Der kleine Däumling

Woodcutter Honest Jonathan is granted three wishes by the forest queen as gratitude for not chopping down a mighty oak tree. Returning home he excitedly tries to tell his wife about the wishes, but an argument ensues and during the course of which, the three wishes are foolishly wasted. Realising the folly of their waste, they both sadly ponder on the absence of a son in their life, no matter what size he be. Jonathan muses that perhaps the queen would grant them one more wish, even a small one...

Based on the Brothers Grimm story, "tom thumb" may just be the most undervalued musical made in the 1950s. "tom thumb" has everything a family musical should have, a fantastical fairytale full of colour, vibrant song and dance sequences, and a warmth to cheer the bluest of hearts. With the athletic and ebullient Russ Tamblyn taking the lead as Tom, and villains portrayed with such gleeful caddishness by Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas, the film was always going to start from a good footing. Add in Tom Howard's Academy Award winning effects, Gamley & Jones' whimsical score and the zippy direction from Ray Harryhausen mentor, George Pal, well what's the excuse for not letting this film into yours, and your children's life?

The story unfolds in a blaze of glorious art design and pupetoon effects. As Tamblyn roams around his little world, the makers blend over-sized sets with animation and real life choreography. Yeah its a little creaky now, but this is still magic, a hark back to a time when it was hard work to craft such a fusion of incredible delights. There's a main sequence as Tom brings the toys to life (you see a toy without a child is as bad as a child without a toy), a truly wondrous segment of film that deserves classic status. Fit to sit alongside the moment Gene Kelly danced with Mickey Mouse in Anchors Aweigh, this sees Tamblyn trip the light fantastic around, and with, numerous articles and childhood toys beloved by so many in the past. Then there is the talented shoes, a mortality romantic sub-plot, and yes! the good against evil thematic so rich and potent with many a fairytale that has been spun. It's all good, really it is.

Am I biased because it was a childhood favourite? You can bet your last Cent, Penny or Euro that I am indeed! But I know this one truth, that I have shown this to various age groups over the years, and not once has this film finished and not been met with smiles and even happy tears on occasions. Because ultimately it delivers the joy to the children, and to the children in us all. And that be the truth your honour.

Doo be doo be doo 9/10

If you have children and want to entertain them and yourself with a film, TOM THUMB is acceptable entertainment. Producer/director George Pal creates a quaint, vivid fairy tale world with bright colors, picturesque scenery and Tyrolean costumes. The stop motion animated singing and talking toys who befriend the titular tiny boy (Russ Tamblyn), are beautifully realized and smoothly co-exist with the live action Tamblyn. The songs are pleasant and hummable. Particularly memorable is "The Yawning Song," drowsily warbled by the voice of Stan Freberg as a sleepy toy. Russ Tamblyn is appealing in the title role and Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers as, respectively, the conniving Ivan and his eager confederate Tony practically steal the film with their comic shenanigans. Sellers is particularly impressive, giving the standard dim-witted accomplice part a creepily animalistic shading.

But although TOM THUMB is enjoyable, it doesn't rank with such outstanding family films like THE WIZARD OF OZ and Walt Disney's PINOCCHIO. What mainly prevents TOM THUMB from achieving greatness is Ladislas Fodor's slight scenario. In the best family films, the protagonists have important goals. For instance in THE WIZARD OF OZ Dorothy has to find a way back from Oz and in PINOCCHIO the titular puppet must learn to distinguish between right and wrong in order to become a real boy. In contrast, Tom Thumb's mission- to prove his parents (Bernard Miles, Jessie Matthews) did not steal the town's treasury by exposing the real thieves, Ivan and Tony-seems inconsequential. Compared to the scheme of, say, the Wicked Witch of the West to obtain Dorothy's ruby slippers in order to obtain supremacy in Oz, Ivan and Tony's plan is very pedestrian. The fate of the parents if they're not cleared- a public whipping- is certainly bad but much milder than say the fate of Pinocchio, Geppetto, and their pets if they can't escape from Monstro the whale- eternal imprisonment.

Then there is the romantic subplot between a local musician Woody (Alan Young) and the immortal Fairy Queen (June Thorburn). Woody wants to kiss the Fairy Queen so she can become a mortal as well as his wife, but the Fairy Queen warns him he should prove himself responsible before he can marry her. Pal handles the scenario in such a fluffy manner, however, that there is little conflict or feeling in this subplot. And while the animated segments are delightful, they hardly contribute to the plot.

But considering the glut of dreadful films trying to pass off as family entertainment, one should be grateful that TOM THUMB succeeds in its modest goal of entertaining viewers. Although the film is not extraordinary, it does emanate a storybook charm without succumbing to cloyingness. And Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers are a memorable pair- a kind of malevolent Laurel and Hardy.

This movie deservedly won the Oscar for its Special Effects. Russ Tamblyn was well-cast as tom. The romantic sub-plot is superfluous and Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers all but steal the movie as a bumbling pair of thieves. Funny enjoyable puffball of a movie. Well worth watching for the effects and Sellers and Thomas.

Made 52 years ago and still enchanting, this MGM musical and puppetoon version of TOM THUMB is still a valid solid family delight. Told in a very European storybook manner, rather like the illustrations from a Little Golden Book, TOM THUMB unfolds into a spectacular special effects laden thrill... and no CGI all marvelous sets and over-sized art direction with amazing stop frame animation and puppet movements. It actually became more interesting for the astonishing and clever ideas edited together to make the story work. In 2009 this version might at first seem a bit too juvenile for today's kids but the simple ideas presented as a pantomime with sheer brilliance of on screen mastery and some hilarious acting by Terry Thomas Peter Sellers and Russ Tamblyn made me in middle age realize that once the lights go down and a genuinely well made film begins, it works for any person of any age. The two 8 year olds with me who are saturated with Harry Potter and Star Wars simply loved TOM THUMB and like kids of any year gone, laughed along with the beauty and wit on screen. It must have had a big budget because what I saw in scene after scene was a beautifully constructed lavish fantasy with completely convincing special effects.. made of cardboard and film. TOM THUMB still works !! What a delight. This version did not have a gollywog dance wither so it might have been the shorter version still clocking in at about 92 minutes. I saw the Gollywog but he was lying down by the time he appeared. I saw a new 35mm print in a cinema in Sydney on Jan 13, 2009. The color was rich and a bit dark and the grain obvious, but it was so clever and funny I forgot any film laboratory hardness.

I remember seeing this the first time when I was attending public school in Queens in the early 1960s. It was shown as a treat to the students at an extended G.O. assembly. I had not seen it when it came out in 1958 (I was only four) but I recall seeing Disney's PETER PAN about that time, so I cannot understand missing this film.

It was a fun film. The trick animation (which won an Oscar) was particularly good in the sequence when the toys came to life. It was probably influential with similar scenes in BABES IN TOYLAND in 1960. However, BABES IN TOYLAND had the benefit of the Disney studio, not to mention a wonderful Victor Herbert score. The score of tom thumb was not very memorable, except for the song that I quoted above, which had some of the silliest lyrics I can recall.

The film was actually more interesting than I would have known as a child. Besides George Pal's style in the film and the trick animation, it was one of the last musical films that had a major role for Jessie Matthews as tom's mother. In the U.S. Ms Matthews is not too well recalled, but she was the leading female musical comedy star in England in the 1930s. Her husband here is Sir Bernard Miles, who is better remembered as the villain in Hitchcock's remake of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. The star was Russ Tamblyn, finally in a starring role - a step beyond his performances in THE LAST HUNT and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, and heading for his best performance in WEST SIDE STORY. The second lead, Alan Young, had already made ANDROCLES AND THE LION and AARON SLICK FROM PUNKIN CREEK, and (as he was here working with George Pal) would have his dramatically best role (or roles) in Pal's future masterwork THE TIME MACHINE. Young would also soon gain television immortality as "Wilbur Post" the friend of the talking horse MR. ED.

This film was one of the pairings of Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers in a comedy. As Tony and Ivan they are the greedy thieves who use tom to rob the town treasury, only to turn on each other in a fight that enables tom to trip them up. Terry-Thomas has a sharpened nose in his makeup, which is accentuated by his sharp crowned hat. Sellers in particular had interesting make-up in this film, fattened up to look particularly threatening in a greasy sort of way, and wearing a small derby hat. He has the best line in the film. When tom (still unaware of what crooks he is with) is inside the town treasury Tony/Terry-Thomas tells him to pass over a bag of gold. Which one, asks tom. "THE BIGGEST ONE!", shouts Ivan/Peter.