| The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Norman Taurog |
| Written by | John V.A. Weaver |
| Based on | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876 novel byMark Twain |
| Produced by | David O. Selznick |
| Starring | Tommy Kelly Jackie Moran May Robson Ann Gillis Walter Brennan Victor Jory |
| Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
| Music by | Max Steiner (uncredited) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.5 million[2] |
| Box office | $2 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[3] |
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 Americandrama film produced byDavid O. Selznick and directed byNorman Taurog who had previously directedHuckleberry Finn (1931) withJackie Coogan andJunior Durkin. The film starredTommy Kelly in the title role, withJackie Moran andAnn Gillis. The screenplay by John V. A. Weaver was based onthe classic 1876 novel of the same name byMark Twain. The movie was the first film version of the novel to be made in color.
TheUnited Artists release includes most of the sequences familiar to readers of the book, including the fence-whitewashing episode;Tom andHuckleberry Finn's attendance at their ownfuneral, after the boys, who were enjoying an adventure on a remote island, are presumed dead; the murder trial of local drunkard Muff Potter; and Tom and Becky Thatcher's flight through a cave as they try to escapeInjun Joe, who is revealed to be the real killer.
Note: Many cast lists included an uncreditedSpring Byington as Widow Douglas. However, Huck's adoption is not included in this version, and Byington's role does not appear to have survived editing.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was the fourth film adaptation of the Twain novel, following versions released in 1907, 1917, and 1930, and this is the first filmed inTechnicolor.
H. C. Potter originally was signed to direct but was fired and replaced by Taurog afterGeorge Cukor declined the assignment.[4] Cukor directed some scenes, but received no on-screen credit for his contributions.
Tommy Kelly, aBronxfireman's son, was selected for the title role through a national campaign waged byproducer David O. Selznick, who later would conduct a similar search for an actress to portrayScarlett O'Hara inGone with the Wind. According to a 1937 memo he sent to story editor Katharine Brown, he originally hoped to cast an orphan as Tom, feeling such a stunt would receive "tremendous attention and arouse such a warm public feeling that it would add enormously to the gross of the picture."[5] Kelly failed to achieve the star status of fellow child actorFreddie Bartholomew, and after an inconsequential career he retired and later became a school teacher.[6]
After reading the comment cards completed by an audience at asneak preview of the film, Selznick sent director Taurog a memo expressing concern about the climactic scene in the cave, which many viewers had described as "too horrible for children." He advised Taurog "this worried me, because we certainly want the picture to be for a family audience," and as a result he was cutting a close-up of Becky, in which her hysteria was "perhaps a shade too much that of a very ill woman, rather than that of a little girl," "with regrets."[7]
On the strength of the designs for the cave sequence executed byWilliam Cameron Menzies, Selznick hired him forGone with the Wind.[8]
Some exterior scenes were filmed atBig Bear Lake, Lake Malibu,Paramount Ranch inAgoura, California, andRKO's Encinomovie ranch. Other scenes were filmed on recycled sets left over fromA Star is Born (1937), such as the Blodgett family home interior (kitchen, living room, and bedroom), and a silhouette of a wolf howling at the Moon. Mississippi River long shots fromTom Sawyer would later be reused in MGM's 1951 musicalShow Boat.
The movie premiered at theRadio City Music Hall, and B. R. Crisler ofThe New York Times wrote that Tommy Kelly was "a miracle of casting" and called the film "one of the better pictures of the year" on the strength of the source material alone, but also criticized the film for including scenes of "cheap and obvious" slapstick involving such things as tomatoes and cake icing. Crisler told producer David O. Selznick to "get busy on 'Gone with the Wind', will you, before WE begin throwing tomatoes."[9]Variety wrote that Selznick had "pulled no financial punches" in mounting the production and that while the film was generally faithful to the book, an "excellent job" had been done on the new dialogue written for the screen.[10]Film Daily called it "a triumph for all concerned."[11]John Mosher ofThe New Yorker praised Kelly and Gillis as "altogether very much the Twain children" and called Weaver's screenplay "excellent".[12]
Time Out London called the film "extraordinarily handsome to look at, with exquisite Technicolor camerawork byWong Howe and some imaginative designs . . . [it] has its longueurs, but it does capture the sense of a lazy Mississippi summer and much of the spirit of the book, with Jory making a superbly villainous Injun Joe."[13]
TV Guide described it as "a lively production featuring a quick pace, a chilling climax, and a surprising amount of wit."[14]
It received a nomination for anOscar forBest Art Direction, and theVenice Film Festival Mussolini Cup for Best Film.
The film lost $302,000 at the box office.[15]
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a version of Twain'sThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with a different cast the following year, replacing Jackie Moran withMickey Rooney.