Alicia
I love this movie so much
Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Loui Blair
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
efisch
This outstanding movie from 1938 is still relevant and can stand as excellent entertainment for today' audiences. Great for young and old there are thrills and sadness combined with comedy and great characters. Not a point is missed in Norman Taurog's direction--he was a specialist with children--and the timing is superb. The newly restored color is excellent as is James Wong Howe's camera-work and William Cameron Menzies set designs. The children's acting is totally convincing and Tommy Kelley as Tom Sawyer is great. The film has probably once of the best ending tag lines of all movies. Once you see this movie you'll never forget it.
Neil Doyle
Selznick's THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER is an extremely faithful version of the famous Mark Twain story, generally well acted and cast with the kind of precision the producer was famous for.TOMMY KELLY, despite some drawbacks in his acting, makes an almost perfect Tom Sawyer. He's a bit too quick in flashing the full smile, the nervous sideways glances, the hesitant speech pattern when confronting strict adults--but then, in the '30s there was no HALEY JOEL OSMENT or DANIEL RADCLIFFE to fulfill requirements for more natural acting.Likewise, ANN GILLIS is a bit too coy as Becky Thatcher and even VICTOR JORY is a bit too melodramatic as Injun Joe. MAY ROBSON makes a wonderful Aunt Polly, stern but all the time showing that beneath the gruff exterior she's got a warm spot for her troublesome Tom. The final scene, where she slaps Sid in the face, is priceless.William Cameron Menzies created some wonderful effects for the cave sequence that he designed and the early Technicolor does justice to all the sets and costumes, giving the film the look of an illustrated children's version of the classic novel.Well worth viewing, although it may not be fast paced enough to suit today's children used to more fast-moving stories.Trivia note: Both TOMMY KELLY and JACKIE MORAN (in a small role as Huck Finn) had bits in Selznick's GONE WITH THE WIND the following year--and both were featured in the Gettysburg battle death announcements, Kelly as a member of the band with tears in his eyes and Moran as Phil Meade.
tonstant viewer
We complain that today's movie stars lack the charisma, the memorable faces and personalities of the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. But one thing has gotten better over the years and that's child acting. Today's kids are remarkably natural and real compared with the awful, slow, sticky artificiality of most of the child actors of yesteryear.There are many wonderful things about this film. William Cameron Menzies' visualization of the graveyard and the caves, Jack Cosgrove's matte paintings (those skies!), James Wong Howe's cinematography are all first class and memorable. Some (but not all) of the adult actors are quite fine. But the labored hamminess of the kids is quite unendurable. The illusion of thought, the illusion that something is being said for the first time never surfaces here for a moment. All is wide-eyed, over-rehearsed, over-enunciated and torture to watch.Mark Twain's immortal story retains power and magic, and the cave sequence in particular will stay with you, but in spite of the child actors, not because of them.
dwpollar
1st watched 10/14/2000 - (Dir-Norman Taurog): Well-done enactment of the popular Mark Twain novel with suspense, laughs & tears. Popular child director proves again that he can teach kids how to act on film.
