A Gloriously Foodful Film

Hello, there. The topic of July's 2nd post is a smashing film. It was inspired by a 1960s musical that had productions in London and on Broadway. This film was lauded. I refer to John Woolf and Columbia's 1968, celluloid iteration of Lionel Bart's Oliver!. Oswald Morris's cinematography flabbergasts--The shots beguile. Ralph Kempler's assemblage of the film crafted an experience. Phyllis Dalton's designs prospered exquisite costumes. There's effective hair, makeup and props. Lionel composed melodic, seminal songs. Johnny Greene & the musicians enriched the radiantly composed scoring and songs (Johnny's grown child, Kathe, assisted with Oliver's singing voice). The mammoth, ecclectical settings encompassed Surrey's Shepperton Studios. There's a hyping opening titles sequence of relevance. Onna White was one of the grandest choreographers and assembled dance routines of magnificence.

I'll state that I would've retained John Call, the B'way Dr. Grimwig--John was deserving of a caliber film. I'm not a fan of the Mr. and Mrs. Sowerberry. My personal choices would've been Bruce Forsyth and Charlotte Rae. Rae actually had a diversified repertoire of onstage character roles. Forsyth could've undertaken a macabrously facetious role. However, the remainder of the characters are sublimely cast. Hugh Griffith had an enjoyably tipsy bitrole. There's a trained owl and dog. Elizabeth Knight and Kenneth Cranham acted peachily. Joseph O'Connor and Megs Jenkins delivered kindhearted performances. The workhouse orphans and pickpocket urchins were expert youth performers. Shoutout to the ensemble members from Consider Yourself and Who Will Buy. Sheila White was a credible Bet. Harry Secombe's blustering Mr. Bumble and Peggy Mount's rigid Widow Corney had complimentary chemistry. Oliver Reed's Bill Sykes is bonechilling, thuggish and brooding. Reed had total believability. Mark Lester is a sincere, endearable leading man. Mark was legit and sympathizable. Jack Wild's Artful Dodger was wily and charismatic. The gifted Wild was totally diverting. Shani Wallis supplied a winsome, tour-de-force performance as Nancy. Shani awe-inspired and heartbroke. The intuitive, priceless Ron Moody was astonishingly preeminent as Fagin. Ron's performance was captivating, waggish and multifacetous. I would've kept Fagin in It's a Fine Life. I'm not fussed with the Reviewing the Situation reprise fake-out. Regardless, Vernon Harris was deft at adapting Bart's libretto into a screenplay. There's faithfulness to the show and worthwhile alterations. For instance, using Oom-Pah-Pah as a diversion has astuity. The film uses its characters to explore events in the time-period. The climax is fraught. Though songs from the musical were 86ed, the movie retains the exemplar ones. There's a veristic portrayal of an abusive relationship. The film's uniformed tonally. Though bleak, it has levity. A mass of ages can spectate. It's palatably inoffensive. The movie is topped-off with an assuaging denouement. Lucidly, the film descends into the numbers and contains pacing. With sensibilities, Carol Reed stupefied as director. Reed's directorial efforts resulted in an effecting film. It's mounted Gloriously. The diligence was worthwhile. This post is dedicated to a marvelously talented sweetheart. She's an absolutely splendid person and a spectacular friend.