Oliver! (1968)

(On Cable TV, January 2018) Well, that settles it—I like my musicals funny and romantic, not dramatic and dour. Fast sinking down my list of least favourite Oscar-winning pictures, Oliver! may be a respectable musical adaptation of Dickens’s Oliver Twist, that doesn’t necessarily make it fun or enjoyable. I had a really hard time staying interested in the film, as the musical element seemed to distract from the dramatic bones of the story rather than enhance it. By the time characters die, I had my fill of the film. To be fair, I’m not criticizing the production itself—the costumes are great, the historical re-creation is credible and the actors are fine in their singing roles. The simplest explanation is that Oliver! simply failed to reach me where it counts. I remain open to the possibility that another viewing in twenty years or so may produce different results.