dual personalities

The other night when the OM and I came home from his office party and I was too keyed up to go to bed, I turned on TCM and watched Oliver Twist (1948).

Directed by David Lean, this British version of the Dickens novel does not sugar-coat the harsh realities of the life of poor Oliver, the orphan boy who runs away from a workhouse and meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. Taken in by the pickpocket, he joins the household of Fagin and his gang of young hoodlums. It is a ghastly story really and Bill Sykes is one of the the scariest characters in literature and he has always traumatized me. Once again, the scene where he beats Nancy to death moved me to turn off the TV.

This movie, made seventy years ago, packs quite a punch as social commentary–in black and white and without f-bombs and computer-generated violence. The acting is all top-notch, although Alec Guinness’s portrayal of Fagin drew quite a lot of criticism at the time as being anti-semitic.

(His make-up is a little much, but supposedly they were trying to make him look like the character as he appeared in George Cruikshank’s illustrations in the first edition of the novel, which you could argue were anti-semitic in the first place. But, you know, Fagin is just a fictional character in a book, a villain, and not a stereotype of all Jews.)

Once again, I have to say, they knew how to make movies back then.

So what then is my Friday movie pick? Maybe a Christmas movie…

We could then discuss which Christmas movie mom most reminds you of which dual personality…and don’t say Angela Lansbury!

Or we could all just do a crossword puzzle in honor of today being the 105th anniversary of the first crossword puzzle being published in the New York World. Unfortunately I am terrible at crossword puzzles. I think I would rather wash dishes. Or listen to Henry Mancini records.

Discuss among yourselves. Have a good weekend!