. Lester, seemingly dubbed with a high-pitched singing voice, does what he can to make the character not pitiable, but oh, that singing voice. Harry Secombe is an unforgettable Mr. Bumble, Moody a joy as that rascal Fagin who teaches his boys "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two!". Wild and Wallis shine with "I'd Do Anything", and the ensemble of "Who Will Buy?" is a huge production number that keeps the joy coming.All in all, there is nothing to complain about in this production, the right songs cut from the original and even the smallest parts perfectly cast with perfect visuals from the book. Once you see this (again and again) you will also see the similarities to another big stage musical, the Manhattan set "Annie", which also deals with an orphan trying to find her legacy and dealing with crooks in the meantime. Both shows have dogs, but Bill Sikes' pooch in "Oliver!" is a lot more nefarious looking than Sandy from "Annie".