Les aventures de Tom Sawyer

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER keep the small town of St. Petersburg, Missouri in constant turmoil, circa 1850...

This is a splendid family film, one of producer David O. Selznick's very best. Presented in wonderful Technicolor, it is like looking through the pages of an illustrated copy of the classic novel. All the favorite episodes are here. All of the performers are perfect in their roles. It is difficult to imagine a better transition from book to screen.

Elderly May Robson has one of her finest roles as harried, temperamental, lovable Aunt Polly. She easily steals every scene she's in & provides the sentimental heart of the movie. However, breaking out a bit, her last scene at the film's conclusion is hilarious. A small cluster of veteran character actors - Walter Brennan, Victor Jory, Donald Meek & Margaret Hamilton - are also exceptional in their roles.

12-year-old Tommy Kelly IS Tom Sawyer - he will instantly gain the respect & admiration of every prepubescent male in the audience. Beguiling & mischievous, with an infectious grin & sad eyes, he admirably fills the bare feet of America's most famous literary kid. The movie's other child actors - David Holt, Marcia Mae Jones, Ann Gillis & Jackie Moran - give excellent support. (Legend has it that Selznick found young Master Kelly in an orphanage. True or not, this was his best role. Very soon he was playing only bit parts and eventually left films around the age of 25.)

The cave sequence is especially noteworthy, thanks to the art design of William Cameron Menzies, the flickering camera work of James Wong Howe, and the moody music of Max Steiner. Spooky & claustrophobic, these scenes are the embodiment of every viewer's nightmares, and, thus, are tremendously entertaining.

It should be noted that while the character of Jim is correctly depicted as a slave, the film itself is blessedly free of the racism that blights so many Hollywood films of the 1930's.

Mark Twain's classic characters are brought back to life, by David O. Selznick, for an updated movie adaptation. For the first time, Tom and Huck are seen in color (specifically, "Technicolor"), which contributes to the film's main strength: it looks storybook beautiful. The reliance on set pieces seems entirely appropriate, giving the film great style; and, they are very well done. The cinematography, by James Wong Howe, is remarkable.

The story wavers from true triumph, however, in the direction of the characters; the "cuteness quotient" is set far too high. Many tears flow. Tommy Kelly (as Tom Sawyer) suffers the most, of course, being the lead player. It should be emphasized, however, that this is not due to his effort; under the circumstances, Mr. Kelly performs well. Jackie Moran (as Huckleberry Finn) is a cute best friend; but, not much like the "Huck" from Twain's book. Ann Gillis (as Becky Thatcher) is a cute girl friend. The players are all good, but May Robson (as Aunt Polly) seems the truest.

While more cute than mischievous, and far too clean, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" is good enough to stand on its own. The familiar "lost in the caves" ending is a great climax; and, Victor Jory (as Injun Joe) still startles. The scene of "Tom" emerging, at last, from the caves - his black silhouette shot against the blue sky of freedom - is indelible.

******* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2/11/38) Norman Taurog ~ Tommy Kelly, Jackie Moran, May Robson, Victor Jory

It is almost hard to believe that this film was made in 1938. The movie is incredibly faithful to the the book. Even when you know the story it is still suspenseful in the cave with Indian Joe (that is the mark of a good movie). This movie belongs on every family's bookshelf and especially a grandparent's.

May Robson--this veteran always gave her best in family dramas. Here she is as Tom's likable Aunt Polly, fresh from her memorable stint as Janet Gaynor's wonderful and endearing grandmother in the original Star Is Born from the previous year (1937),

Walter Brennan--he won his first supporting actor Oscar for Come And Get It in 1936, which was also the first year that this award was given out. He subsequently snagged it two more times. Nobody did a town drunk (like his AOTS character Muff Potter) any better. Truly a "one of a kind" performer.

Victor Jory--the following year, Jory played perhaps his most famous role as the amoral and unpleasant field supervisor at Tara in Gone With The Wind. He was able to be convincing in both sympathetic (The Shadow serial 1940) and nasty (Bad Men Of Missouri 1941) parts. His Injun Joe from AOTS is one of the most scary characters to emerge from movies of the 1930s.

Marcia Mae Jones--this busy child actress scored big as the victim of Bonita Granville's sadistic torment in These Three (1936). She made a convincing Mary Sawyer in AOTS.

Spring Byington--she will always be remembered as Marmee in Little Women (1933) and countless other maternal roles that became her unique specialty.

Margaret Hamilton--her Wicked Witch from The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is probably best described as the female counterpart to Victor Jory's Injun Joe in AOTS.

Donald Meek--the ultimate victim of life's misfortunes in cinema, whose unforgettable presence graced so many enjoyable films of the 1930s. In 1939, he created the memorable whiskey salesman role in Stagecoach; the previous year he was impressive as Poppins In You Can't Take It With You. The human version of a "'frady cat."

On a personal level, AOTS is important to me as being the very first film that I can remember seeing in a movie theater. It also was the first color movie I ever saw. In addition, it introduced to me the element of terror as a possible consequence of going to the movies. And in Tommy Kelly as Tom and Ann Gillis as Becky, I was exposed for the first time to the charm and sweetness of innocent childhood romance--something that probably confused me more than anything else. You see, I had a lot more growing up to do in the days and years ahead!

I suppose that if The Adventures of Tom Sawyer had been made at MGM we would have seen Mickey Rooney as Tom with possibly Freddie Bartholomew as Sid with maybe Judy Garland as Becky Thatcher. But David O. Selznick was out on his own as an independent at this point so he chose to use talented child performers who didn't quite have the name clout that those urchin titans of MGM did.

But this universally loved story by America's greatest author certainly had a built in market that had no need of name players to sell it. Selznick saved on player's salary and put the money into production values and he and the public came away winners.

Tommy Kelly, Ann Gillis, and Jackie Moran as Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, and Huckleberry Finn fill just about everyone's conception of what those kids from Hannibal, Missouri in the 1850s were like. They are given able support from such beloved character players as May Robson as Aunt Polly, Walter Brennan as Muff Potter, Victor Jory as the villainous Indian Joe, Olin Howland as the Sunday school teacher, Margaret Hamilton as Mrs. Harper, and Donald Meek as the school superintendent.

Selznick did a faithful adaption of the novel, the famous fence whitewashing incident is there as well as Tom and Huck getting a glimpse of their own funerals when everyone assumes they've drowned and the climax, the chase with Indian Joe in the cave.

It's a timeless classic, it can be shown to kids of all ages for centuries.