BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Tom Jones" (1963)

As of this writing, we're just 8 days away from the 86th Annual Academy Awards, honoring the best in film from 2013. This seemed like a great time to cover our next film for the Best Picture Showcase, that which was honored as the top movie of 1963 at the 36th Annual event. So ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for Tom Jones!

Ummmm...no, that's Tom Jones. I said Tom Jones. See? It's italicized. That means we're not talking about a person, we're referring to a title. Specifically, the title of a British film based on Henry Fielding's novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, written way back in the 18th century. Tom Jones, the singer, may have sung "It's Not Unusual", but this film certainly IS unusual for several reasons which we'll get to later. First, though, we should give you the synopsis.

Oh, and for the record, Tom Jones the singer DID actually get his stage name from this very film, so there you go.

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The movie starts off with one of its quirky portions right off the bat, telling us where the titular character came from, but doing so in the style of a silent movie. We see the action, then get the intertitle cards telling us what is being said, or what is occurring. In short, Squire Allworthy (George Devine) returns home from a long trip to London and heads to his bedroom, and he's stunned to find a baby in the bed. He and others quickly deduce the child must be from one of his servants, Jenny Jones (Joyce Redman). Jones is summoned, and she says she put the baby there. The next person accused and summoned is his barber, Mr. Partridge (Jack MacGowran). The squire banishes both Jenny and Partridge from the premises and decides he will raise the baby as if he were his own son. Jenny is upset at the banishment but seems glad the baby will be cared for by the squire, who along with his sister Bridget (Rachel Kempson) names the baby Tom Jones.

So ends our silent movie portion of the film, as we fast-forward to Tom as a young adult. We also get our first dose of narration, which often contains some humorous lines and jokes. Tom (Albert Finney) is a lustful young man and enjoys romping around with Molly (Diane Cilento), the daughter of the Allworthy gamekeeper, Black George (Wilfred Lawson). Molly asks Tom if he could help get her a maid's position for the Western house. Tom thinks he can. Tom is friends with Sophie Western (Susannah York), and in fact, feels quite strongly for her. Upon visiting Lady Western, he brings a thrush as a gift, which she gratefully accepts and shows off to others in the household, including Bridget's son Blifil (David Warner, in his film debut). Blifil is a dick and a complete opposite of the warm and fun-loving Tom. To prove that to us, he "accidentally" lets the bird escape his cage. Tom, however, is able to climb a tree and retrieve it to everyone's delight...except, of course, Blifil's.

The next scene of note is a long hunting chase. On one side, we have about 100 hunting dogs and about 100 men and women (including Tom and Sophie) all on horses running through what seems to be miles of green. On the other side, we have a deer. And for about five minutes, we see this one deer doing his damnedest to escape the rather unfair odds of all of this humanity and dog-ity and horse-ity coming after him. Eventually, the deer's caught and the winners...well, let's just say PETA would shit a brick if this scene were presented in 2014 as it was here. After all those fun visuals, Lady Western's horse takes off with her still on it. Tom to the rescue! He catches up to the horse and stops him from stampeding, but sustains a broken arm in the process. Sophie takes Tom back to the house and nurses his arm, and we see the sparks fly between Tom and Sophie that they have both been realizing existed already.

Tragedy then strikes. A runaway horse-and-buggy accident leaves Bridget Allworthy dead and her squire brother near death as well. In the aftermath, Blifil intercepts a letter from his late mother that was for her brother. Assumedly, he keeps it for himself to read first. As the squire lies dying, he wills his fortune amongst his servants and family, including 1,000 pounds each for his tutors Mr. Thwackum (Peter Bull) and Mr. Square (John Moffatt). Tom Jones is willed most of the fortune. A short time later downstairs, Thwackum and Square and Blifil are grumbling about the bastard child being the most fortunate, but then Tom races downstairs thrilled to announce that Squire Allworthy's fever broke and he'll live after all. Tom celebrates this news by getting quite drunk on wine. Blifil, Thwackum and Square insult Tom and Blifil winds up on the short end of a shoving match. Tom decides to go out into the garden with his wine, and he runs into Molly. The two fool around a bit but are caught by the others, including Sophie seeing the clothing-disheveled Molly hiding under a bridge.

Squire Western (Hugh Griffith) and his sister (Edith Evans) come to the conclusion that Sophie is in love, and they think it must be with Blifil, so they give Sophie the good news that they accept her choice and will set up the wedding. During this conversation, though, they discover she's actually in love with Tom. Since Tom was a child born out of wedlock, they refuse to accept this. Blifil and his two cohorts poison the mind of Squire Allworthy, telling him of the tryst with Molly, and Allworthy finally decides he has to send Tom off into the world to make his own life. With 500 pounds, Tom heads off.

Tom comes across a band of redcoat soldiers and joins their journey. During dinner, however, he toasts to the health of Lady Western, and one soldier pretends to know who she is and sullies her name. Tom demands for him to stop but gets knocked out with a flying jug for his efforts. Tom wakes up the next morning to find the redcoats have all taken off and stolen his money in the process. Meanwhile, Sophie has decided to run away from home and make a new life for herself in London. While on her journey, she runs into her old friend Mrs. Fitzpatrick (Rosalind Knight), who is also heading to London to escape her husband. They join together to finish the trek.

Back journeying solo, Tom comes across a woman being assaulted by a redcoat. Once again, Tom to the rescue! It winds up being the same redcoat who threw the jug at him. They have a battle, redcoat with sword versus Tom with large stick, and Tom wins. The redcoat runs off and the woman, Mrs. Waters, follows Tom to the Upton Inn for the night. They enjoy a huge dinner at the inn, making lustful eyes at each other the entire time, in a rather funny sequence.



Later that night, all hell breaks loose at the Upton Inn as Mr. Fitzpatrick learns Tom Jones is there, and he suspects he's there with his wife. He discovers that's not the case, as Mrs. Fitzpatrick then DOES arrive with Sophie, and they learn that Tom is there. For more fun, Squire Western and his clan have ALSO arrived, and we then wind up with a classic Benny Hill-esque chase all through the hotel, complete with sped-up-film running and crazy music. During this mayhem, Sophie faints, is later revived, but leaves her muff purse behind, which Tom finds and then deduces means she's either here, or was.

Tom's back on his journey until he's stopped by a robber. Tom strong-arms the weapon away from the robber, who apologizes and says he's simply desperate. They journey off to London together, during which the man tells him of how he used to be a barber until he was accused of fathering a servant's child. Tom picks up the man gleefully as he has apparently been reunited with his father. (The man indeed is Mr. Partridge, which we recognized immediately.) The story twists a bit though, as Partridge tells Tom he is actually NOT his father, and no one is sure who his parents are or were. Tom nonetheless accepts Partridge wholly and the two continue their journey.

In London, the ladies Fitzpatrick and Western are staying with an older wealthy woman named Lady Bellaston (Joan Greenwood). Tom comes to the house having learned Fitzpatrick is there to see if she knows of Sophie's whereabouts, but he's refused entry. Bellaston sees him out the window, however, and invites him in personally later. Tom receives an invitation to a masquerade ball, complete with mask. At the ball, he talks up who he thinks is Fitzpatrick and follows her home at her request, but then discovers it's actually Bellaston, who woos him into bed and later buys him a fancy new wardrobe, complete with wigs.

After getting gussied up and snorting some snuff, which causes him to sneeze and talk as if he has a severe cold, in walks none other than Sophie, and the two see each other for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, Tom can't stop sneezing and his voice is garbled, so the reunion is awkward. Meanwhile, Sophie is being wooed by Lord Fellamar (David Tomlinson) but she refuses him. Bellaston convinces Fellamar to force himself on her to win her love. He tries it, but just as things are about to get all nasty, Squire Western (who has tracked Sophie down) barges in and carries her to safety. Bellaston meets with Lady Western and tells her how Tom bedded her. It was, of course, the other way around, but Bellaston doesn't want Tom and Sophie ending up together so she switches it around for her benefit.

Tom decides to meet with Mrs. Fitzpatrick. As he arrives at the Bellaston house, so does Squire Allworthy with Blifil since Sophie's now been found there. Allworthy isn't pleased to hear that Tom is there too. Meanwhile, Mr. Fitzpatrick has also tracked everyone down and arrives at his wife's place just as Tom is leaving, which makes him again think Tom is boinking his wife. The two engage in a swordfight, which Tom wins, but Blifil and his cronies arrange witnesses to claim having seen that Tom attempted to kill Mr. Fitzpatrick during the battle. Tom is condemned to be hanged as a result. Mr. Partridge frantically seeks out someone to clear Tom's name, and he winds up meeting with Mrs. Waters. The two instantly recognize each other. It turns out Mrs. Waters is none other than Jenny Jones, and when Partridge alerts her that her son is the man about to be put to death, she looks into the camera and gives us a look which would seem to say, "Hmmm. I slept with my son. Oops."

With what we know right now, that may be the incestuous case, and her look is therefore funny but shocking. But wait, there's more!

Jenny Jones meets with Squire Allworthy and tells him of the letter that was supposed to reach him from his sister upon her death. The letter never did. What the letter stated is that Tom Jones was not Jenny's son, nor was Partridge the father. Bridget birthed the child illegitimately, and the father was Allworthy's steward. Tom is, in reality, Allworthy's nephew. Squire Allworthy, upon learning the news, banishes Blifil for hiding Bridget's letter all those years ago and heads off to try and stop the execution of Tom. He is successful in obtaining a pardon, but Tom is already at the gallows. The rope is around his neck, and his step stool is kicked away. Tom is hanging...

...but as the narrator says, our hero isn't going to be killed off, because that would be a bummer. Well, he didn't say it quite like that, but whatever he said was basically the same thing. It's Squire Western to the rescue, cutting the rope and carrying Tom to safety.

Squire Allworthy begs forgiveness from Tom, who tells him to not even give the past another thought. Squire Western, Allworthy and everyone else accept the wedding plans of Tom and Sophie, and the lovebirds reunite in liplock to end the film.

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I had stated earlier that Tom Jones was a British film. That it is. VERY British. The humor can at times be a bit obscure and over our heads, and the frenetic style of storytelling fits right into the realm of 1960's Great Britain. Elements of this film reminded me of Benny Hill, or Monty Python, or some of those classic "Brit-coms" we watched growing up on PBS. However, for the time it was released, the film was greatly appreciated and a big success. Well, that is, to everyone except director Tony Richardson, who never really felt the film was as good as it could have been. In his own autobiography, he admitted as such, even saying that every time someone would commend him on the greatness of the film, he would "cringe a little inside."

Tony may have cringed a little inside, but he could put himself at ease by taking his hand and putting it around his Best Director Oscar outside, because that award was one of the four Oscars that Tom Jones scored 50 years ago. Its Best Picture victory came over Cleopatra, How the West Was Won, Lilies of the Field and America, America, and the other awards were for Best Substantially Original Score (as it was called back then) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film had six other nominations, including one for Albert Finney, and THREE in the category of Best Supporting Actress, which is the only time to this day that three actresses were nominated for this award in one year. (For the record, the winner was none of them, it was Margaret Rutherford for The V.I.P.s.) The tastes of the Academy were certainly quirky 50 years ago, but then again, so was pretty much everyone and everything in the world. I'm not sure this film would "click" with today's audiences if it were a newly-made film, but for those who can appreciate British comedy and/or the wildness of the 1960's, Tom Jones is a film you'll want to sing about.