The Save the David Lean Cinema Campaign is planning a special event next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of its eponymous Oscar-winner.

Film historian Kevin Brownlow, the biographer of Croydon-born Sir David Lean and himself an honorary Academy Award winner, will be giving a talk at the David Lean Cinema on Saturday, April 16, to introduce a screening of a film of his choice: the darkly moving Oliver Twist.

Made in 1948, two years after Lean’s previous Dickens adaptation, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist is no song and dance, like the 1960s musical, but a brooding interpretation of Victorian London. The film has done much to influence later Dickensian adaptations , and by the end of the movie, most audiences will be asking for more…

Cruikshank’s original illustrations were the starting point for the film’s noir-ish look, especially the make-up for Fagin, in which Lean cast Alec Guinness after the actor arrived for audition in his own make up, which was to see the film dogged with controversy. Lean failed to anticipate that such a caricature would cause outrage in a world recently scarred by the Holocaust; the American release was held up for three years.

This special event is expected to quickly fill up the available seats, so you are advised to book early, as soon as tickets are available.

For booking details and a full listing of films being shown at the David Lean Cinema in March, click here

• Inside Croydon Events: for the most comprehensive community events listings, updated daily

• Still Croydon’s only independent news source, and based in the heart of the borough: 1.97 million page views 2013-2015
• Inside Croydon: Named among best regional media campaigns, 2014
• If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, a residents’ or business association or local event to publicise, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com