''Oliver Twist'' is a 1909 American film and the first film adaptation of
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
' 1838 novel ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
''. It starred
Edith Storey as Oliver Twist,
Elita Proctor Otis
Elita Proctor Otis (1851 or 1860 – August 10, 1927) was an American actress. She had a long distinguished stage career before her foray into early silent films. In 1909 she may have been the first actress to play Nancy Sikes on screen in a Vi ...
as
Nancy, and
William J. Humphrey as Fagin. It was directed by
J. Stuart Blackton
James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...
.
The film was made by
Vitagraph Studios
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...
and marketed with emphasis on the participation of Elita Proctor Otis, who was said to have made the role of Nancy "famous throughout the world".
Plot summary
Cast
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Edith Storey - Oliver
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William Humphrey - Fagin
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Elita Proctor Otis
Elita Proctor Otis (1851 or 1860 – August 10, 1927) was an American actress. She had a long distinguished stage career before her foray into early silent films. In 1909 she may have been the first actress to play Nancy Sikes on screen in a Vi ...
- Nancy Sykes
References
External links
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1909 films
Films based on Oliver Twist
American silent short films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Films about orphans
1909 drama films
1909 short films
Silent American drama films
Films set in London
Films set in the 19th century
1900s English-language films
1900s American films
American drama short films
English-language drama films
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