Tom Jones (1963)

You won't be disappointed!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The editing and background music in this film are/were unique and something to behold. Although you may have seen some of the techniques copied (unfortunately, the only film which comes immediately to mind with regards to the editing is Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)), I feel fairly certain that freeze frames (with narrative voice- overs), characters playing (even talking) to the camera, and the lyrical wipes & fades ("zeroing" in on a specific object or face - like the singing mice in Babe (1995)) employed were first done in this Academy Award winning Best Picture.A very visually creative film which tells the bawdy tales of a bastard son raised by a wealthy squire. Another scene, the sensual eating of food, was also borrowed by several later films like Like Water for Chocolate (1992) (right? my memory escapes me).The score, which also won the Academy Award, is whimsical and upbeat with its tempo perfectly matching the kinetic pace of many of the more comical exploits of the title character, played by Albert Finney (Oscar nominated in only his third film).One of the few comedies (15%?) to win BP, it also took home Best Director (Tony Richardson) and Writing (the story was adapted from the Henry Fielding novel). Supporting Actor Hugh Griffith and three Supporting Actresses (Diane Cilento, Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman) also received Oscar nominations.

People were excited about Tom Jones in 1963. I read in an archived paper that it was considered the next Citizen Kane. Somehow someway that translated to 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, where it's now considered the weakest winner outside of Crash since the 50s. Probably even weaker than Driving Miss Daisy. It's a bizarre blend of period costume drama and screwball comedy, and neither parts work. It's really all over the place, and I'll admit to not being able to follow the story besides the broad strokes. There's little to find engaging. It's so unbelievably rough around the edges, so horribly shot and overlaboured in the editing. No, those scenes don't need speeding up. That doesn't make it funny. That makes it cheap. Maybe it was an innovator at the time, but it innovated the worst ideas. Albert Finney does have charm, but the film savours none of it. The acting from the ensemble spare a few is solid, but the filmmaking is too weak for them to steal the show. I'll give it credit that the score is Oscar- worthy and is the only thing that efficiently sets the tone. Poor show on Richardson and the Academy's behalf.5/10

This is yet another example of a movie weighed down with gongs and critical acclaim at the time - the so-called renaissance of British films aka the kitchen sink school - that seen today is both embarrassing and cringe-making. Albert Finney, always, like Hitchcock, vastly overrated, adds another wrongly overpraised character to his Arthur Seaton (Saturday Night And Sunday Morning)and leads a cast of British luvvies who have been encouraged to let their hair down and slum it in the interest of adding 'picaresque' to their CVs. John Osborne who had not yet joined the Establishment, has fun sending it up and allows himself at least one stinging satire in the hunting scene in which an innocent deer is torn to pieces by the hounds. Osborne allows Michael McLiammoir to narrate in the equivalent of Chapter Headings and the whole thing is totally forgettable.

Most people will know the famous Welsh singer, but this is actually a period costume comedy adventure that I knew won a number of awards. Basically Tom Jones (Golden Globe winning, and Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Albert Finney) was abandoned as a baby, and brought up by Squire Allworthy (George Devine). Resented by the Squire's heir Blifil (David Warner), Tom grows up into a rascal, very fond of women, including the daughter of Squire Western (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Hugh Griffith), Sophie (Susannah York), and discovered with local girl Molly Seagrim (Oscar nominated Diane Cilento), he is banished. After numerous adventures, he goes to London to make his fortune, meeting wealthy Lady Bellaston (Golden Globe nominated Joan Greenwood), while Squire Western's sister arranged Sophie and Blifil to marry. Sophie runs away, along with her cousin Mrs. Henriette Fitzpatrick (Rosalind Knight), and Tom is the one suspected of seducing Henriette. In the end, when it looks like Tom could be hanged, he is rescued in the nick of time, his real heritage is revealed, and he can court Sophie. Also starring Oscar and BAFTA nominated Edith Evans as Miss Western, Oscar nominated Joyce Redman as Mrs. Waters, Patsy Rowlands as Honor, Rosalind Atkinson as Mrs. Miller, Lynn Redgrave as Susan, Mary Poppins' David Tomlinson as Lord Fellamar, For Your Eyes Only's Julian Glover as Lt. Northerton, and narrated by Micheál MacLiammóir. It is interesting to see a British film of this sort getting all the hype it did, but it is also good incite into 1960's "Swinging England" cinema, and Hollywood was more attracted to filming in Britain, which is great. It won the Oscar for Best Director for Tony Richardson, Best Music for John Addison, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Picture, and it was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, it won the BAFTAs for Best British Film, Best British Screenplay and Best Film from any Source, and it won the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical/Comedy and the Samuel Goldwyn Award, and it was nominated for Best Director. Good!