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Spoilers (1)
In conjunction with the release of this film (c. 1968-1969), Random House published a hardcover novelization of the film's screenplay for younger audiences, illustrated with stills from the film. Among the stills featured were scenes showing the arrival at the workhouse and the death of Oliver's mother, who, at least in U.S. prints, never appears in the film.
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Early rumors regarding casting included Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor as Bill and Nancy, and either Laurence Harvey or Peter Sellers as Fagin; though eventually Ron Moody was asked to reprise his stage role. Jack Wild had played one of Fagin's boys in the London production, but was now old enough to play the Artful Dodger. Shani Wallis finally won the role of Nancy nearly a year after first auditioning when she demonstrated an acceptable Cockney accent - the one she grew up with.
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The London sets covered six sound stages and a huge studio backlot - with rich and poor sections. The sets were adaptable overnight in spite of their sturdy look, due to the fact that single dance numbers sometimes required changing sets up to a dozen times.
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"Boy For Sale" was shot in July despite the required snow setting; exterior shots depended on adequate cloud cover due to the erratic weather in London. The snowballs were made of polystyrene, salt, crazy foam and mashed potatoes.
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The cast included 84 boys between 8 and 15 years of age, and one member of Parliament suggested they were being exploited just as the depicted orphans had been. The filmmakers replied that they needed protection more than the boys did, due to the rowdy nature of the production during the summer.
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Amazingly, the composer of this highly respected score, Lionel Bart, could not read music himself. From his earliest days in theater, he would sing his melodies to a trained pianist, who would then set the tunes down on sheet music and orchestrate them.
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While filming the scene where Oliver gets a peek at Fagin's treasure, director Carol Reed was not satisfied with the reaction on Mark Lester's face. Later, while re-shooting the scene, he hid a small white rabbit in his pocket and stood behind the camera. As Ron Moody opened the box of treasures, Reed pulled the rabbit out of his pocket. Lester's reaction to the sight of the rabbit was then used in the final film.
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Mark Lester did not do his own singing in Oliver! It was dubbed by Kathe Green, daughter of Johnny Green, the music arranger/supervisor on the film. Johnny revealed this for the first time publicly in 1988 during an interview on the 20th anniversary of the film. He says that Mark Lester was "tone deaf and arrhythmic". He originally had two boys set to dub his singing but during post production they realized their voices didn't match Mark's look, so they used Johnny's daughter instead.
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The Magistrate that Hugh Griffith plays in the film did not appear in the original stage production of "Oliver!" He does appear in Dickens's original novel, "Oliver Twist", on which the musical is based. In the novel the Magistrate is named Mr. Fang, and although Dickens wrote him satirically, he did not intend him to be comical.
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The original Broadway production of "Oliver!" opened at the Imperial Theater on January 6, 1963, ran for 774 performances and was nominated for the 1963 Tony Award for the Best Musical and received nominations for Best Book and Best Score.
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In the original Broadway production, the Artful Dodger was played by future Monkee Davy Jones who was also nominated for a 1963 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance.
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Although Ron Moody had played Fagin to great acclaim on the London stage, he was only allowed to repeat his performance in the film after Peter Sellers and Peter O'Toole had reportedly turned down the role.
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Oliver Reed's only song was cut from the finished film, officially because the producers decided that Bill Sikes should not sing, but also allegedly because there was concern over the quality of Reed's singing voice.
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Ron Moody recalled that he did not know for certain until the first day of filming whether he had been cast or not.
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Both Jack Wild and Oliver Reed were wearing lifts in the film. Although Wild was 15 at the time of filming, he was actually shorter than nine-year-old Mark Lester.
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Onna White recalled that Jack Wild had to practically drag Mark Lester through the "Consider Yourself" number. Wild, having been part of the West End version, knew the entire play backwards but Lester had no idea what to do.
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Since Mark Lester was unable to simulate tears, freshly cut onions were used to make his eyes water for the "Where Is Love?" number.
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A lavish party was held on the set on 11 July 1967 to celebrate Mark Lester's ninth birthday.
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Although many viewers assumed Jack Wild was one of the youngest members of Fagin's gang, he was actually the second oldest. He celebrated his 15th birthday during filming.
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The film is always listed as running 153 minutes, but this is because of the Overture heard before the film, the Intermission Music, and the Exit Music. The actual film, including the opening credits, runs about 145 minutes.
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Although it has often been written that the story takes place in Victorian times, it was actually set during the reign of King William IV. The book was originally published in Bentley's Miscellany as a serial, in monthly installments that began appearing in the month of February 1837. William IV died in June 1837.
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Because most of the studio sets were built in the open air, many viewers did not realize that the movie was filmed entirely in the studio.
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Additional orchestrator Eric Rogers did all of the orchestrations for the original stage production of "Oliver!"
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The lyrics to "Be Back Soon" were changed from "Bow Street Runners" to "nosy policemen" in case American audiences didn't understand the reference.
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Fagin's owl proved to be a big scene-stealer as every time Carol Reed shouted "Action!", the bird would spin its head 180 degrees.
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The whole of Bloomsbury Square in London was recreated on the Shepperton Studios backlot for the "Who Will Buy" sequence. In fact, the entire Shepperton Studios was given over to the production of Oliver!.
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As a practical joke on Harry Secombe, the make-up department created a false ear for Mark Lester so that when Secombe grabbed the boy's ear, it came off in his hand.
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A meticulous craftsman, Carol Reed often insisted on up to 50 or 60 takes for some individual scenes.
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Mark Lester was not allowed to run around playing with the other children on set as he would invariably get rosy cheeked from his exertions. It would then take up to 10 or 15 minutes for his complexion to return to normal.
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When he finally received his payment for the film at the age of 18 (the money had been put in trust for him), Mark Lester went out and bought a Ferrari with his earnings.
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Studio Records list Veronica Page as Oliver's Mother and Henry Kay as the Doctor attending to Oliver's birth. but these performers were not seen in the movie. It is not known if they were not filmed or filmed and not used.
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Spoilers
The idea of Sikes using Oliver as a hostage to help him escape was taken directly from Sir David Lean's film Oliver Twist. It does not occur that way in the novel. Apparently Lean was not pleased about his friend Sir Carol Reed borrowing from his film without acknowledging him in the opening credits.
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