Evan D. As a project this year we are taking a trip through time to revisit all of the Best Picture winners in history, Wings to Anora. Tom Jones is the thirty-sixth film in that series, to see all the other Best Picture reviews, click here. Back before sound was married to image on the big screen, performers and storytellers found different ways to convey a story. Some of the most successful and popular silent films — Keaton and Chaplin movies — used a whole arsenal of tools to create comedy without punchlines and drama without monologues. It really is not something we see much of anymore. In 1963 Tony Richardson put to screen a talkie with the sensibility of an old silent comedy in Tom Jones.
Adapted from a book of the same name, Tom Jones begins with the discovery of a bastard child dropped off in the bedroom of a rural English lord (George Devine). The titular Tom is taken in by the lord and his suspected parents are exiled in shame. Fascinatingly, this opening sequence is presented in the style of an old silent film, complete with title cards. Now a young adult — in a fully sound dialogued film — Tom (Albert Finney) makes trouble all around the village, relying on his roguish charms to elide any real consequence for his actions. He rebels against his tutors and is notorious for his flings with the lower class women across town. All the while the object of Tom’s true affection is Sophie (Susannah York), the daughter of a nobleman. Although Sophie is equally enamored with Tom, he is of common descent and thus seen as unworthy of her. In terms of story, Tom Jones is a pretty standard, if occasionally zany, tale of love unaccepted by society. In practice though, the movie employs a rather unique sense of humor. After that silent inspired opening we see many of the same tricks of days past to add comedy and pace to the story. All the performances are larger than life, multiple characters break the 4th wall and the film is even sped up at points for comedic effect. Though there are plenty of gags, the film has essentially no jokes. What results is one of the more bizarre movies to ever win Best Picture. I struggle to think of another modern film like it in style or tone. Still, there is a briskness to the picture that makes it entertaining throughout. And on some level it’s appeal does makes sense as a homage to a bygone era of cinema. By most objective measures Tom Jones is messy and flawed but like Tom himself a great deal of the film’s sins can be forgiven by the roguish charm. Finney is delightfully wayward and the mischievousness he imbues onto Tom perfectly suits the story. The English countryside in which the movie was shot serves as something of a character itself. A bold swing, Tom Jones is of a mold of film we just do not see anymore. There is probably good reason for that as much of the humor does not hold up. Still it is an interesting contrast to some of the Best Picture winning films of its time. 6/10
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