Brief description: Programme for Oliver Twist film adapted by David Lean, 1948
Label: David Lean adapted Great Expectations in 1946 to great acclaim and followed it two years later with Oliver Twist. Both films capture the natural cinematography in Dickens’s writing. However, Alec Guinness’s depiction of Fagin was criticised as anti-Semitic, just as Dickens’s original representation was. A screening in post war Berlin led to violent riots, the withdrawal of the film and a 2-year ban in the US before being re-released with 12 minutes cut.
Collection: Object
Object number: [lib]7394
Object type: booklet
Production date: 1948
Credit line: Image taken by Lewis Bush, 2025. This image is provided under Creative Commons License 4.0 until 1 April 2031, made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Programme for film version of Oliver Twist, 1948