Tom Jones

Rating

Director

Tony Richardson

Screenplay

John Osborne (Novel by Henry Fielding)

Length

128 min.

Starring

Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Geenwood, Diane Cilento, George Devine, David Tomlinson, Rosalind Atkinson, Angela Baddeley

MPAA Rating

Unrated

Review

Though a duck out of water he is not, the titular character Tom Jones is every bit the crude and socially unacceptable cad many believe him to be except with a dash of honor.

Tom Jones made an Oscar legend out of lead actor Albert Finney. His role as a sex-crazed bastard child wasn’t the kind the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would award with a trophy, it was nevertheless a juicy role that voters couldn’t turn down. Finney’s Tom Jones has a soul. He may carry on with women behind the backs of the nobles, but he never fails to adhere to his word and make right the wrongs he has caused.

After his exile, he soon comes to realize how much he loves the young Sophie Western (Susanna York). She’s young and beautiful and, in spite of his flaws, she loves him. He cannot avoid promiscuity; it appears to be in his nature. But that will not stop him from living life to the fullest. His adopted father, Squire Allworthy (George Devine) wants nothing but the best for him. After Tom’s servant mother is uncovered and presumed father expelled, Allworthy insists on taking the boy in and raising him as his own.

Finney is playful and entertaining as the love-obsessed malcontent. He faces a great many dangers, including twisting narrative plots that consistently threaten his life. Hugh Griffith as Sophie’s father plays the cantankerous drunk with liveliness. There is little you don’t expect out of the mouth of this uncouth nobleman. If he didn’t own land, he surely would have been expelled many years prior.

The movie journeys through a somewhat labyrinthine plot Adapted from the Henry Fielding novel of the same name by screenwriter John Osborne. It was the only Academy Award for which he was nominated and won. Up until this time, many of the Best Picture film plots have been predominantly linear. Tom Jones wallows in its own cleverness thanks to director Tony Richardson.

The film feels a bit heavy handed for the otherwise light material. It’s the kind of movie that the Academy honors without realizing the status they are heaping upon this decent but underwhelming comedy. Tom Jones has a few isolated laughs. It is perfectly aligned with the often bizarre British humor that would later be perfected by Monty Python and, especially, Benny Hill (whose show shares more than a passing similarity with this film).

Where Tom Jones succeeds is its ability to quickly meander through a potentially convoluted plot to an outcome that is nothing if not rewarding. The film features pleasing costumes and well designed sets. However, its documentary style and faded cinematography (courtesy Walter Lassally) are ultimately distracting. It may have been Richardson’s call to do so, hoping to emphasize with the audience that the story takes place in a distant time out of mind but it serves little purpose other than to make the movie feel significantly older than it is.

Review Written

November 20, 2006