| Author | Message | ||
     Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 213.81.122.151 |
I vaguely recall people banging on about this a while back. ITV are repeating it from Wed Dec 29 onwards. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I reallyenjoyed it: http://www.videovista.net/reviews/nov06/olitwist.html | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.0.89.141 |
The problem I always have with later adaptations of Oliver Twist is that I've not yet seen any production wherein the pivotal characters of Fagin, the Dodger and Bill Sikes have been as good as Ron Moody, Jack Wilde and Oliver Reed were in the musical version. I know the musical plays fast and loose with the story, and softens Fagin and the Dodger significantly, but I thought those performances were near enough pitch-perfect. Doesn't mean someone else can't have a crack at it, but in this version - which I think stars Andy Serkis as Sikes and Robert Lindsay as Fagin, both of whom you'd think would be absolutely superb - I still don't reckon we're totally there. Just a personal view, of course. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Bleasdale's 'Oliver Twist' is the only TV Dickens adaptation worth talking about it imho. Genius! Now, whatever happpened him? | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.0.89.141 |
It was certainly brave of him to add characters who weren't even in the book. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
What Bleasedale managed to do was to remove the worst coincidence in literary history from the story by turning it into a conspiracy instead. The coincidence is of course the problem with Mr brownlow, the man chosen at random for Oliver to try to rob, just so happening to be Oliver's Grandad. Out of everyone in London... what were the chances eh? I loved it. Does anyone remember the most recent version on the BBC - with the racist Bill Sykes shacked up with a black Nancy and Oliver somehow able to read... they really looked after them in that workhouse apparently. Made sure they had a good education. Worst version... ever! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Although it sounds like heresy, Alan Bleasdale did actually correct a lot of the illogicalities in the plot of 'Oliver Twist'. But as it was only the young Dickens second novel he can be forgiven its relative immaturity. I still think the book has a nightmarish gothic vitality, and all those immortal characters of course, that raises it to the level of great literature. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.0.89.141 |
I always find the character of Fagin the most interesting. Dickens rewrote him repeatedly during various editions of the book, mainly at the instigation of Jewish friends of his. Initially the character was an out-and-out villain, but over the years Dickens transformed him into the more loveable rogue that we know today. I agree, Stevie. For all its flaws, it's a fascinating novel. The close-up view of life in London's seamy underbelly was a real shock to the literature-gobbling Victorian public. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.225.41 |
And the bastard was about 24 when he wrote it. Bastard. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I really must make a start on 'Dombey And Son' - where I've got to in my chronological reading of all his novels. Yes, I think I'll make it my "epic read" of 2011, after I've finished Dostoevsky's 'The Devils', started in February lol. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.18.202.83 |
No matter how good Robert Lindsay was in Oliver Twist it can't match the outstanding performance he gives in My Family. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.225.41 |
hahahaha | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.18.202.83 |
That's the first time anyone's ever laughed at My Family. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.225.41 |
hahahahahahahaha Folk laugh at my family all the time. So do I. |