Dickie Moore
Oliver Twist
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Synopsis
An orphan escapes the cruelty of the workhouse only to enter a London underworld that sees children as useful tools. A chance encounter with a kindly gentleman suggests another life, but the people exploiting him want him back. This early sound version of Dickens follows Oliver's search for security through a city divided by poverty and privilege.
Cast
DirectorsWilliam J. Cowen
Inspirations
This was the first sound-film adaptation of Dickens's Oliver Twist. Made for Monogram with very limited resources, it compresses the novel's crowded social world into a short feature and gives spoken voices to characters already familiar from silent versions.
Reception and legacy
The film remained relatively obscure and spent years out of circulation before renewed television exposure in the 1980s. Its historical interest includes its early use of sound for Dickens as well as the constraints of its modest production.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Dickie Moore — unknown (RKO) · Public domain
- Irving Pichel — Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
- Doris Lloyd — Bassano · Public domain
