Tom Jones
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Movie Reviews of Tom Jones
Movie Review: The Best of British
Summary: 5 Stars
As one of the greatest British films ever made, Tony Richardson's classic Tom Jones is long overdue for a full and proper restoration. Curiously, apart from a new stereo soundtrack, Richardson's own 1990 restoration appeared to show no real improvement, and was brutally cut to say the least. That said, MGM's newly released Vintage Classics DVD version is easily the best print of this film I have ever seen, and technically way in advance of previous video releases and TV airings. Beautifully bright, steady, and well defined with good color saturation, this brand new digital transfer is an absolute joy to watch, and as far as I can see completely uncut. Even the dodgy "day for night" scenes are shown well exposed, although these are the scenes that would ultimately benefit from restoration. John Addison's brilliant score sounds sharper and cleaner than ever, and the Dolby Digital mono soundtrack is wonderfully crisp and clear, with a stereo feel of sorts on the big music sections. However, the disappointment of this otherwise fine new release, is MGM's rather creative billing of the movie's aspect ratio as the "original theatrical format of 1:66.1" - which here it definitely is not. This version is presented at approximately 1:50.1 which in effect is pretty much the same as TV's 4 x 3 format. What a shame, as this DVD would be close to perfection had it been presented correctly in full widescreen, and with the restored stereo soundtrack. Sadly, Director Tony Richardson is no longer with us to deliver a commentary, but I do feel an additional commentary by stars Albert Finney or Susannah York, would have been an extra delight, and a valuable "making of" insight for film students and movie buffs. Incidentally, I was fascinated to learn from MGM's superb packaging, that Tom Jones was the last film President Kennedy watched before his assassination.Henry Fielding's mid-18th century novel is adapted for the screen by the genius of a playwright John Osborne, and very creatively licensed for this famous film version, although much to it's advantage in portraying the sheer fun of this rude and bawdy tale (the recent comatose BBC version fell at the first fence by comparison). Set largely in picturesque South West England, Finney's loveable Tom Jones was a foundling, adopted into the Dorset household of wealthy Squire Allworthy some twenty years ago. He now has a winning way with women, including one Sophie Weston the daughter of neighboring landowner and old reprobate, Squire Weston. Tom's lusty desire for Sophie dispatches the young buck on a rollercoaster chase across Georgian England in search of his true love, and finally to Newgate Prison and the Tyburn gallows, where in the nick of time he is saved by Squires Allworthy and Weston, and wins the hand of Susannah York's wonderfully luscious Sophie.
For those with an appetite for location fine print, the movie's shooting locations remain largely unchanged since production in 1963. Squire Allworthy's house is Cranborne Manor in the Dorset County village of the same name, whilst Squire Weston's house is a mix of Steepleton Manor near Shroton in Dorset, and The Abbey House at Cerne Abbas in Dorset, where the main street of this medieval village was also used for the hunt gathering. Cranborne Manor is also the Elizabethan house where Thomas Hardy set his classic novel "Tess of the Durbervilles", and it's beautiful 17th century gardens where Finney and York fall in love in Tom Jones, are regularly open to the public. The evocative boating lake and bridge scenes were shot at nearby Steepleton Manor. The Georgian streets of Bridgewater in Somerset County double for period London, but the real thing was used in the sword fight scene between Tom and Mr Fitzpatrick, at London's famous Lincoln's-Inn-Fields. Nearly full marks to MGM for this top quality DVD release of the ultimate feelgood film, worthy of it's four Academy Awards including Best Picture - why can't British film-makers do this any more?
Movie Review: It's a delightfully good time...
Summary: 5 Stars
It has charm and humor to spare, that is for sure, and it is rich with wonderful performances and witty dialog but calling it the best movie of the year seems like a stretch. I so adore it, which goes without saying, and I enjoy every minute, but it is just a good movie that provides a good time, and it never feels like more than that.
Does that make any sense?
The film follows Tom, the adopted son of a British squire. He's a lady-charmer of sorts, planting his seed wherever he may lie and loving every minute of it. When Tom falls for the beautiful Sophie, the daughter of a neighboring squire, things begin to heat up for Tom. Jealousies within the family cause Tom to eventual flee only to get himself in more and more trouble. He's a kindhearted and well intentioned young man who just doesn't know when to stop.
`Tom Jones' is a very funny movie that sports a stellar cast of comedic performances, as well as some touching and sincere ones. Albert Finney received his first of many Oscar nominations for this film, and he was definitely deserving (it was such a good year in this category). He is charming and witty, enough so to make even Tom's most reprehensible of actions forgeable. High Griffiths and Edith Evans ham it up in their roles, providing an abundance of comic relief, and Susannah York is stunning and beautifully tempered as Sophie.
There isn't a sore spot to be found within the acting at all.
The script is also delightfully written, engaging and funny throughout, sporting some very memorable moments and some intriguing character development. I loved the voice over narration, which provided the film with a literary feel that complemented its comedic tone. It is very well constructed and wonderfully put directed.
The fact remains that while I cannot find a single flaw I just cannot name it the best of the year. I think when you consider the films that were provided to us in 1963 `Tom Jones' kind of falls towards the middle of the list. Films like `Hud' or `This Sporting Life' were much stronger works and much more poignant and influential. `8 ½' is another example of a film that is much smarter and much more technically proficient than `Tom Jones'. This film is splendid and entertaining but its well does not run as deep as some of the years other offerings. Top ten maybe (I'd give it an A-), but not top five and definitely not number one.
Oh well, it is till a wonderful film and one that I will continue to watch and enjoy for years to come.
Movie Review: LOVE this movie!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this in the theatre when it was first released, and the passage of time has done nothing to dim my love and fascination of this superb translation of the novel by Fielding. Of course, Albert Finney made a very dashing Tom Jones, and wqas so perfectly suited to the role; Susannah York great as his true love, Sophie, and the other roles, Hugh Griffith as Sophie's father, and hilarious in his part as a drunken, boisterous, lusty squire, and Dame Edith Evans as his rather disapproving, but very funny sister, reprimanding him with a trilling while he is wrestling some country maidens in the haystacks, straw in his hair and a pack of bulldogs surrounding him. The dinner scene with him eating a roast chicken with great gusto, so much so that he harangues Sophie with pieces of it in his nose, is delightful, as is his unscripted departure from Squire Allworthy's residence, on his horse, and turning so tightly that the horse rears and collapses with Hugh Griffith on top of him...so funny Richardson wisely decided to keep it in the film.I also appreciated the performances of David Warner, as the disgustingly priggish tutor, Mr. Bliful, and Diane Cilento (once married to Sean Connery...) as Tom's sometime paramour. The entire cast is excellent, including Joan Greenwood as the predatory older woman after Tom at any cost. Watch for the Masquerade Ball and see Hugh Griffith in his elephant mask; what a great scene!
The peripheral players are superb, as is the setting of London in the eighteenth century, with the deplorable lack of sanitary conditions and the terrible poverty. The music is haunting, the scene at the Inn (yes, the food scene, of course, one of the more outstanding in the movie) but also the frenetic byplay of the characters winding up in each other's beds with different wives and lovers, it is such a classic melange of humor, drama and near tragedy, there simply isn't one moment of bad film or minute of tedium...you will be absorbed all the way through, and enjoy this rambunctious, joyful frolic with Tom and his supporting cast of finely drawn characters. One last comment: The scene of Tom and Sophie, running, taking turns rowing a boat and falling in love on the grounds of her father's estate, is absolutely beautiful; watch for the scene of them picking blossoms and Sophie laughing and the blossoms falling into her mouth; very sensual and exquisitely detailed, as is the entire production.
Movie Review: "Out and About in the 1700s"
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is such a great example of use of humor in a fictional biography. ("Little Big Man" would be another) Tom, played by Albert Finney starts his life under dire circumstances and goes from one predicament to another. We fear for his life many times. Most of the Action occurs in the 1700s and we get to see the traumas of people living with parasites, being arrested for minor offenses and punished without benefit of fair trial or representation. Raw sewage and garbage fill the streets. It was a time when getting through each day was a hair-raising adventure for most people of a certain socio-economic strata. Tom loves the ladies and is hoplessly addicted to their attentions, which causes him even more problems with irate husbands, boyfriends and angry family members. Somehow he survives it all and usually lands on his feet. There is a wonderful and memorable scene of a feast in which the feast-goers shovel the food in without care of manners or decorum. They wipe their greasy mouths with their own hair dangling down or with the hair of their wigs. They eat with their mouths open and the food flopping out and flapping against their faces. Turkey legs are gnawed on with the veins and tendons springing outward in a sickening manner. Loud burps fill the air. Eating utensils are used as a last resort, fingers preferred. This movie won many academy awards and deserved them all and then some.Movie Review: A New Sense of Modernism
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an adaptation of a large book, a Henry Fielding novel. In the early 1700's the growing middle class in Europe, especially in the British Empire, became literate. As an entertainment to get through the long hours of new leisure, novels flew from the printing presses. Tom Jones was a hit from the first. It was a bawdy tale with amusing detail. It is lucky that an experienced playwright like John Osborne was assigned the screenplay and double lucky that a fine director, Tony Richardson brought the tale to life.
Indeed, Richardson is a poet with the lush English countryside. Since much of the film depicts Tom Jones' amorous adventures in the grass with Molly Seagram, the peasant wench, on a skiff with the Squire's daughter, Sophie, in the tavern with his mother, er, not his mother, Mrs.Wilkens, and in the suites of a countess, the bawdy adventures spin by as food shoots from the mouths of lovers. There are also duels, a misunderstanding about the linage of the Jones baby, and an unwanted suitor for the lovely Sophie, Susan York.
I saw this film as a teen in 1963 and it telegraphed a new sense of modernism and sexual freedom without pretence that is ironic since Fielding's story was hundreds of years old on the eve of the Beatles and the swinging London of the 60's.