At the link, you can read Marc Napolitano's dissertation on Dickens musicals. The Oliver section would seem to have been the basis of his book Oliver! A Dickensian Musical. Go to page 266 for discussion of the film, including the casting.
FWIW, and this is just surmise, I suspect there were two reasons they cast Wallis rather than Brown. First, they perhaps didn't want to risk trouble on the set between Moody and Brown. So once Moody was cast, Brown was not under consideration. Second, even though Wallis was six months older than Brown, I think she looked younger and certainly was more conventionally pretty.
Again, this is just surmise. |
