Like any art form, cinema tends to oscillate between trends, with new ideas replacing the old, which subsequently go out of fashion, and either resurface as loving throwbacks to the past or disappearing completely, being remnants of a past era, where the popularity of that genre or set of conventions can never be fully replicated in the same way as it was before. The big-budget screen musical is one of the casualties of the growth of the industry, and with the arrival of New Hollywood in the late 1960s, it began to lose the enduring quality that made it a genre so many were passionate about. However, one of the last truly great screen musicals, in terms of being representative of the genre at its peak, rather than a retrospective tribute or a more subversive attempt to take the qualities of the musical and infuse more serious commentary into it, was Sir Carol Reed’s Oliver!, a film that has an equal amount of devotees as it does detractors – and a recent revisiting of this film, one that was a staple of my early childhood, confirmed that I am definitely in the category of the former. There’s a warmth and charm to this film that not only makes it a wonderful musical, but also a terrific embodiment of a particular period in filmmaking, where logic was inconsequential, and unrestrained joy was the only true motivations for films like this. An endlessly captivating celebration of unbridled buoyancy, Oliver! is a perfect example of why screen musicals were such a beloved form of storytelling, but also a potent reminder as to why they were never going to survive in the imminent era where Hollywood filmmaking was almost entirely overhauled, introducing a narrative landscape in which a film like this could never possibly hope to survive.

Charles Dickens’ timeless tale of a young orphan who escapes an abusive workhouse and sets off to London, encountering a group of lovable criminals who assimilate him into their life of adorable debauchery has been told in one way or the other since the initial publication of the novel. Like many of the great literary classics that we’ve come into contact with over the years, it’s impossible to determine the definitive version of the story. Instead, various adaptations have their different strengths, of which some are superior than others. Roger Bart’s stage production of Oliver Twist is one of the more popular, not only because it has been able to reach a much wider audience, being produced by anyone, from the humblest amateurs to the most consummate professionals, but also because it’s one of the most accessible versions of the story, where the relatively bleak tale intertwines with an upbeat, enthralling tone, evoked by outrageous comedy and incredible music, making Oliver! a captivating experience in every way. Reed’s adaptation is undoubtedly one of the few times the true magic of the stage production was brought to the screen in a way that feels neither gaudy nor unnecessary. He works well to extend this story beyond the confines of the stage, mostly through situating it on a much wider scale, taking full advantage of the freedom a film can give a story like this, but also through encapsulating many of the poignant themes that are often overlooked when performed on stage, but which are very present for those who look deeper into both the original text and Bart’s adaptation of it.

Asserting too much commentary into a film like Oliver! is a fool’s errand, because its very clear this film was not made with the intention of having any sort of tangible discursivity towards a particular subject – Dickens’ novel says enough about the plight of the working-class, as channelled through the poignant story of a young orphan struggling to make his way through the world. Unlike many adaptations of the novel, this musical and the film around it seeks to only bolster the existing meaning rather than change it or add to it in any revolutionary way – it’s a successful example of not venturing too far out when it comes to the narrative since it doesn’t particularly need to supplement it. Rather, the awe-inspiring wonder that comes from this film, and the reason why it exists as such a beloved musical, is derived from the spectacle, where Reed takes his many years of directorial experience and crafts a profoundly entertaining version of the stage production, bringing with it a lot of emotional gravitas and value that would have otherwise gone amiss had he tried to do anything particularly revolutionary with the storyline. Vernon Harris, an incredibly hardworking screenwriter who had been responsible for dozens of stage, radio and screen productions since the beginning of his career, brings his own experience to adapting the musical, and in working alongside Reed, composes a spirited musical that enthrals without offering too much in terms of narrative deviation.

Perhaps its a bizarre prospect to celebrate a film like this for not being particularly original, but understandably, this only extends to the storyline, which did not need anything more than what it was given to work with in the first place. Oliver! is the embodiment of the quintessential quality that all screen musicals at this time adhered to in some way (with the exception of the most garish ones, which still had some semblance of charm beneath them), namely the emphasis on the experience rather than the underlying message. Many of us have encountered Oliver Twist in some way, and this film doesn’t offer much in terms of the story, but it certainly does give us the chance to see it portrayed in perhaps the boldest and ambitious way yet, particularly in terms of a straight adaptation. Reed takes the chance to bring the lovable orphan to a much larger stage, with the director combining numerous different qualities – the impressive extents of a big-budget cinematic production, the incredibly compelling storyline and the brilliant musical score that remains iconic to this day, which he infuses into a version of the London he often portrayed throughout his films with a blend of tenderness and incredible depth. Bringing Bart’s wonderful musical to life was a daunting task, but everyone involved brings such dedication, never trying to challenge the intentions of the source (which is probably why the original musical has remained so beloved, with its heartfulness being a major factor towards its popularity), but rather to present it in a dazzling, gorgeously sumptuous manner, in which the more bleak underpinnings of the story are not dismissed, but rather occur alongside visually-striking images. The elaborate stagings of some well-known musical numbers, featuring incredible choreography, and the way Reed and his collaborators evoke Victorian London without creating a gauche spectacle, makes this a remarkable visual achievement.

It creates a truly unforgettable experience and one that cannot be underestimated, especially considering how so many view this film negatively in hindsight, deriding as lacking nuance and just being mindless, family-friendly entertainment that really doesn’t offer much in terms of what other films at the time were saying. Such views miss the fact that Oliver! never proposes to be the definitive text on any of these matters, but rather just a bold and enduring piece of heartwarming family entertainment. They quite simply don’t make films like this anymore, where the priority is on the value of enthralling the audience rather than evoking much thought, which is definitely one of the many elements that Oliver! does particularly well, allowing the audience to become engaged in this delightful adaptation of a timeless tale. It is inarguable that this is a dated film – the appearance directs us towards a sensibility that was really only present at this particular period, and while it isn’t beneficial for a film to be a remnant of its era, the timeless quality of the musical as a whole, particularly when looking at it from the perspective of the enormous audience that has been charmed by it for over half a century, is more than enough to indicate that this is a truly worthwhile endeavour and a film that truly warrants its place amongst the finest screen musicals of its time.