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OLIVER!
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (U), GBP12.99
4/5
As a new adaptation of the Dickens classic limbers up on our TV screens this month, the wonderful 1968 version comes out in a special edition DVD. Directed by Carol Reed and based on Lionel Bart's hit stage show, this is undoubtedly the finest musical that British cinema ever produced. The angelic-looking Mark Lester stars as the eponymous orphan whose illadvised request for "more" triggers an extraordinary chain of events.
Lester may play the title role, but this is truly an ensemble movie which - like David Lean's earlier version - owes much to its peerless cast: notably Ron Moody as Fagin, Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger and Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes. Dickens's London is vividly brought to life, and the musical sequences, with their Oscar- winning choreography, are breathtaking. Perhaps because there are so many fun and uplifting song and dance numbers, the dark side of the story - how many musicals feature the murder of the heroine? -...