Oliver Twist

Director Roman Polanski gives one of Charles Dickens' best-loved stories a new and dynamic interpretation in this period drama. Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) is a young orphan in Victorian England who has been sent to a dank workhouse run by the miserly Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift) when it is learned ...more

The mother of all Victorian orphan epics gets remade for the umpteenth time, as Oliver Twist goes under the lens of acclaimed filmmaker Roman Polanski for this 2005 release. Polanski's update of the classic Dickens tale is highly competent, yet wholly unnecessary -- which may have more to do with the era of its release than any objective judgment of its cinematic worth. By 2005, straightforward period pieces had lost their box office clout, so a tale retold many times -- and not that differently ...more