Another Twist on Oliver
The subject of our meeting on July 21st was “A New Twist on Oliver”, presented by Julian Clarke. Julian’s topic led him to compare various film treatments of Oliver Twist, and he began by giving us a breakdown of the novel into its episodes. Julian has kindly allowed us to print that here.
- Oliver was born in the workhouse.
- His mother died soon after giving birth
- Old Sally stole the locket, pawned it but kept up the payments
- Oliver was farmed out to Mrs Mann
- He returned to the Workhouse when he was old enough
- He was chosen by lot
- Oliver asks for more
- Oliver is put up for an apprenticeship
- Mr Gamfield, chimneysweep, tries to take Oliver
- Oliver goes to Mr Sowerberry
- Oliver meets Noah Claypole
- Oliver accompanies Mr Sowerberry to a poor house
- Oliver is involved in a funeral
- Oliver attacks Noah over his mother
- Oliver runs away
- Oliver passes Mrs Mann's
- Oliver walks to London
- Oliver meets the Artful Dodger
- Oliver is introduced to Fagin
- Oliver wakes next morning and sees Fagin's treasure
- Fagin and the boys play "The Game"
- The theft from Mr Brownlow
- Oliver's trial
- Oliver is sick at Mr Brownlow's home
- Oliver sees a picture at Mr Brownlow's home
- Dodger and Charlie report Oliver's capture to Fagin
- Nancy visits the police office
- Mr Brownlow has books to be returned to the shop
- Nancy and Bill recapture Oliver
- Oliver is reunited with Fagin
- Mr Bumble visits Mr Brownlow about his advert
- Oliver held prisoner by Fagin
- Fagin and Bill Sikes discuss the crib in Chertsey
- Nancy takes Oliver to Bill
- Bill and Oliver's journey
- Before the crack, meeting Toby Crackitt
- The foiled burglary
- Mrs Corney and Mr Bumble flirt
- Old Sally confesses to Mrs Corney
- Toby Crackitt returns alone
- Fagin meets Monks - first intimation of interest in Oliver
- Mr Bumble proposes to Mrs Corney
- Sikes escapes from Chertsey
- Oliver recovers and goes to the house
- Oliver is taken in
- Dr Losberne visits
- Oliver revisits Mr Brownlow's empty house
- The Maylies move to the country with Oliver
- Rose falls ill
- Oliver bumps into Monks
- Rose recovers and Harry Maylie arrives
- Fagin and Monks spy on Oliver
- Rose rejects Harry due to her birth
- Mr Bumble is humiliated by Mrs Bumble
- Mr Bumble meets Monks
- Mr and Mrs Bumble meet Monks by the river
- Bill Sikes gets a fever
- Nancy eavesdrops on Fagin and Monks
- Nancy visits Rose
- Rose visits Mr Brownlow with Oliver
- Noah and Charlotte arrive in London and meet Fagin
- Dodger's Trial
- Nancy tries to meet Rose and fails
- Noah dodges Nancy
- Noah eavesdrops on Mr Brownlow, Rose and Nancy
- Fagin and Noah report to Bill
- Bill kills Nancy
- Bill on the run
- Mr Brownlow confronts Monks
- Charlie, Toby in hiding, Sikes dies
- Oliver's background revealed
- Fagin in the condemned cell
- The futures of all concerned
It is probably the case that few in the audience had realized that quite so much happens in the novel. There is certainly very much more than Dickens envisaged when he began what he subtitled “The Parish Boy’s Progress”. In particular, other characters, especially Fagin, gradually came to occupy centre stage, while Oliver was kept in the wings. At all events, these seventy-three episodes are clearly more than can be included in a film, even in a TV version in several parts. Julian gave us an interesting account of which episodes were included in the various films, and which ones never appeared, the latter class including some scenes that most readers would regard as essential. In some versions, material that was not in the novel was introduced.
The film versions examined were as follows:
1920 Silent
1948 Alec Guinness & Robert Newton
1985 BBC with Miriam Margolyes
1997 Disney with Richard Dreyfuss
1999 Masterpiece Theatre (All-star cast - including Robert Lindsay as Fagin)
2007 BBC with Timothy Spall
Almost all had merits of some kind or another, including sterling performances from some of the actors, but there wasn’t one which didn’t disappoint Dickensians in some way. A chief stumbling block is often the treatment of Fagin, and another problem is how to treat the sexual attitudes implicit in Dickens’s text. Since Julian was dealing with films produced over a period of nearly ninety years, the first of which was itself made about ninety years after the appearance of the novel, the evening offered a great deal of historical interest, as well as providing considerable entertainment.
Before each batch of clips was viewed Julian, with some assistants, gave readings from the novel.
There was a very large audience for this presentation, one of the best in recent times, and Julian was thanked heartily for a well-researched, illuminating and entertaining programme. |