Tom Jones [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Tony Richardson Tony Richardson

Overview

Tom (Albert Finney) is the rollicking playboy who has grown up in the house of Squire Allworthy (George Devine) after being born under the hushed whispers of illegitimate circumstances. He has eyes for the girl next door, but Sophie (Susannah York) is promised to another. When she rejects the older, unscrupulous groom, Tom is accused of a crime he didn't commit after Sophie publicly declares her love for him. Tom runs off to London where he is housed by Mrs. Waters (Joyce Redmon), who may or may not be his real mother and now goes by the name of Jenny Jones. They sit down to a hilariously funny and erotic scene at a dinner table. Nothing is spoken as the food becomes symbolic of their upcoming sexual passion. Tom looks for a napkin to wipe his hands after the meal and ends up using his hair. Jenny offers to teach him some of the more refined aspects of London's social elite. Tom later escapes the gallows after he is cleared of any wrongdoing. Written by Henry Fielding in 1749, the author gained a new legion of followers after the popularity of the film. Nominated for ten Academy Awards, Tom Jones received Oscars for best picture, screenplay, direction and musical score. It remains a bawdy comedy of lighthearted sexual escapades and vaulted Finney to international stardom.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/27/2018
UPC:	0715515209915
Original Release:	1963
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	4:09:00
Sales rank:	12,550

Special Features

New program on the film's cinematography featuring Walter Lassally; New interview with film scholar Duncan Petrie on the movie's impact on British cinema; Excerpt from a 1982 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring actor Albert Finney; New interview with actor Vanessa Redgrave on her former husband, director Tony Richardson; Illustrated archival audio interview with composer John Addison on his Oscar-winning score for the film.; New interview with the editor of the director's cut, Robert Lambert

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Albert Finney	Tom Jones
Susannah York	Sophie Western
Hugh Griffith	Squire Western
Edith Evans	Miss Western
Joan Greenwood	Lady Bellaston
Diane Cilento	Molly Seagrim
George Devine	Squire Allworthy
David Tomlinson	Lord Fellamar
Joyce Redman	Mrs. Waters
George A. Cooper	Fitzpatrick
Rosalind Atkinson	Mrs. Miller
Angela Baddeley	Mrs. Wilkins
Peter Bull	Thwackum
James Jackson	Mr. Seagrim,Mrs. Seagrim
Rachel Kempson	Bridget Allworthy
Wilfrid Lawson	Black George,Black George
Rosalind Knight	Mrs. Fitzpatrick
Jack MacGowran	Partridge
John Moffatt	Square
Patsy Rowlands	Honour
David Warner	Blifil
Redmond Phillips	Lawyer Dowling
Mark Dignam	Lieutenant
Avis Bunnage	Landlady at George Inn
Lynn Redgrave	Susan
Jack Stewart	MacLachlan
Michael Brennan	the Jailor at Newgate
Michael MacLiammoir	Narrator
James Cairncross	Parson Supple
Julian Glover	Northerton
John Addison	Composer

Technical Credits

John Osborne

Tony Richardson	Director,Producer
Michael Balcon	Executive Producer
John Osborne	Screenwriter
Peter Handford	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A bawdy, exuberant adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic 18th century novel, Tom Jones bears the enviable contradiction of being a timeless period piece. Boasting both a uniformly excellent cast and a screenplay by John Osborne that remains one of the cinema's most successful literary hatchet jobs, the film ushered in a new era for British cinema. Its unabashed commercialism (which had to be financed by United Artists after its subject matter was deemed too outré by British financiers) was key to the subsequent influx of American dollars into the British film industry, and it signaled the effective end of the darker, more politicized English Free Cinema movement. The film was a landmark for a number of other reasons, first and foremost director Tony Richardson's presentation of the subject matter. Presaging MTV-style film direction by at least three decades, Richardson directed his film with impressive speed, employing rapid cuts, frequent breaking-down of the fourth wall, and a pace breathless enough to make audiences forget that they were watching what had been a 1000-page novel. Notable, too, was the fact that a story set two centuries ago could ring so true with a contemporary audience. The depiction of Tom's libidinous past was marked by the sort of carefree, liberated attitude that would soon become one of the defining attributes of the film's era. Moreover, it featured one of the most memorable demonstrations of the link between food and sex ever committed to celluloid, giving new meaning to the term "human appetite." With so many lasting qualities to say nothing of a star-making performance by a young and dashing Albert Finney it is little surprise that Tom Jones has stood the test of time as one of the 20th century's most enjoyable cinematic achievements. Rebecca Flint

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