Cheap Cds - Oliver! [1968]

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Customer Rating:

Summary: OUTSTANDING
Comment: Must have been the greatest musical every made. The score and sets are outstanding and there is an
all star cast. Ron Moody shines as Fagin, and Jack Wilde as Dodger. Oliver Reed is at his youthful
and sensuous best as the brooding Bill Sykes.
This is truly a must-see.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Great British musical movie-making at its best!
Comment:
Spectacular and tremendously entertaining musical from the 1960s on a massive scale! Probably
one of the last greatest musicals ever to be made in Britain. Lavish, rich and expensive - nothing
was spared here!

A galaxy of stars make up the cast, including some of the biggest
names in British television at the time. Oliver Reed is fabulous as the harsh Bill Sikes, whilst Ron
Moody's 'Fagan' drifts off into movie-making history... Who was it that said that only Hollywood
could make big budget musicals!? Eat your words!

Fantastic!!

Customer Rating:

Summary: A magical movie that Dickens would have been proud of.
Comment: [....]

The most memorable scene for me in the entire film is where Fagin (played by
Moody)looses all his ill gotten goods in the merky waters of the Thames right at the end of the film
and we see Jack Wild accompany him into the back streets of a damp laden London.

When
you have seen the film on more than one occassion you soon realise why it won six Accademy Awards
way back in 1968.The acting especially from Moody and Oliver Reed are worthy of Oscar material.We
eventually have sympathy for the rascal Fagin but none for Reed who plays a particularly nasty Bill
Sykes.

The coreography,singing and acting make this film one that you will always
remember.
Songs such as "Consider Yourself" and "You Got A Pick a Pocket or Two" are true
classics.The late Jack Wild is a very convincing young orphaned pickpocket taken under Fagins care
and Mark Lester plays a memorable Oliver.The characters of Nancy played by Shani Wallis and Harry
Secombe who plays an excellent and convincing Beagle bring drama to a gripping plot.
/>Nancys murder by Sykes is especially memorable and vicious,so vicious that even Sykes loyal dog
Bullseye disown him and like all villans he must meet his untimely end in a grizzly fashion. />
When Oliver is eventually reunited with his original family after all he has endured there
cannot be many who donot shed a tear.

To describe the excitement and feelgood factor
after watching this film to me catches the true meaning of musical blockbusters.

Six
Oscars including the coveted Best Picture and Best Score in 1968 make Oliver a film that improves
with age even though many of its principal actors are now nolonger with us.

As musicals
go it can stand alongside My Fair Lady and even The Sound Of Music as a timeless classic that next
year will be celebrating its fourtieth birthday and still looking the timeless classic it is.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Poverty and squalor as you've never seen them before
Comment: The young hero, Oliver, starts life in the Workhouse, where the children dream of food and the
luxury of experiencing indigestion. The over-nourished adults who run the place feed the poor
little mites on short rations of some grey bilge they call gruel. After committing the unforgivable
sin of requesting some more of this revolting slop, the old devil in charge tries to sell Oliver. A
funeral director takes the boy on as a mourner for children's funerals because of his solemn
expression. Oliver escapes from the undertaker's establishment after a disagreement over the virtue
of his mother and makes his way to London, where he falls in with young Jack Dawkins (the artful
dodger) who introduces him to a den of thieves run by an old villain called Fagin. Here he meets
the lovely Nancy, who tries to help him and the sinister Bill Sikes who tries to ruin him. Charles
Dickens' wonderfully clever, intricate and grim novel is a real tear-jerker but the musical version
is more likely to make you sing than cry. The sets are amazing - from the disgusting pest-hole of
Fagin's den to the beautiful terrace where Oliver's great uncle lives. The songs and dances are
brilliant. The acting is masterly, especially the menacing Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), the corrupt
but kindly Fagin (Ron Moody), the terrible Mr Bumble (Harry Secombe), the drunken undertaker, Mr
Sowerberry (Leonard Rossiter) and, of course, Oliver (Mark Lester) and the artful dodger (Jack
Wild). I did notice that however filthy and raggedy the kids looked, their hair was always clean
and tidy. Ah well, I guess even the youngest actors can only tolerate so much muck and perhaps
filthy hair is just taking authenticity a little too far.

A thoroughly enjoyable film
and highly recommended.

Customer Rating:

Summary: Consider Yourself At Home
Comment: This film is well worth watching as it portrays what life was like in victorian london, Mark Lester
is an absolute star in the leading role as Oliver a waif who is living in an orphanage in London,
but gets sold on to an undertaker who uses him as mute for child funerals, but then gets mixed up
with a gang of pickpockets led by Ron Moody as fagin where he learns the art of burglary and
Pickpocketing with the help of a young Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger.

This is a most enjoyable
film that I would have no hesitation in watching again.

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