Elijah Wood

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Oliver Twist
(1997)

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Oliver Twist (1997)
Synopsis

Edward C. Patterson, site owner
Annie Graham, copy editor

The made for TV Disney Movie, Oliver Twist (1997) is about as far from the original Dickens novel as you can imagine. The plot has been snipped to a bare bone summary of the novel and unlike such treatments of Dickens as Nicholas Nickleby (2003), which caught the essence and drove it home, Oliver Twist skirts the issue altogether. It opens on a moor, with Oliver’s mother staggering to the workhouse door in the rain and being met by Mrs. Corney, who deems to take her in. Mrs. Corney in the Dickens novel runs the baby farm and is never in the workhouse. But no matter. Oliver is born as his mother dies and leaves him a locket, which contains a portrait of her mother. Corney takes the locket and an uncredited Mr. Bumble names Oliver from his rotating alphabetical list of names.

Six years pass. Oliver is working in the workhouse’s dyeworks. He wants to see his locket. Corney reluctantly shows it to him. He can have it, if he’s a good boy, when he’s 12. Now six more years pass and Oliver draws the short straw at dinner (if you call gruel dinner) and must confront Mrs. Corney with the famous "Please, may I have some more." Of course, in the novel he asks Mr. Bumble this question, is sold for labor to the local undertaker, and finally after being locked away in a cellar, escapes to London. In this version, he asks Mrs. Corney the famous question, she kicks him out the workhouse and he returns to steal his locket (along with a turkey leg) and heads out on the road directly (after saying goodbye to a friend in the hallway—a strange leftover piece from the novel that has no meaning in any context).

After a brief trip on foot, in carts and to cheery, sweet music, Oliver arrives in London—not Dickens’s London, but Disney’s London. He gets hungry and tries to steal an apple, but is stopped by a young man—"No you don’t." This is Jack Dawkins (the Artful Dodger) played by Elijah Wood. The Dodger is a famous character in the novel. But he’s not the title character or even the central character. In this film, and with Elijah Wood sharing top billing, the Artful Dodger’s role has been re-written to be not only central but also overlording. It’s a good thing Elijah Wood inhabits this classical character, because the film doesn’t really start until this point (20 minutes in).

The Dodger explains that he’s a professional pickpocket and thief and proud of his work. He takes Oliver to Fagin, a fence and old cutthroat Jew. Of course, this is Disney, so one of the most anti-Semitic characters in literary history since Shakespeare’s Shylock, becomes a cross between the operetta character of the London stage and Archie Bunker. Fagin takes the locket. Oliver is dressed and welcomed. We meet the murderous Bill Sikes (most fearsome indeed) and his harlot girlfriend Nancy (sweet girl, dirty face, wants to be a mother—guess who’s). Oliver is put into Dodger’s care, which means we get a few extra Elijah Wood scenes, so Dodger can sport his philosophy and show Oliver the art of the pickpocket—much as a game.

Oliver catches Fagin admiring his little treasures, which he keeps hidden. Fagin threatens Oliver if he tells anyone about the treasure box. He gives Oliver a pickpocketing lesson. Oliver is sent out to pick his first pocket. The Dodger orchestrates the plan. They are to steal the watch from a man who is buying a book. Oliver gets caught, after a brief chase and the Dodger is in hot water for having lost him. The victims of the pickpocket, Mr. Brownlow and his niece (Rose) testify at Oliver’s arraignment that he was not the boy. They take Oliver to their high-end house on Grosvenor Square. The Dodger manages to locate Oliver. Bill Sikes, Nancy and Dodger kidnap Oliver while he’s running an errand for the Brownlows. By the way, a connection has been made between a portrait at the Brownlow’s and the tintype in the locket (which is now in Fagin’s treasure box).

Although the Artful Dodger is a rogue and thief, he is portrayed in this version as a good guy gone wrong, with a heart of gold. He hesitates to bag Oliver. He defends him and eventually the character arcs into redemption, something the novel’s Jack Dawkins never had. The fact that Oliver is incorruptible and has no character arc, makes Elijah Wood’s character the only one that actually develops, except Nancy’s (a little). Nancy tries to get Oliver away, but incurs Bill Sikes’s suspicion and anger. Oliver is used in a robbery to gain entrance to the Brownlows’ (in the novel it’s not the Brownlows’, but one rich house is as good as another—I guess). Oliver manages to alert the household and only half the silver plate is taken.

Oliver tells Bill about Fagin’s treasure. Dodger encourages Oliver to escape. Nancy goes to the Brownlows followed by Dodger (in Bill Sikes’s pay). She agrees to bring Oliver to London Bridge at Midnight. Dodger tells Sikes, and then, has second thoughts. He takes Oliver to the bridge himself. Nancy is murdered near the Bridge (quite far from where she’s murdered in the novel—may she rest in peace in both places). Bill Sikes’s dog (Bullseye) leads the police to Fagin’s, where Bill has found Fagin’s treasure and is about to abscond. Fagin arrives and is held at gunpoint. Dodger arrives and saves Fagin (now that’s a clever Twist Dickens never had). Bill takes Oliver to the roof with Fagin’s treasure and, makes his famous slip, falling (like Ralph Nickleby in that masterpiece) his neck caught in a noose.

Dodger is caught by the police. Fagin negotiates with Oliver for the locket, but ultimately capitulates. The locket proves that Oliver is Mr. Brownlows’ grandson (as opposed to the nephew of his closest client as it is in the novel). Oliver has a fond farewell to the Dodger who is hauled off to jail babbling Dickensian dialog. Then, it’s off to Grosvernor Square for a happily ever after ending. Thus ends the synopsis of this film faintly based on Dickens’s Oliver Twist. Well, they did keep the dog. But, no Mr. Bumble! Ahem!