Oliver Twist
General Film Distributors (GFD) | Release Date: July 30, 1951 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
A superb piece of motion picture art and, beyond doubt, one of the finest screen translations of a literary classic ever made. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The sets are as much a part of the story as the dialogue, and set designer John Bryan's work is effectively photographed by Guy Green. All the acting is first-rate, and there is not a false note from the cast. Read full review
100
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
From every angle this is a superb achievement. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid Parkinson
Evocative and endearing - a worthy string to the Lean bow. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Perhaps marginally less beguiling than Great Expectations, but still a moving and enjoyable account of Dickens' masterpiece, which gets off to a memorable start with Oliver's pregnant mother battling through the storm to reach the safety of the workhouse. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
Alec Guinness as the master pickpocket Fagin is the high point of David Lean's 1948 version of the Dickens classic. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
It’s less impressionistic than Great Expectations and more starkly insistent—fitting for a work that doubles as a social tract about the mistreatment of children in England in the early 1800s. John Howard Davies, as Oliver, has a heartbreakingly fresh face, one that’s increasingly bewildered by the cruelty continually visited upon him. Read full review
70
The New YorkerPauline Kael
In the person of Alec Guinness, Fagin the Viper, the corrupter of youth, has a sly, depraved charm.
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84 Critic Reviews

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