Oliver Twist (2000)

A six-hour “Masterpiece Theater” adaptation of the novel dramatizes the cruel social conditions that confronted disadvantaged children in early 19th-century England. Oliver Twist (Sam Smith) is an orphan raised in a workhouse for the poor who's determined to rise above his lot. Screenwriter Alan Bleasdale and director Renny Rye cleverly expand the novel's backstory about the lad's dead mother (Sophia Myles) before launching into his adventures.

The Golden Seal (1983)

Based on James Vance Marshall's novel A River Ran out of Eden, this heartfelt, imaginative presentation is set in remote Aleutian Islands off the Alaska Coast. The 10-year-old Eric (Torquil Campbell) is lonely and wants a pet. He bonds with the real-life embodiment of a legendary golden seal who allegedly stays away from humans because of their greed.

The animal visits Eric's island every seven years to bear its young. A bounty hunter (Michael Beck) and Eric's father (Steve Railsback) are searching for the creature because of the $10,000 price on its pelt. But Eric decides to shelter it from its pursuers.

The Fighting Sullivans (1944)

In Waterloo, Iowa railway worker Mr. Sullivan (Thomas Mitchell) and his wife (Selena Royle) are raising five boys. Director Lloyd Bacon (Knute Rockne, All American) and screenwriters Mary McCall, Edward Doherty and Jules Schermer recreate the flavor of small-town life with feeling and depth. After the Pearl Harbor bombing, the five Sullivan sons (Ryan, John Campbell, James Cardwell, John Alvin and George Offerman) join the Navy and insist on serving together.