A wonderful musical, Oliver debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time and it has never looked or sounded better with amazing transfers on both accounts.
Oliver! (1968)
Genre(s): Musical, Drama
Twilight Time | G – 153 min. – $29.95 | November 5, 2013
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Carol Reed
Writer(s): Vernon Harris (screenplay)
Cast: Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester
DISC INFO:
Features: Featurettes, Sing-Alongs, Isolated Score Track, Theatrical Trailer
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35
Subtitles: English SDH
Disc Size: 46.1 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 4.0/5
Plot Synopsis: Director Carol Reed (The Third Man) brings us the 1968 screen adaptation of Lionel Bart’s smash-hit musical, Oliver! Based on Charles Dickens’s classic Oliver Twist, the film tells the charming yet dark tale of a runaway orphan (MARK LESTER) who travels to London to seek his fortune, only to become ensnared in a den of child-thieves run by the unforgettable Fagin (RON MOODY).
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5
Behind the Scenes (7:35; SD) is a short and old featurette used to advertise the movie than provide any insight.
Meeting Oliver (14:43; HD) is a decent interview with Mark Lester, intercut with scenes from the movie. It’s a fun featurette where Lester, now older obviously, recounting how he got the role and working on the film.
Meeting Fagin (13:21; HD) is a similar featurette this time with Ron Moody.
Sing-Alongs (HD) offers the viewers to sing to some of the key songs: ‘Food Glorious Food’, ‘Consider Yourself’, ‘Pick a Pocket or Two’, ‘I’d Do Anything’, ‘Be Back Soon’, ‘Who Will Buy?’, ‘Reviewing the Situation’ and ‘Oom-Pah-Pah’.
Dance Instructions (HD) shows how to do the dances for ‘Be Back Soon’, ‘Food Glorious Food’ and ‘I’d Do Anything’.
Dance & Sing-Alongs (HD) puts both elements together. And no, I did not attempt this, the universe could not handle it because I’m so damn good…
Original Theatrical Trailer (1:41; HD)
VIDEO – 4.5/5
Thanks to Twilight Time, Oliver arrives on Blu-ray with a pretty spectacularly looking 1080p high-definition transfer. Presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio, the film has excellent clarity throughout with great detail levels, a healthy amount of grain as intended and no signs of DNR or a scrubbing which a certain other studio is known for (at least animated titles). The color array is also nice though the film itself goes more toward earth-tones so it’s not something that exactly has pop to it.
AUDIO – 4.25/5
On a similar front, the movie has also been upgraded to a strong 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track. While dialogue levels are crisp and clear, this lossless track especially comes to life through the musical numbers and sounds really good. The bulk of other elements, ambient noises and such, nicely fill out the other channels. It’s not an outstanding track, but it’s still quite good.
OVERALL – 4.0/5
Overall, a wonderful musical, Oliver debuts on Blu-ray courtesy of Twilight Time and it has never looked or sounded better with amazing transfers on both accounts. The bonus material is also quite good headlined by two new interviews with Mark Lester and Ron Moody with the former being a must-watch.
Published: 11/15/2013