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Rated: NR
Starring: Susannah York, Albert Finney, et al.
Director: Tony Richardson Review
Winner of four Academy Awards including best picture, director,
screenplay, and music, this 1963 adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic
novel is a rousing, bawdy comedy about a young man's ribald adventures in
18th-century England. Albert Finney is splendidly hilarious in the title
role of a charming womanizer who was discovered as an abandoned infant in
the bed of Squire Allworthy, a wealthy landowner who named the child Tom
Jones and raised him as his own. As a young man, Tom yearns for the comely
daughter (Susannah York) of a neighboring squire, but his amorous
adventures (including an extended food orgy that becomes the film's
funniest scene) lead him to London and to a duel with a jealous husband.
He's sentenced to hang, but fate intervenes. A hit around the world, the
film was expertly written by noted playwright John Osborne, and director
Tony Richardson uses a variety of old-style movie techniques to heighten
the lusty, good-natured fun. Don't miss this one! --Jeff Shannon
------------ This is a very 1960s version of Henry
Fielding's great novel... if you're looking for an authentic feel of 18th
century social mores, don't look here. However, given that, it's actually
a great translation of a very funny story... and the modernized humor
reaches to 20th century audiences perhaps better than a literal reading of
Fielding's teasing of then-current novel-fads. No swooning of knock-kneed
lovers here, Albert Finney and Susannah York are as bright-eyed and spunky
a romantic pair as any filmed. They are entirely believable as exactly the
right adorable two to end up together after the hysterical tangle of Tom
Jones' life is sorted out. A really fun movie and a very witty story. Read
the book too!
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