DVD Review: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Directed by Norman Taurog. Cast: Tommy Kelly, Ann Gillis, Jackie Moran, Victor Jory, May Robson, Walter Brennan, Cora Sue Collins, David Holt. Released February 11, 1938. 91 minutes.
There have been many screen versions of this Mark Twain story, some of them lost films from the silent era that we are no longer able to assess. This Technicolor Selznick production has always been considered one of the best, and it is now available as a nice blu ray from Kino Lorber.
The story of the mischievous Tom Sawyer is well known enough, and this film version remains faithful to the original material. When it was released, exhibitors were uniformly pleased with the crowded theaters and audience reaction, indicating that the choice to film in color really enhanced interest. Unfortunately, it was such of than expensive production, it still lost money at the box office. Fortunately it has lived on as a classic movie adaption.
Tommy Kelly is effectively charming and amusing in the title role, Jackie Moran as Huck Finn is also very good, and Ann Gillis all but steals the film out from under them as Becky Thatcher. Throw in familiar veterans in the supporting cast like May Robson, Donald Meek, Margaret Hamilton, Walter Brennan, and Victor Jory (frighteningly menacing as Injun Joe), and the result is an entertaining movie presentation of a story that has been proven timeless.
Some of the best scenes occur between Tom and Becky, from their obvious puppy love attraction, to their tentative first kiss, and their childlike bickering. Friendship is explored between the Tom and Huck characters, showing how the two boys depend upon and look up to each other. Huck’s loneliness contrasts with Tom having a family, despite its dysfunctional oppression
Other kids in the film include a cute performance by Cora Sue Collins as Amy, who has a crush on Tom, but he can’t see past Becky; as well as David Holt as the smirking, bratty Sid Sawyer. Marcia Mae Jones, who had been cast as Becky, shows up instead as sister Mary Sawyer, due to a sudden growth spurt. And as Little Jim, Phillip Hurlic is an amusing presence who became noted for a few Our Gang appearances and his role opposite Oliver Hardy in “Zenobia” (19389), his feature without Laurel (and with Harry Langdon)
May Robson is all tender toughness as per her many other characterizations. May fell ill during production and was replaced by Beulah Bondi, but when she recovered, Robson returned to the role (Ms. Bondi was not happy about that). Brennan and Jory met while making this movie and became good friends off-screen. Jackie Moran later grew up to write the screenplay of Russ Meyer’s “Faster Pussycat Kill Kill.” Tommy Kelly and Ann Gillis both lived to be 90 (Ann just died earlier this year), but both left showbiz while young. Gillis is noted for her later appearances in the Abbott and Costello features “In Society” and “The Time of their Lives.” She came back to do a brief cameo in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Tommy Kelly entered the field of education, earning a PhD and teaching overseas. Cora Sue Collins is still living, as are some of the other children in the cast (Betsy Gay, Sally Harper, Betty Ann Muir Audrey Halligan, and Margaret Kerry who became an active cartoon voiceover actor).
The color on the Kino print is striking, making its background rather intriguing. The great cinematographer James Wong Howe insisted on using earth tones to convey the visuals more effectively to the literary material, but the people at Technicolor wanted brighter colors. Of course Wong Howe got his way, but the Technicolor people effectively blacklisted him and it would be ten years before he shot another color film. Director Norman Taurog would also helm the popular MGM feature “Boys Town” this same year. It is said that, despite refusing to do the film when offered, George Cukor directed some of the scenes, but it is unknown which ones.
The Kino blu ray also features, as an extra, the 1954 re-release version of the movie, pared down to 77 minutes from its original 91, perhaps to make this older movie more palatable for double features at kiddie matinees.
“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is most heartily recommended to schools for its effective charm and effective literary adaption. As cinema, it is a charming example of 1930s Technicolor filmmaking is recommended to universities, research centers, and fans of movie history.
The blu ray is available here.