Carol Reed directs this unforgettable version of this classic tale originally written by Charles Dickens. This film has gone down in film history as being the ideal version of the story, people to this day still remember the songs and are singing along as they watch it over and over again.
There is something about this particular film, which sticks out in my mind to be truly entertaining and rememberable. I think it is to do with the fact that the songs are so engaging with viewers and they are designed in such a way that is both relatable to the characters and relevant to the story. People tend to just join in with this and get stuck into it and I can always remember this being a fun film.
Watching it today, in a more mature perspective in comparison to watching it as a child. I couldn't remember much that happened when I watched this at a younger age. Probably because I lost interest due to the fact the film's overall length is so long. Now I only tend to watch certain bits, I couldn't watch the whole thing from start to finish now. There comes a time where as time moves on, your thoughts and opinions change. I can remember this being enjoyable in parts and very dull and boring in parts.
I'm not a huge fan of musicals but by changing the format of this story to make it work like a musical- it does work in that musical format and the musical structure and makes things very interesting and engaging for the audience. As I say before the songs jog people's memory nowadays and it creates a connection with the story.
The production values on this film are fantastic, the cinematography is brilliant. The scale of everything tends to expand to such extraordinary lengths that it feels like this is a really big thing; and it was at the time. It won 5 Oscars. The acting and the singing is on point through the whole thing, the acting is superb and more or less everything comes out on point as far as that is concerned.
There are many versions of Oliver that have been made over the years in film, on television and on stage but this particular version tends to relate to people the most and rightly so because for audiences this is probably the best version to go for as there's more of a background in terms of story and in execution to portraying the poor industrial estate of showing off the bracing aroma of Victorian London. It sets a mood of the scumbags getting one over the more established type of class.
Oliver's journey is a great outline to follow to lead into that, he's a boy who starts off with nothing and by joining in with this gang he mixes in with the wrong crowd and ends up having this adventure. It's the thrill and excitement of the adventure that draws you into this and for director Carol Reed he invites you in, he makes you want to know more and as a result of that he creates something which is still going strong today. 7/10.
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