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Stars: Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Jack Wild, Oliver Reed, Shani Wallis, Harry Secombe, Joseph O’Conor, Hugh Griffith, Peggy Mount, Leonard Rossiter, Hylda Baker, Kenneth Cranham, Megs Jenkins, Sheila White, Wensley Pithey, James Hayter, Elizabeth Knight, Fred Emney| Written by Vernon Harris | Directed by Carol Reed

Charles Dickens wrote some amazing tales during his lifetime. Think about A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield or the holiday classic A Christmas Carol. But in only his second novel, he wrote a tale that has and will forever live in our thoughts. Of course, I’m talking about the little parish boy Oliver Twist.

Charles Dickens’ little orphan boy Oliver’s life story has been adapted for film and TV more than 20 times. In 1968, Columbia Pictures brought the world an epic musical version of Oliver Twist in the film Oliver! This Academy Award-winning musical is rapidly approaching its 60th anniversary. Now, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment...

He’s mean, he’s nasty, he carries a razor and he’s dating your sister! Cosh Boy was front & center in 1953 debates about ‘what’s wrong with the British cinema.’ It holds up well, if not as PC social comment, then as solid exploitation fare, with our verminous hero putting the moves on tough-but-vulnerable local girl Joan Collins. The entire cast will want to stand in line to get revenge against Roy Walsh, the punk who steals from his own mum and lets his criminal gang do the dirty work. Take it from me, he’s a dirty rat.

The Slasher (Cosh Boy)

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1953 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 75 min. / Street Date January 7, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95

Starring: James Kenney, Joan Collins, Betty Ann Davies, Robert Ayres, Hermione Baddeley, Hermione Gingold, Nancy Roberts, Laurence Naismith, Ian Whittaker, Stanley Escane, Michael McKeag, Sean Lynch, Johnny Briggs, Nosher Powell.

The Admirable Crichton

Blu ray

Twilight Time

1957 / 1:85:1 / 94 Min. / Street Date – February 12, 2019

Starring Kenneth More, Sally Ann Howes

Cinematography by Wilkie Cooper

Directed by Lewis Gilbert

True love and the British Empire collide in 1957’s The Admirable Crichton, the riches to rags story of one hard-to-get butler and a boatload of love struck aristocrats.

Loam Manor is run with steely officiousness by the valet known simply as Crichton, a kindly martinet who views the class system as the crowning achievement of British society – a notion which not coincidentally coincides with Crichton’s dominance over the servant’s quarters.

The Loams themselves, three spoon-fed sisters and their dithering father are naturally spoiled rotten, viewing their stable of servants as an exotic species to be kept on invisible leashes – in such a fraught situation the tables are just begging to be turned. And so they are when the Lord’s ship sinks,...

Ron Moody as Fagin in 'Oliver!' based on Charles Dickens' 'Oliver Twist.' Ron Moody as Fagin in Dickens musical 'Oliver!': Box office and critical hit (See previous post: "Ron Moody: 'Oliver!' Actor, Academy Award Nominee Dead at 91.") Although British made, Oliver! turned out to be an elephantine release along the lines of – exclamation point or no – Gypsy, Star!, Hello Dolly!, and other Hollywood mega-musicals from the mid'-50s to the early '70s.[1] But however bloated and conventional the final result, and a cast whose best-known name was that of director Carol Reed's nephew, Oliver Reed, Oliver! found countless fans.[2] The mostly British production became a huge financial and critical success in the U.S. at a time when star-studded mega-musicals had become perilous – at times downright disastrous – ventures.[3] Upon the American release of Oliver! in Dec. 1968, frequently acerbic The...