London in the 1830s - a dark, cruel city marked by the stark disparity between the wealth of the upper classes and the bleak wretchedness of life on the streets. When an anonymous woman dies in childbirth, the mid-wife pockets the dead mother's wedding ring. She passes the ring and the baby to harsh constable Bumble, who christens the orphan with the unlikely name of Oliver Twist. When Oliver is nine, he is sent to an orphanage, where life is even grimmer than the one the boy has known. After escaping and wandering the streets for days, he is taken in by the fast-talking pick-pocket, Artful Dodger, and introduced to a new and dangerous life as part of a band of petty street thieves under the watchful eye of Fagin and the drunken fists of Bill Sikes. The key to Oliver's future is in the ring that has followed him since birth.

The 1933 production of Charles Dickens' masterful tale of poverty and providence, Oliver Twist, was the first sound film adaptation of the classic, and opened the floodgates for the many Dickens films of the thirties: Great Expectations (1934), David Copperfield (1935), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), A Tale of Two Cities (1935) and A Christmas Carol (1938). Young Dickie Moore made his film debut as an 18 month old baby in John Barrymore's Beloved Rogue (1927), and by the time he was 10 years old, the popular child star had appeared in over 50 films, including several "Our Gang" shorts. Toward the end of his career, Moore co-starred in the popular 1950s series, Captain Video and the Video Rangers. He is also known to trivia fans for bestowing Shirley Temple's first screen kiss in 1942's Miss Annie Rooney when she was 14.

This is the first film version of the Dickens's 1839 classic. It is 19th-century England and an unknown girl tragically dies during childbirth. Her orphaned boy, Oliver, spends his childhood in the workhouse, treated harshly at the hands of the parish authorities. He eventually runs away to London where he meets Fagin, an old criminal who controls a gang of young thieves and introduces Oliver to a life of crime and corruption. The heartwarming conclusion is filled with unexpected twists.