Tom Jones (1963 film)

Tom Jones
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Tony Richardson
Produced by	Tony Richardson Michael Holden Oscar Lewenstein Michael Balcon (uncredited)
Screenplay by	John Osborne
Based on	The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
Starring	Albert Finney Susannah York Hugh Griffith Edith Evans Joan Greenwood Diane Cilento George Devine David Tomlinson
Narrated by	Micheál Mac Liammóir
Music by	John Addison
Cinematography	Walter Lassally
Edited by	Antony Gibbs
Production company	Woodfall Film Productions
Distributed by	United Artists (UK) Lopert Pictures Corporation (US)
Release date	29 September 1963 (1963-09-29) (Venice)
Running time	128 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$1 million or £467,000[1]
Box office	$37,600,000

Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure-comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time,^[2] winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film was directed by Tony Richardson and the screenplay was adapted by playwright John Osborne. The film has an unusual comic style: the opening sequence is performed in the manner of a silent film, and characters sometimes break the fourth wall, often by looking directly into the camera and addressing the audience, and going so far as to have the character of Tom Jones suddenly appearing to notice the camera and covering the lens with his hat. Another unusual feature of the movie is the presence of an unseen narrator voiced by Micheál Mac Liammóir. Mock-serious commentaries between certain scenes deplore the action of several characters as well as the weaknesses in the human character and provides a poetic denouement for the movie.

Tom Jones was a success both critically and at the box-office. At the 36th Academy Awards, it was nominated for ten Oscars, winning four: Best Picture, Best Director for Richardson, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. It also won two Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and three BAFTA Awards including Best Film and Best British Film.

In 1999 the British Film Institute named it the 51st greatest British film of the 20th Century.

Plot

The story begins with a silent film sequence during which the good Squire Allworthy returns home after a lengthy stay in London and discovers a baby in his bed. Thinking that his barber, Mr. Partridge, and one of his servants, Jenny Jones, have "birthed" the infant out of lust, the squire banishes them and chooses to raise little Tom Jones as if he were his own son, and Tom loves him like a father.

Tom grows up to be a lively young man whose good looks and kind heart make him very popular with the opposite sex. However, he truly loves only one woman, the gentle Sophie Western, who returns his passion. Sadly, Tom is stigmatized as a "bastard" and cannot wed a young lady of her high station. Sophie, too, must hide her feelings while her aunt and her father, Squire Western try to coerce her to marry a more suitable man – a man whom she hates.

This young man is Blifil, the son of Squire Allworthy's widowed sister Bridget. Although he is of legitimate birth, he is an ill-natured fellow with plenty of hypocritical 'virtue' but none of Tom's warmth, honesty, or high spirits. When Bridget dies unexpectedly, Blifil intercepts a letter, which his mother intended for his uncle's eyes only. The letter's contents are not revealed; however, after his mother's funeral, Blifil and his two tutors, Mr. Thwackum and Mr. Square, join forces to convince the squire that Tom is a villain. Allworthy gives Tom a small cash legacy and sorrowfully sends him out into the world to seek his fortune.

In his road-travelling odyssey, Tom is knocked unconscious while defending the good name of his beloved Sophie and robbed of his legacy. He also flees from a jealous Irishman who falsely accuses him of having an affair with his wife, engages in deadly sword fights, meets his alleged father and his alleged mother, a certain Mrs. Waters, whom he saves from an evil Redcoat Officer, and later beds the same Mrs. Waters. In a celebrated scene, Tom and Mrs. Waters sit opposite each other in the dining room of the Upton Inn, wordlessly consuming an enormous meal while gazing lustfully at each other.

Meanwhile, Sophie runs away from home soon after Tom's banishment to escape the attentions of the loathed Blifil. After narrowly missing each other at the Upton Inn, Tom and Sophie arrive separately in London. There, Tom attracts the attention of Lady Bellaston, a promiscuous noblewoman over 40 years of age. She is rich, beautiful, and completely amoral, though Tom goes to her bed willingly and is generously rewarded for his services. Eventually, Tom ends up at Tyburn Gaol, facing a boisterous hanging crowd after two blackguardly agents of Blifil frame him for robbery and attempted murder. Allworthy learns the contents of the mysterious letter: Tom is not Jenny Jones's child, but Bridget's illegitimate son and Allworthy's nephew. Furthermore, since Blifil knew this, concealed it, and tried to destroy his half-brother, he is now in disgrace and disinherited. Allworthy uses this knowledge to get Tom a pardon, but Tom has already been conveyed to the gallows; his hanging is begun, but is interrupted by Squire Western, who cuts him down and takes him to Sophie. Tom now has permission to court Sophie, and all ends well with Tom embracing Sophie with Squire Western's blessing.

Differences between the film and the novel

The film is noticeably truncated, and several episodes and a number of characters did not make it into the film. Some missing material includes:

• The Man of the Hill episode (VIII.10-15) is missing altogether, and the amateur highwayman Anderson (rendered Enderson in some editions) is conflated with Partridge.
• Partridge himself is reintroduced into the story later in the film than the novel, and the ludic dialogues he has with Tom have been omitted.
• Captain Blifil is only mentioned in passing by the narrator, and his brother the doctor is forgotten.
• The film ends with Micheál Mac Liammóir as narrator quoting from a portion of John Dryden's poetic translation of Horace's Ode: To Maecenas:

  "Happy the man, and happy he alone,

  He who can call today his own:

  He who, secure within, can say,

  Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today."^[3]

Cast

Production

Bridgwater's Castle Street was used as a location in several scenes. Bryanston Films hesitated to make the film in colour and shortly went bankrupt. The film was financed by American production money through United Artists.^[4]

The production suffered from more than the usual disasters, near-disasters and squabbles attending films shot on location in English weather. Tony Richardson was dissatisfied with the final product, notwithstanding its acclaim by others. In his autobiography Richardson wrote:

"I felt the movie to be incomplete and botched in much of its execution. I am not knocking that kind of success – everyone should have it – but whenever someone gushes to me about Tom Jones, I always cringe a little inside."^[5]

Cinematographer Walter Lassally has said^[6] that in his opinion the location unit got on very well together under the circumstances, and that the experience was satisfying. He thought Richardson rather lost his way in post-production, endlessly fixing what was not really broken.

Several of the sequences are regarded as brilliantly photographed by Lassally, such as the hunt scene and the village square scene.

Box office

The film was financially successful. It came third in British box office receipts in 1963,^[7] and was the 4th most popular in the United States. Produced on a budget of $1 million, earning $16 million in rentals in North America^[8][9] and $4 million in markets other than the UK and US.^[8]

Releases

The film was reissued in 1989 by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. For this release, Richardson trimmed the film by seven minutes.^[2]

Awards and nominations

See also

• BFI Top 100 British films

References

External links

• Tom Jones on IMDb
• Tom Jones at the TCM Movie Database
• Tom Jones at AllMovie
• Tom Jones: Tomorrow Do Thy Worst an essay by Neil Sinyard at the Criterion Collection