Search - Oliver Twist on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1922 DVD Release: 08/29/2000 Format: DVD - Black and White Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 47 mins Studio: Image Entertainment Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Drama, Melodrama, Childhood Drama See Also: Oliver Twist

Ostensibly a vehicle for Jackie Coogan, the 1922 Oliver Twist refuses to realign the Charles Dickens novel to accommodate the personality of its star. This Frank Lloyd-directed silent film is one of the most faithful of all cinematic adaptations of the Dickens work. The orphaned Oliver, labelled a "troublemaker" because he dares to ask for more food, is farmed out to work as an undertaker's assistant. Escaping his cruel master, Oliver falls in with a gang of pickpockets, headed by the colorful Fagin (played by Lon Chaney Sr., who steals a lot more than a few watches and wallets in the course of the picture). Kindly Mr. Brownlow (Lionel Belmore), Oliver's real grandfather, tries to help the lad, but the evil Bill Sikes (George Siegmann) complicates matters. While Jackie Coogan may seem a bit too well-fed and self-sufficient to play Oliver, he was certainly more suited to the role than the star of the 1916 filmization of Oliver Twist--actress Marie Doro! Long believed to be a lost film, Oliver Twist was painstakingly restored in the early 1970s, using bits and pieces from various foreign prints and negatives. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jackie Coogan - Oliver Twist
Lon Chaney - Fagin
Gladys Brockwell - Nancy Sikes
George Siegmann - Bill Sikes
Lionel Belmore - Mr. Brownlow

Lon Chaney stars as Fagin in this superb silent adaptation of Charles Dickens' -Oliver Twist, which has been given a simple, but effective, presentation on DVD. Oliver Twist (1922) has been transferred to disc in its original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and the accompanying musical score appears in Dolby Digital Mono. The title cards are in English, with no multiple-language translations. As a bonus, this disc includes The Light of Faith, a short silent feature also starring Chaney in which he plays a thief who has stolen the most important of all Christian relics, the Holy Grail. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide