Oliver Twist

3/24/2024

Jackie Coogan was barely eight ears old when he turned his hand to one of Charles Dickens' more engaging characters. Born in the workhouse and quickly orphaned, he spends much of his young life picking oakum whilst constantly hungry. Scared that one of his friends might be reduced to having to eat him, he pulls the short straw and asks for extra gruel! Next thing, he's for sale - only his guardians pay "Sowerberry" (Nelson McDowell) to take the boy off their books. That experience doesn't go well and he flees to London where he encounters "Dodger" (Eduaord Trebaol) then "Fagin" (Lon Chaney) and "Sikes" (George Siegmann) and the story of child exploitation, crime and brutality takes it's familiar shape. Frank Lloyd has created a film, here, that imbues the audience with some of the grim rea