Masterpiece: Oliver Twist DVD

Comments about PBS Masterpiece: Oliver Twist DVD:

Dickens production as it should be!

Comments about PBS Masterpiece: Oliver Twist DVD:

I REALLY ENJOYED WATCHING THIS PARTICULAR VERSION.
I'LL WATCH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Comments about PBS Masterpiece: Oliver Twist DVD:

Well acted by a talented ensemble cast of some of my favorite English thespians. Dickens' convoluted story is improved on--and I seldom say that when a book is translated to film--by a prequel that lays out Oliver Twist's parent's love story. And all of Dickens' strange and marvelous array of people--Fagan and Bill Sikes and Nancy and Oliver and the Artful Dodger and Charlie--are faithfully brought to life.

Comments about PBS Masterpiece: Oliver Twist DVD:

This particular version of Oliver Twist is easily my favorite. I love the "prequel" episode that so nicely explains the sequence of events that sets Oliver's story into motion. What I could watch of the next two episodes were well acted, beautifully filmed, and would deserve five stars except for one important detail.

I say "what I could watch" because DVDs 2 & 3 are damaged. This appears to be a manufacturing problem because I attempted to get no less than five different copies (from Netflix, Blockbuster & a private seller) and all five copies had identical problems. There are obviously clean version of this out there - probably first production runs. But the stock of DVDs that are available now (late 2010) will jump into the middle of the story and lock up your player, making it impossible to stop, pause, fast forward, or even exit without turning the player off first.

It is frustrating that outlets still offer these damaged DVDs for I'm surely not the only soul persistent enough to keep sending them back. If I could get a clean copy, this would be a favorite among Masterpiece's otherwise excellent productions.