Introduction

This is a post that is a repurposing of an old Poverty Row April post. As stated here I am essentially done with running multi-film review posts. Each film deserves its own review. Therefore I will repost, and at times add to, old reviews periodically depending on the theme. Enjoy!

Oliver Twist (1933)

Again there’s a disparity of running time between what I saw and what the IMDb lists. Having said that an extra 10 minutes wouldn’t have made this version feel any less like a Cliff’s Notes version of Oliver Twist. I come dangerously close to breaking my own fanboy ethos here, but even in strictly cinematic terms the treatment is a bit rushed, for a tale that can be such an epic and sprawling one. Oliver’s walk to London for example is one scene as opposed to a montage. Some of the casting choices are quite strange, namely The Artful Dodger, and disbelief has to be suspended throughout due to the fact that Dickie Moore is an American in London. There are enjoyable elements to it, mostly due to the bones of the tale, and being a Monogram film it is higher rent than most, but still feels a bit slipshod.

5/10