Review of Tom Jones (1963) by John P — 29 Mar 2008

I recently (re)watched the "original cut" version of this film, and for 129 wonderful minutes.

I was 20 again, transported back to 1963 and just starting.

To "cut" my cinema teeth. But to truly enjoy this innovative,.

Wonderfully imagined, and rollicking film (of the rather plodding Henry Fielding novel), you have to get.

Rid of your jaded, short-term-attention-span 21st-century.

Mindset. Albert Finney became an instant star, and.

God knows how many of us, on dates at expensive restaurants,.

Tried to recreate the famous (and salaciously messy) "eating scene." Tony Richardson's.

Meticulous attention to period detail, the use of cinematic irony (through wipes, dissolves, and having the actors "break the 'fourth wall'"), and John Addison's.

Delightful score all contributed.

To making this truly a Best Picture. The brother-sister rivalry between Hugh Griffith and Dame Edith Evans will have you rolling with the dogs on the floor. (I still, to this day, use Dame Edith's phrase: "Gothic ignorance!" And I also still dream of actress Joan Greenwood, she of that precise diction and sensuously smoky voice!)) Too bad they don't make 'em - for fun! - like they used to.

Best Line: "We are all of us as God made us; and some of us much worse.".