Themes: Mischievous Children, Flight of the Innocent
Main Cast: Tommy Kelly, Jackie Moran, Ann Gillis, May Robson, Walter Brennan
Release Year: 1938
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
The 1938 version of Adventures of Tom Sawyer appears to be producer David O. Selznick's dry run for Gone with the Wind, what with its similarities in period, costumes, color scheme and production design (both films shared the services of the great Hollywood art director William Cameron Menzies). Selected from hundreds of applicants (a precursor to Selznick's upcoming search for Wind's Scarlet O'Hara), Tommy Kelly is visually perfect as Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer though his acting varies from scene to scene. Better cast is Jackie Moran as the laconic, pipe-smoking Huck Finn (Moran would show up in Wind as Dr. Meade's son). Never forcing its pace, the film manages to include most of Twain's classic sequences, including the fence-whitewashing episode, Tom's rescue of Becky Thatcher (Anne Gillis) from the wrath of their schoolmaster (Olin Howlin), Tom and Huck's "death and resurrection" after the boys briefly skipped town for an idyll on a remote island, the murder trial of town drunk Muff Potter (Walter Brennan) and ultimately unmasking of the vicious Injun Joe (Victor Jory) as the real killer, and of course the chilling climax in the cave, wherein Tom protects Becky from the fugitive Injun Joe. Originally released at 93 minutes, Adventures of Tom Sawyer was trimmed to 77 minutes for a 1959 reissue; it has since been restored to its full length on videotape. In 1960, Tom Sawyer was syndicated to television by Selznick, with accompanying commentary by the film's now-grown-up "Becky Thatcher", Anne Gillis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A remarkably faithful -- perhaps TOO faithful -- adaptation of the Mark Twain classic, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is visually stunning. William Cameron Menzies and Casey Roberts have created gorgeous settings that are beautifully captured by James Wong Howes's delicious camerawork; the climactic sequence inside the cave is especially noteworthy; the clammy, claustrophic sets work together with Howes' spot-on photography to create a harrowing effect. Aside from the visuals, Tom Sawyer runs into a few problems, although none of them seriously damage the film. The screenplay keeps all of the most famous episodes from the book, but does so in such a manner as to make the film seem a little too episodic. In the title role, Tommy Kelly is good but inconsistent; director Norman Taurog can't always pull out of him all that is required, although he has better luck with Anne Gillis and Jackie Moran. May Robson shines as Aunt Polly, allowing us to feel sympathetic for the character while still feeling free to laugh at the troubles Tom gives her. If Tom Sawyer is not perfect, it's still a fine production that leaves the audience with a warm, happy glow. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
William Cameron Menzies - Art Director, Casey Roberts - Art Director, Norman Taurog - Director, Hal Kern - Editor, Margaret Clancey - Editor, Louis Forbes - Composer (Music Score), Max Steiner - Composer (Music Score), Louis Forbes - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lyle Wheeler - Production Designer, Wilfrid M. Cline - Cinematographer, James Wong Howe - Cinematographer, David O. Selznick - Producer, William H. Wright - Producer, Jack Cosgrove - Special Effects, John V.A. Weaver - Screenwriter, Mark Twain - Book Author
The United Artists release includes most of the sequences familiar to readers of the book, including the fence-whitewashing episode; a wild raft ride down the Mississippi River; Tom and Huckleberry Finn's attendance at their own funeral, after the boys, who were enjoying an adventure on a remote island, are presumed dead; the murdertrial of local drunkard Muff Potter; and Tom and Becky Thatcher's flight through a cave as they try to escape from Injun Joe, who is revealed to be the real killer.
Production notes
This was the fourth screen adaptation of the Twain novel, following versions released in 1907, 1917, and 1930, and the first filmed in Technicolor.
H.C. Potter originally was signed to direct but was fired and replaced by Taurog after George Cukor declined the assignment.[1] Cukor directed some scenes, but received no on-screen credit for his contributions.
Tommy Kelly, a Bronxfireman's son, was selected for the title role through a national campaign waged by producerDavid O. Selznick, who later would conduct a similar search for an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. According to a 1937 memo he sent to story editor Katharine Brown, he originally hoped to cast an orphan as Tom, feeling such a stunt would receive "tremendous attention and arouse such a warm public feeling that it would add enormously to the gross of the picture."[2] Kelly failed to achieve the star status of fellow child actor Freddie Bartholomew, and after an inconsequential career he retired and later became a school teacher.[3]
After reading the comment cards completed by an audience at a sneak preview of the film, Selznick sent director Taurog a memo expressing concern about the climactic scene in the cave, which many viewers had described as "too horrible for children." He advised Taurog "this worried me, because we certainly want the picture to be for a family audience," and as a result he was cutting a close-up of Becky, in which her hysteria was "perhaps a shade too much that of a very ill woman, rather than that of a little girl," "with regrets."[4]
On the strength of the designs for the cave sequence executed by William Cameron Menzies, Selznick hired him for Gone with the Wind[5].
Time Out London called the film "extraordinarily handsome to look at, with exquisite Technicolor camerawork by Wong Howe and some imaginative designs . . . [it] has its longueurs, but it does capture the sense of a lazy Mississippi summer and much of the spirit of the book, with Jory making a superbly villainous Injun Joe."[6]
TV Guide described it as "a lively production featuring a quick pace, a chilling climax, and a surprising amount of wit."[7]
