Rating U
Length 1h56
Release 28.06.1948
Director David Lean
About The famed orphan gets caught up in Fagin’s criminal band while searching for familial love.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: ITVX and Youtube
Trailer:
The Good
Once again, David Lean nails the opening. The sound, the intimacy and the heartbreak. So many foundational plot points are set up here and I don’t think I’ve noticed before.
John Howard Davies as the titular Oliver is incredible considering he is the one carrying the film. Davies is able to balance the innocence and vulnerability with a tenacity with no hesitation to defend himself when necessary.
The Bad
Where’s the songs?! I’m not a musical gal, but I do love the 1968 adaptation and the songs by Lionel Bart. I found myself humming ‘Food Glorious Food’, ‘I’d do Anything’ and ‘Consider Yourself’ during the appropriate parts. I’d say I love every single song of that musical, except for ‘Where is love?’. I hadn’t actually realised how much the music added to the film until watching this one without.
Perhaps I watched this a little too close to Great Expectations, but Dickens had a format and a habit of weaving his story with a twist ending or reveal. In the case of these two stories; they both reveal paternal connections to younger characters. In this case, it’s not as smooth though and all feels a little too contrived.
The Ugly
This is one Alec Guinness performance I cannot gush about and is largely to do with the prosthetics used in order to portray the character of Fagin as Jewish. Recently, Bradley Cooper faced criticism for his use of prosthetics to his nose in order to portray composer, Leonard Bernstein. All reasoned arguments were made for both sides and the argument the film made was that it was because Cooper was portraying a real life figure and the facial changes were simply done to allow Cooper to look more like the person he was playing. I’m still not certain where I stand with Maestro, but I do know there is a history of anti-semitic imagery within movies: even Harry Potter has the Goblin Bankers coded as Jewish in such a underhanded way.
It was quite upsetting to see that a villainous fictional character was given what I can only describe as a cartoonish ‘Jewish’ nose; almost too big for Alec Guinness’ face. It’s an overwhelming feeling watching it from 2024, but when you then consider the time in which this film was made, you have to wonder what was going through the film maker’s mind.
In a film that is as well made as Great Expectations, this artistic choice ruins the film and prevents an audience from really taking in Alec Guinness’ performance.
Final Thoughts
Never thought I’d say this, but the Musical is better.
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