This is my favorite Dickens film ever. Even more than GREAT EXPECTATIONS, which I also love. I think everything works in OLIVER TWIST, from the music to the cinematography to the acting and editing. Alec Guinness is extraordinary as Fagin. I am aware of the schnozzola and his subtle Yiddish manner and I have tried to figure out why it does not offend me. Part of it has to do with having seen the original illustrations and knowing they were used as a model for his makeup. That doesn’t excuse it but I think what ultimately frees the performance from bigotry and makes it great is its dimensionality. Fagin is so complex. His Jewishness is one aspect of the whole character. For me, it isn’t the focus. The portrait is of a wily, witty, unscrupulous, unwashed person with the morals of a cockroach, who will go to any lengths to get the better of anybody. Incidentally, he is Jewish.
I guess what might bother some people is how he is perceived by audiences who are already a little prejudiced.
I am a Jew. I am not offended. I can speak only for myself.
By the way, I think this is David Lean’s masterpiece.