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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.

Cast

As of 2019, only David Warner, Rosalind Knight and Julian Glover are still living.

Production

Development

While the British production company, Bryanston Films was hesitating over whether to make the film in colour, it shortly went bankrupt. United Artists then stepped in to finance the film and make it a colour production.^[3]

Overall the production suffered from more than the usual disasters, near-disasters and squabbles caused by films being shot on location in English weather. Tony Richardson was dissatisfied with the final product. In his autobiography Richardson wrote he "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."^[4]

Writing

John Osborne, in adapting the screenplay from Henry Fielding's 1749 novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, truncated and removed notable episodes and characters from the book. These included:

Filming

Castle Street in Bridgwater, Somerset was used as a location in several scenes. Cinematographer Walter Lassally has said 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.^[6]

Release

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

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

Reception

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

Tom Jones is the only film in the history of the Academy in which three actresses were nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscar.^[14] All three nominations were unsuccessful, however, as the Award went to Dame Margaret Rutherford for her role in The V.I.P.s. Tom Jones's five unsuccessful acting nominations matched the record set by Peyton Place at the 30th Academy Awards, the last film to date to do so.

Ilya Lopert accepted the Academy Award for Best Picture on behalf of the producers. Upon Lopert's death, the Best Picture Academy Award was passed on to Albert Finney.

BAFTA Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Other awards

See also

References

1. ^Film giants step into finance The Observer (1901- 2003) [London (UK)] 19 Apr 1964: 8.
2. ^¹{{Cite news| url=http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=50295 | work=The New York Times | first=A. O. | last=Scott | accessdate=25 May 2010| title=We're Sorry | date=7 February 2005}}
3. ^{{cite book|page=xiv|last= Mayer|first= Geoff|title=Guide to British Cinema|publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group|year= 2003}}
4. ^{{Cite book | last = Richardson | first = Tony | title = Long Distance Runner – A memoir | publisher = Faber & Faber | year = 1993 | location = London | page = 136 | isbn = 0-571-16852-3 }}
5. ^{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/54361/54361-h/54361-h.htm|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Works of John Dryden vol 12, by Walter Scott, page 349|last=|first=|date=|website=www.gutenberg.org|language=en|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2018-09-28}}
6. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.webofstories.com/play/14061?o=MS|title=Tom Jones: the editing and Tony Richardson's generosity|website=www.webofstories.com}}
7. ^"Most Popular Films of 1963." The Times [London, England] 3 January 1964: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.
8. ^¹Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 230, 239–240
9. ^"All-Time Top Grossers", Variety, 6 January 1963 p 39. Please note this figure is rentals accruing to distributors not total gross.
10. ^[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tom_jones]. Tom Jones (1963): Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 25th March 2017.
11. ^ . "Cinema: John Bull in His Barnyard". Retrieved 25th March 2017.
12. ^[https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/tom-jones-5-1200456187/]. Tom Jones|Variety. Retrieved 25th March 2017.
13. ^{{Cite news|url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/50295/Tom-Jones/awards |title=NY Times: Tom Jones |accessdate=25 December 2008|work=NY Times}}
14. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tom_jones/|title=Tom Jones|website=www.rottentomatoes.com}}

External links