Jackie Coogan was barely eight ears old when he turned his hand to one of Charles Dickens' more engaging characters. Born in the workhouse and quickly orphaned, he spends much of his young life picking oakum whilst constantly hungry. Scared that one of his friends might be reduced to having to eat him, he pulls the short straw and asks for extra gruel! Next thing, he's for sale - only his guardians pay "Sowerberry" (Nelson McDowell) to take the boy off their books. That experience doesn't go well and he flees to London where he encounters "Dodger" (Eduaord Trebaol) then "Fagin" (Lon Chaney) and "Sikes" (George Siegmann) and the story of child exploitation, crime and brutality takes it's familiar shape. Frank Lloyd has created a film, here, that imbues the audience with some of the grim realities of the filthy and poverty-stricken existence of many of Londoners who lived quite literally cheek by jowl with their wealthy and well-fed gentry. Coogan is every inch the star - indeed his might be the best effort of any to play this part. His face is expressive and his characterful presentation coupled with some fine support from the likes of Aggie Hering ("Mrs Corney") and Carl Stockdale ("Monks") - two of the boy's avaricious antagonists, helps create a grubby and dangerous environment in which survival of the even the fittest is a daily endurance test. I saw this recently as part of a silent film festival and aided by a lively piano accompaniment was well worth the big screen experience.
