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I always thought Carol Reed must have had a pretty easy time of it in making 'Oliver!' back in the late '60s, what with Dickens already having done the hard work in putting this, his second novel, together 130 years earlier. But as it turns out, the book is pants, and if Reed had stuck with the original story and dialogue I can't imagine it would have enjoyed nearly the success it did. I had high hopes for this book, having read and enjoyed three Dickens novels in the past. But the plot was contrived, the story overlong, the emotions manipulated (so, so HORRIBLY manipulated) and the dialogue almost hilariously melodramatic. Plus, it was disgracefully anti-semitic (like, honestly - just... wow). It's hard to believe this came from the same hand that had written The Pickwick Papers only a couple of years earlier. I stuck with it to the end, but only just. A surprisingly poor effort, which deserves to be remembered far less than the 1968 musical.

So, well played, Carol. Your movie was superior to Dickens' book in every way.