:
Jackie Coogan,
Lon Chaney,
Gladys Brockwell,
more...
:
Frank Lloyd
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Image Entertainment
: Drama, Silent, Silent Dramas, Silent Drama
: 107 min.
: English
see additional details...
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Ostensibly a vehicle for Jackie Coogan, the 1922 Oliver Twist refuses to realign the Charles Dickens novel to accommodate the personality of its star. This Frank Lloyd-directed silent film is one of the most faithful of all cinematic adaptations of the Dickens work. The orphaned Oliver, labelled a "troublemaker" because he dares to ask for more food, is farmed out to work as an undertaker's assistant. Escaping his cruel master, Oliver falls in with a gang of pickpockets, headed by the colorful Fagin (played by Lon Chaney Sr., who steals a lot more than a few watches and wallets in the course of the picture). Kindly Mr. Brownlow (Lionel Belmore), Oliver's real grandfather, tries to help the lad, but the evil Bill Sikes (George Siegmann) complicates matters. While Jackie Coogan may seem a bit too well-fed and self-sufficient to play Oliver, he was certainly more suited to the role than the star of the 1916 filmization of Oliver Twist--actress Marie Doro! Long believed to be a lost film, Oliver Twist was painstakingly restored in the early 1970s, using bits and pieces from various foreign prints and negatives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Worth the second feature
by thefuhrmans
December 19, 2005 - 9:32 PM PST
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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Oliver Twist is a minor Cheney--surprisingly minor--and broad in that "silent" fashion which everyone unfortunately associates w/pre-sync motion pictures. A good supporting cast almost makes up for it, with the kids outdoing their elder performers; look for an artful turn by unknown Edouard Trebaol as the Artful Dodger.
The transfer is passable, but sepiatone (for that matter, any tinting or toning) doesn't translate well onto video and tends to obscure any of the visual richness of the original..
I'd thought Jackie Coogan was some kind of Wunderkind from his outstanding performance in Chaplin's The Kid--my personal favorite--but he misses the mark by doing just the cute and the pitiful dirty-face you would expect. The fact that he's a bit chubby for a workhouse waif on a diet of gruel doesn't help. I have yet to check out any of his others--besides of course his stint as Fester in later years on the Addams Family.
BUT!--
Don't miss the second Cheney feature--it's The Light in the Dark, which survives in abridged form as The Light of Faith, re-tooled as a kind of instructional/inspirational/indoctrinal piece by a Christian organization in the '30s. It was about twice the extant length, and probably has more of the character and narrative arc we're definitely missing, but is worth seeing on its own, for silent-film lovers.
From what we have, minus the context and development, again--Cheney's rather broad; but he and Hope Hampton have moments of the delicate sophistication you see in good silents (and often miss in talkies), especially at the start. What's really great about the picture is the cinematography, as well as the fine compositions of director Clarence Brown. The color tinting comes off far better in this feature, and the source prints for this one are pretty high-quality and easy on the eye..
Although you can't overlook the excessive, often laughable hairlight on Hampton throughout (angelic halo-effect), one wonders if the movie's so lugubriously pious in its original form. Easy enough to ignore if you're watching it to appreciate the visuals. I can't recommend the DVD entire, and the 2nd feature's only a three-reeler--but worth a look if you're into this kind of thing. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 5.56)
9 Votes
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