Movie Type: Children's Fantasy, Fairy Tales & Legends
Themes: Shrunken People
Main Cast: Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Jessie Matthews
Release Year: 1958
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 92 minutes
Plot
Producer/animator/special-effect maven George Pal made his feature-film directorial bow with the colorful MGM musical fantasy Tom Thumb (the title of the film was spelled in lower case in the opening credits, and in all studio publicity material). Russ Tamblyn stars as the teeny-tiny titular protagonist, while veteran musicomedy favorite Jessie Mathews and stellar character actor Bernard Miles portray Tom's normal-sized parents. Journeying to the Village, Tom is pounced upon by villains Ivan (Terry-Thomas) and Tony (a corpulent Peter Sellers), who intend to exploit our 5 1/2-inch-tall hero. In-between his misadventures with the villains, Tom helps to expedite the romance between young forester Woody (Alan Young) and the magical Forest Queen (June Thorburn). Throughout, the special effects and oversized sets are first-rate, as are the "puppetoons" sequences featuring such delightful characters as The Yawning Man (voice by Stan Freberg). Written by several hands, the film's songs are hummable, if not particularly memorable. It is said that some children in the audience in 1958 were genuinely frightened by the more horrific aspects of the story (including the threatened execution of Tom's parents); it may be, however, that the adults were more scared than the kids. Incidentally, while most of Tom Thumb was filmed in MGM's London facilities, the special effects were produced in Hollywood, requiring Russ Tamblyn to do a lot of travelling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
In 1958, filming the Grimm fairy tale about a thumb-sized boy was no easy task. There were no computers to help with the miniaturization. But MGM assembled a team that produced a remarkable blend of live action, animation, and puppets -- innovative for its time, though likely to seem crude to children of later, more sophisticated eras. The special effects won an Oscar. The director was the veteran George Pal and the crew of acting talents included comics Peter Sellers, Terry-Thomas, and Alan Young. Russ Tamblyn had the starring role, which had reportedly been coveted by Donald O'Connor. Lively musical numbers help carry the film past several slow spots. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Elliot Scott - Art Director, Gene Warren - Animator, Wah Chang - Animator, Alex Romero - Choreography, Olga Lehmann - Costume Designer, George Pal - Director, Frank Clarke - Editor, Douglas Gamley - Composer (Music Score), Kenneth V. Jones - Composer (Music Score), Muir Mathieson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Kermit Goell - Songwriter, Peggy Lee - Songwriter, Fred Spielman - Songwriter, Janice Torre - Songwriter, Georges Périnal - Cinematographer, George Pal - Producer, Ladislas Fodor - Screenwriter, Brothers Grimm - Short Story Author
tom thumb is a 1958US-madefantasy-musical film directed by George Pal and released by MGM. It was based on the fairy tale of the same name by the Brothers Grimm. The lower-case lettering in the title was deliberate. The film is about a tiny man who manages to outwit two thieves determined to make a fortune from him.
The film is also known as Der kleine Däumling in West Germany, El pequeño gigante in Spain, Hüvelyk Matyi in Hungary, Le meravigliose avventure di Pollicino in Italy, Les aventures de Tom Pouce in France, O Pequeno Polegar in Brazil, Peukaloinen in Finland and Tummeliten in Sweden.
The filming locations for the movie were in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA and London, England, UK.
At the 1959 US Academy Awards, the film won an Oscar for Tom Howard in the category of Best Effects, Special Effects.
At the 1959 BAFTA Awards, Terry Thomas was Nominated for a BAFTA Film Award in the category of Best British Actor.
At the 1959 US Golden Globes, the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical.
At the 1959 Laurel Awards, the film was nominated for Top Musical, while Russ Tamblyn was nominated for a Golden Laurel for Top Male Musical Performance.
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1940s
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