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Tom Jones (1963 film)

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Tom Jones
Theatrical poster by Mitchell Hooks
Directed byTony Richardson
Screenplay byJohn Osborne
Based onThe History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
(1749 novel)
by Henry Fielding
Produced byTony Richardson
Starring
Narrated byMicheál Mac Liammóir
CinematographyWalter Lassally
Edited byAntony Gibbs
Music byJohn Addison
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • 26 June 1963 (1963-06-26)
Running time
128 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£467,000[1][2][3] or £480,000[4]
Box office$17.07 million (U.S. and Canada rentals) [5]

Tom Jones is a 1963 British period comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic 1749 novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. It is directed by Tony Richardson from a screenplay written by John Osborne, and stars Albert Finney as the titular character. The cast also features Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Diane Cilento, and David Warner in his film debut.

The film was a success both critically and at the box office, and was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time.[6] 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 ranked it as the 51st greatest British film of the 20th century.

Plot

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Squire Allworthy returns to his estate and discovers a baby in his bed. Thinking that one of his maids, Jenny Jones, and his barber, Mr. Partridge, conceived the illegitimate baby out of lust, the squire banishes them. He names the infant Tom Jones and chooses to raise him as his own son; Tom grows up loving him like a father.

Tom becomes a lively young man whose good looks and kind heart make him popular with women. He truly loves only Sophie, daughter of a neighbour, who returns his love. Sophie, too, must hide her feelings while her aunt and father, Squire Western, try to coerce her to marry someone they think more suitable, Mr. Blifil, the son of Squire Allworthy's sister, Bridget.

When Bridget dies unexpectedly, Blifil intercepts a letter that his mother intended for his uncle's eyes only. But after his mother's funeral, Blifil and his two tutors, Mr. Thwackum and Mr. Square (who had also tutored Tom), join forces to convince the squire that Tom is a villain. Allworthy gives Tom a substantial cash legacy and sends him out into the world to seek his fortune.

Tom is robbed of his fortune, but soon meets his supposed father, Mr. Partridge, who becomes his manservant. Tom rescues a Mrs. Waters/Fitzpatrick from a British soldier, but ends up in a duel and is later jailed and about to be hanged for murder before it is discovered that the letter that Bridget had written to Squire Allworthy confessed that she is Tom's mother. It is discovered also that Tom had not murdered Mr. Fitzpatrick in the duel.

They are able to reach the jail in time to save Tom from hanging. Tom and Sophie are able to marry with everyone's blessing.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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While the British production company Bryanston Films was hesitating over whether to make the film in colour, it went bankrupt. United Artists stepped in to finance the film and make it a colour production.[7]

Overall the production faced challenges of disasters, near-disasters and squabbles caused by films being shot on location in the spotty English weather. The film has an unusual comic style: the opening sequence has subtitles and brisk action in the manner of a silent film. Later in the film, characters sometimes break the fourth wall, often by looking directly into the camera and addressing the audience. In one scene the character of Tom Jones suddenly appears to notice the camera and covers the lens with his hat. Another unusual feature is an unseen narrator, voiced by Micheál Mac Liammóir. His mock-serious commentaries between certain scenes deplore the action of several characters as well as the weaknesses in human character, and he provides a poetic denouement for the film.

Despite its success, director Tony Richardson said that he was dissatisfied with the final product. In his autobiography, Richardson wrote that 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."[8]

Writing

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John Osborne, in adapting the screenplay from Henry Fielding's novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), truncated and removed notable episodes and characters from the book. He ends the film with the narrator's 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."[9]

Filming

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Castle Street in Bridgwater, Somerset was used as a location in several scenes. Cerne Abbey, Abbey Street and The Royal Oak in Cerne Abbas were used as major locations during the film. Cinematographer Walter Lassally has said that he thought 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.[10]

Release

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The film was reissued in 1989 by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. For this release, Richardson trimmed the film by seven minutes.[6] It is available through the Criterion Collection, paired with the original version.

Critical reception

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Time magazine's review stated "The film is a way-out, walleyed, wonderful exercise in cinema. It is also a social satire written in blood with a broadaxe. It is bawdy as the British were bawdy when a wench had to wear five petticoats to barricade her virtue".[11]

Rich Gold of Variety wrote "Though Tom Jones is a period piece and very different it has the same lustiness and boisterous content with which to project the star. It should breeze its way cheerfully through the box office figures. It has sex, Eastmancolor, some prime performers and plenty of action. Tony Richardson has directed John Osborne's screenplay with verve, though, occasionally, he falls back on camera tricks and editing which are disconcerting".[12]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on retrospective reviews from 42 critics, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's consensus states: "A frantic, irreverent adaptation of the novel, bolstered by Albert Finney's courageous performance and arresting visuals."[13] On Metacritic, it has a score of 77 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14]

Box office

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The film was financially successful on its initial release in 1963. It came third for the year in British box-office receipts,[15] and was the fourth most popular in the United States. Produced on a budget of $1 million, it earned over $17 million in theater rentals from the United States and Canada,[5][16] and another $4 million in markets other than the UK and U.S.[16] Finney received 10% of the film's earnings.[17]

Accolades

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Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Picture Tony Richardson Won [18]
[19]
Best Director Won
Best Actor Albert Finney Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Hugh Griffith Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Diane Cilento Nominated
Edith Evans Nominated
Joyce Redman Nominated
Best Screenplay – Based on Material from Another Medium John Osborne Won
Best Art Direction – Color Art Direction: Ralph W. Brinton, Ted Marshall, and Jocelyn Herbert;
Set Decoration: Josie MacAvin 		Nominated
Best Music Score – Substantially Original John Addison Won
American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film Antony Gibbs Nominated
British Academy Film Awards Best Film from any Source Won [20]
Best British Film Won
Best British Actor Albert Finney Nominated
Hugh Griffith Nominated
Best British Actress Edith Evans Nominated
Best British Screenplay John Osborne Won
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Tony Richardson Won [21]
Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Won [22]
Best Foreign Film – English-Language Nominated
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy Albert Finney Nominated
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture Hugh Griffith Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Joan Greenwood Nominated
Best Director – Motion Picture Tony Richardson Nominated
Most Promising Newcomer – Male Albert Finney Won[a]
Grammy Awards Best Original Score from a Motion Picture or Television Show John Addison Won [23]
Laurel Awards Top Comedy Won
Top Male Comedy Performance Albert Finney Nominated
Top Male Supporting Performance Hugh Griffith Nominated
Top Female Supporting Performance Diane Cilento Nominated
National Board of Review Awards Best Film Won [24]
Top Ten Films Won
Best Director Tony Richardson Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Film Won
Best Director Tony Richardson Won
Best Actor Albert Finney Won
Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Tony Richardson Nominated
Best Actor Albert Finney Won
Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards Best British Comedy Screenplay John Osborne Won [25]

Ilya Lopert accepted the Academy Award for Best Picture on behalf of the producers. After his death, the Oscar was given by his estate to Albert Finney.

Tom Jones is the only film in the history of the Academy Awards in which three actresses were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Margaret Rutherford won the category for her role in The V.I.P.s.[26]

The film's five acting nominations and no wins matched the record set for nominations by Peyton Place in 1957. It was the last film to match this record.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Tied with Stathis Giallelis for America America and Robert Walker Jr. for The Ceremony.

References

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  1. ^ Film giants step into finance The Observer 19 April 1964: 8.
  2. ^ Petrie, Duncan James (2017). "Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution" (PDF). Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television: 13. ISSN 1465-3451. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2018.
  3. ^ Chapman, L. (2021). “They wanted a bigger, more ambitious film”: Film Finances and the American “Runaways” That Ran Away. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 18(2), 176–197. https://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2021.0565
  4. ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360
  5. ^ a b Cohn, Lawrence (15 October 1990). "All Time Film Rental Champs". Variety. p. M-190. ISSN 0042-2738.
  6. ^ a b Bosley Crowther (30 September 2003). "Tom Jones". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 October 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  7. ^ Mayer, Geoff (2003). Guide to British Cinema. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. xiv.
  8. ^ Richardson, Tony (1993). Long Distance Runner – A memoir. London: Faber & Faber. p. 136. ISBN 0-571-16852-3.
  9. ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Works of John Dryden vol 12, by Walter Scott, page 349". Retrieved 28 September 2018 – via Project Gutenberg.
  10. ^ "Tom Jones: the editing and Tony Richardson's generosity". webofstories.com.
  11. ^ "Cinema: John Bull in His Barnyard". Time. 18 October 1963.(subscription required)
  12. ^ Variety Staff (21 December 1998). "Tom Jones". Variety.
  13. ^ "Tom Jones (1963)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  14. ^ "Tom Jones". Metacritic. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Most Popular Films of 1963". The Times. London, England. 3 January 1964. p. 4.
  16. ^ a b Balio, Tino (1987). United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 230, 239–240.
  17. ^ "Finney's % of 'Tom Jones' Goes Over $1 Million". Variety. 21 October 1964. p. 1.
  18. ^ "The 36th Academy Awards (1964) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  19. ^ "NY Times: Tom Jones". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2008.
  20. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1964". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  21. ^ "16th Annual DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  22. ^ "Tom Jones". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  23. ^ "6th Annual GRAMMY Awards". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  24. ^ "1963 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Writers' Guild Awards 1963". Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  26. ^ "Tom Jones". Rotten Tomatoes.
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