Product: Oliver Twist [VHS] (1922)
Rating: 3.0
Good adaptation of the novel
Oliver Twist was Charles Dicken's second novel, published in 1938. It was first filmed in 1909 and this was the second version. It was filmed again in 1933, 1948, 1997, and 2005, as a musical in 1968, and was a TV miniseries 3 times (1985, 1999, 2007). This version is notable because Lon Chaney played Fagin and Jackie Coogan played Oliver.Lon Chaney (1883-1930) was one of the biggest stars of the silent era. Known as "The man of 1000 faces", he was capable of disguising himself completely in service of his roles, which could be as diverse as a hunchback ("Hunchback of Notre Dame"), a legless man ("The Penalty"), an armless man who throws knives with his feet ("The Unknown") or a monster ("Phantom of the Opera"). His life was the subject of the 1957 film "Man of 1000 Faces" starring James Cagney.By 1922 when he made this film he had already made more than 100 films, although many of his best films ("Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Phantom of the Opera", "The Unknown", "London After Midnight", "Unholy Three") were still ahead of him. Chaney plays Fagin and it's impossible to detect the actor beneath the makeup.Jackie Coogan (1914-84) was a popular child actor in the silent era who is most famous for "The Kid" (1921). He's best remembered as Uncle Fester for the TV series "The Addams Family" (1964-6). Coogan is cute as young Oliver. One might find that there are more comedy scenes in this film than would be expected in Dicken's dour classic, and these were undoubtedly inserted because Coogan was fresh off "The Kid" (with Chaplin) and audiences were looking to laugh.Director Frank Lloyd (1886-1960) was a major figure in the 20s and 30s, nominated for an Oscar 4 times and winning for "The Divine Lady" (1929) and "Cavalcade" (1933). Among his notable films are ":Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), "Blood on the Sun" (1945), and "The Last Command" (1955).This is a relatively faithful version of the Dickens' classic. The film stock is not the greatest, but more than 75% is perfect and there is only the occasional problem. The intertitles were restored in the 70s. Performances are uniformly good and the sets are wonderful.