The Parish Boy’s Progress, From Book to Film to Musical

With a new production of ‘Oliver!’ at Chichester Festival Theatre, this talk will trace the history of the many adaptations of the story, from Dickens’s novel to stage and film versions, dramas and musicals.

It is over 185 years since the novel was serialised; since then there have been countless films and television series. This talk by Education Team member Andrew Vance, illustrated with a range of clips, will look at the films from the 1909 Vitograph Studios version up to Roman Polanski’s 2005 film, including David Lean’s famous adaptation with Sir Alec Guinness. Other famous actors who have played Fagin include Lon Chaney, George C Scott, Richard Dreyfuss and Ben Kingsley. It will explore the ways in which depictions of Fagin have changed from Dickens’s original characterisation, including the persistent accusations of antisemitism. Lionel Bart cast Ron Moody, a comic actor, as Fagin in his musical, who then went on to play the role in the Oscar winning film directed by Carol Reed. We can look forward to a new adaptation of ‘Oliver!’, directed by Matthew Bourne, at the Chichester Festival Theatre this summer.

100m (inc 10m Q&A)

Sat 27 Jul 10:30

In the Auditorium

Tickets £7.50

1948 Version

In Charles Dickens' classic tale, an orphan wends his way from cruel apprenticeship to den of thieves in search of a true home. This is the definitive version, and we are delighted to screen it at New Park to complement the Chichester Festival Theatre Summer musical production of ‘Oliver!’.

When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist (John Howard Davies) dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble (Francis L. Sullivan), for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin Artful Dodger (Anthony Newley) and his criminal mentor, Fagin (Alec Guinness). When kindly Mr. Brownlow (Henry Stephenson) takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes (Robert Newton) plots to kidnap the boy. This masterly adaptation of the Dickens novel by director David Lean brims with unforgettable scenes and performances, especially Guinness's Fagin and Newton's genuinely frightening Bill Sikes.

UK 1948 David Lean 105m

Follows Hans Jürgen Höss, the son of Auschwitz Camp Commandant Rudolf Höss (from the recent ‘The Zone of Interest’), when he confronts his father's involvement in the murder of over a million Jews during the Holocaust.

The Höss clan was fictionally captured in Jonathan Glazer’s Academy Award-winning ‘The Zone of Interest’. Now, the family that inspired the disturbing saga is focused on in this new documentary. The documentary centres on two stories, one of Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and another of Höss recalling his own childhood in the family villa at Auschwitz. The two meet 80 years later, and together with their children, Kai Höss and Maya Lasker-Wallfisch explore their very different hereditary burdens. The documentary includes original excerpts of Rudolf Höss’ autobiography, written shortly before his execution. We will be rescreening ‘The Zone of Interest’to complement this documentary. (Some subtitles)

USA 2024 Daniela Volker 110m

In this heartwarming drama, a woman is struggling through her daily routine both at home and at the local chicken factory (Chuck Chuck Baby), when an old flame comes back into the picture.

Present day, industrial North Wales. Helen (Louise Brealey) lives with her ex-husband (Celyn Jones), his 20-year-old girlfriend (Emily Fairn), their new baby - and his dying mother Gwen (Sorcha Cusack). Helen's mundane world takes a surprising turn with Joanne's (Annabel Scholey) return; they were the objects of the other's secret teenage passions. Encouraged by Helen, Joanne starts a playful wooing game. As they fall in love, Helen's zest for life returns but Joanne feels the walls close in as she faces something darker from her past. This is a bighearted, crowd-pleasing tale of love, liberation and female empowerment which boldly uses some musical standards (including Neil Diamond’s ’Dirty Old Town’ and The Pogues’ ‘Dirty Old Tow’) to convey the high emotional stakes at play.

UK 2023 Janis Pugh 101m

When the White House deems a Nasa mission too important to fail, a marketing expert is directed to stage a fake moon landing as back-up.

Brought in to fix NASA's public image, sparks fly in all directions as marketing ace Kelly Jones (ScarlettJohansson) wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis's (Channing Tatum) already difficult task.

This is a sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the high-stakes backdrop of NASA's historic Apollo 11 moon landing.

USA 2024 Greg Berlanti

A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered. This tense, paranoid thriller presents Francis Ford Coppola at his finest.

Surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is hired by a mysterious client's brusque aide (Harrison Ford) to tail a young couple, Mark (Frederic Forrest) and Ann (Cindy Williams). Tracking the pair through San Francisco's Union Square, Caul and his associate Stan (John Cazale) manage to record a cryptic conversation between them. Tormented by memories of a previous case that ended badly, Caul becomes obsessed with the resulting tape, trying to determine if the couple are in danger. Hackman is superb in this brilliant conspiracy thriller which has been restored and reissued. Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes 1974, Coppola's film confirms its status as a classic, a movie of real authority.

USA 1974 Francis Ford Coppola 113m

La Macchina Ammazzacattivi

The third (and least known) film in our Italian Neo-Realism season follows a man who is given a special power which he quickly begins to use, and abuse. Rossellini’s highly stylised satire is a morality tale that marks a transition in the filmmaker’s career.

A photographer in a small fishing village is visited by a man who claims to be Saint Andrea. The Saint gives him a special camera device to solve the village's ills - by taking a photograph of an existing picture, the photo subject dies. Initially sure of his good intentions, he aims the weapon at human injustice, but discovers in the process that good and evil are intertwined. Inspired by the commedia dell’arte, complete with political allusions and a strong moral message, the film was initially abandoned by Rossellini in 1948, only to be completed four years later. (Subtitles)

Italy 1952 Roberto Rossellini 83m

Exhibition on Screen

No artist better captures the essence and allure of Venice than Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto. This film offers an immersive journey into his remarkable life and art.

Sun 28 Jul 17:30

Wed 31 Jul 13:45

In this sequel to one of Pixar’s best recent films, we follow Riley in her teenage years as she encounters new emotions.

The little voices inside Riley's (Kensington Tallman) head know her inside and out - but now, everything changes as Riley is introduced to a new emotion: anxiety.

USA 2024 Kelsey Mann 100m

The commandant of Auschwitz and his wife strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.

The film observes Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) as they live their happy family life right next door to the concentration camp. Shot like a casual European dramedy about a family at their summer home, the reality that surrounds them is revealed only by the barbed wire fences, small details in conversation, skies filled with smoke, bursts of sound design, and the piercing score. Friedel as Höss is frightening in his mundanity and Hüller as Hedwig gives the film its twisted humanity. The moments where Hedwig is cruel to her house staff almost feel like a relief - evil we can see even if it’s so much milder than what’s over the walls. In the novel from where this screenplay has been adapted, the lead was named Paul Doll. Glazer, best known for ‘Sexy Beast’ and ‘Under the Skin’, specifically chose to name his main character Rudolf Höss (almost identical to Rudolf Hess) to bring the weight of a well-recorded historical character living in a specific place and time. (Subtitles)

USA 2023 Jonathan Glazer 105m