Oliver Twist (1909)

Oliver Twist Review

Oliver Twist is a 1909 silent short film directed by J. Stuart Blackton. It’s a pretty solid adaptation.

This was the first screen adaptation of the titular Charles Dickens novel. It is solid for what it is, but it’s not great by any means. This is one of those early movies where the short runtime presented a hurdle to the plot itself as the movie flies by each major plot point, leaving no time to properly develop its characters. The faithfulness to the source material is definitely apparent, but most scenes felt rushed at the end of the day.

Edith Storey as Oliver was very good and Elita Proctor Otis was strikingly memorable as Nancy. The acting performances are strong across the board here while the directing from Blackton is also competent. The cinematography is polished and the production design is surprisingly strong with a couple of sets being very reminiscent of the book itself and quite evocative of this time period. It’s a shame that the overall storyline was abruptly handled.

1909’s Oliver Twist is an overly short and rushed movie, but it’s a solid adaptation that benefits from strong acting performances and excellent production design.

My Rating – 3.7