Oliver!, Lionel Bart’s musical based on Charles Dickens’s novel Oliver Twist, premiered in London, England, on 30 Jun 1960. By Nov 1965, the show had become London’s longest-running musical, according to the 24 Nov 1965 Var. The Broadway version debuted at the Imperial Theatre on 6 Jan 1963, and was an instant success, already profitable by opening night, as noted in a 27 Feb 1963 Var article. The following year, an 18 Jun 1964 DV item stated that Columbia Pictures was interested in producing a film adaptation starring Peter Sellers as “Fagin,” but film rights were subject to pending litigation. An article in the 5 Jul 1964 NYT stated that, while Columbia and Sellers’s Brookfield Productions were negotiating with Donald Albery, whose Donmar Productions was behind the stage production, British producers John and James Woolf’s Romulus Films, Ltd. had made a second offer. Albery claimed his deal with Columbia included a clause that allowed him ten days to consider better offers. However, Peter Sellers and his producing partner, John Bryan, argued that Romulus did not have the financing or distribution arrangements to honor its bid. Furthermore, Sellers and Lionel Bart threatened to abandon the project if Romulus won rights.
       A 27 Oct 1964 DV news brief indicated that Romulus had officially acquired the rights, and announced that Bryan Forbes would direct. Partial funding was expected to come from the Eady Levy, a tax on British box-office sales that supported local filmmaking. The 28 Nov 1964 LAT noted Bart’s continued involvement, despite earlier reports that he would not work with Romulus. Bart still hoped that Sellers would play Fagin, and that Barbra Streisand and Anne Bancroft would be considered for the role of “Nancy.” On 21 Jul 1965, Var announced that Romulus and Columbia would make the film together. No mention was made of Bryan Forbes or Sellers. In May 1966, producer James Woolf traveled to Los Angeles, CA, where he planned to discuss the project with British director Lewis Gilbert. However, prior to the meeting, the forty-six-year-old Woolf died of a heart attack in his room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, as reported in the 31 May 1966 NYT. In his absence, Woolf’s brother and partner, John, who typically involved himself more in Romulus’s television interests, took over the company’s film slate, according to the 25 Jan 1967 Var.
       Sir Carol Reed, who had previously vied with Romulus over film rights, was named director in the 19 Jan 1967 DV, which listed Shani Wallis in the role of Nancy. Wallis had reportedly caught the attention of Columbia chief Mike Frankovich in an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show (CBS, 20 Jun 1948--6 Jun 1971). Nine-year-old Mark Lester, cast as “Oliver,” was chosen from over 2,000 applicants, according to a 6 Jan 1969 LAT brief.
       The picture, said to be “the most costly and ambitious musical made in Britain” to that time, was budgeted at $5 million, as stated in the 25 Jan 1967 Var. Production costs ultimately doubled, according to the 30 Sep 1968 DV review, which stated the final film cost $10 million.
       Romulus’s contract with Donmar stipulated that principal photography would not commence until eighteen months after the musical’s London run had ceased, “to permit extensive provincial tours” prior to theatrical release. Production charts in the 7 Jul and 8 Dec 1967 DV stated that filming began on 26 Jun 1967. A six-month shoot was scheduled to take place at Shepperton Studios, where a music recording theater was outfitted with reversible projectors and “three-track playoff heads feeding nine mixers” per the requests of John Green, a “Hollywood composer, conductor, orchestrator and musical director” recruited by Columbia to take over “musical chore[s],” according to the 9 Oct 1968 Var item. Green detailed all of his needs in a fifteen-page document titled “How to Organize a Musical Department for the Making of a Top Musical Feature.”
       Oliver! was set to be a “roadshow” release, with special reserved-seat engagements in a limited number of cities prior to general release, as noted in the 19 May 1967 DV. The picture, filmed in 35mm Panavision, was blown up to 70mm Panavision for roadshow presentations. The running time was cited in the DV review as 146 minutes, plus an overture of four minutes, intermission music lasting three minutes, and two minutes of play-out music. The film premiered in London in Sep 1968, according to the 27 Sep 1968 DV, and subsequently opened in New York City on 11 Dec 1968, and in Los Angeles on 21 Dec 1968, following a 20 Dec 1968 Los Angeles premiere event, with a screening at Loews Beverly Theater and after-party at the Crystal Room in Beverly Hills, as reported in the 23 Dec 1968 DV. Party favors at the Los Angeles premiere included Oliver! themed ashtrays, perfume, albums, and “centerpieces duplicating ‘Fagin’s’ fabled owl.”
       The picture hewed closely to the source material of Dickens’s novel and Bart’s musical, and was a critical and commercial success. It received six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Art Direction, Directing, Music (Score of a Musical Picture –original or adaptation), Sound, and an honorary award to Onna White for her outstanding choreography achievement. Academy Award nominations also went to Ron Moody for Best Actor, Jack Wild for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Oswald Morris for Cinematography, Phyllis Dalton for Costume Design, Ralph Kemplen for Editing, and Vernon Harris for Writing (Screenplay—based on material from another medium). Ron Moody won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and the film received five Golden Globe nominations in the categories of Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, New Star of the Year (Jack Wild), Best Original Score – Motion Picture, Best Director – Motion Picture, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture (Hugh Griffith). The awards boosted already high box-office sales, as noted in the 7 May 1969 Var, and Mike Frankovich was expecting the cumulative gross to exceed $40 million.
       Only Lionel Bart received above-the-title billing , according to the DV review. Opening titles included sepia drawings by artist Graham Barkley.
       Previous adaptations of Oliver Twist included films released in 1906, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1916, 1922, and 1933 (see entries), and a 1948 British production directed by David Lean and starring Alec Guinness as Fagin.