THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER: Blu-ray (Selznick International, 1938) Kino Lorber
Sandwiched
somewhere into David O. Selznick’s heady schedule of contemporary product to be
distributed via RKO (his original slate of 12 productions pared to 6, due to Selznick’s
overweening ambition to make perfect entertainments) is director, Norman Taurog’s
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938).
With this release, Selznick had hoped to create an everlasting testament to one
of his fondest childhood memories. A genuine pity then, that Mark Twain’s
iconic masterwork proved too great a challenge for this inspired ole-time
mogul. For MGM, Selznick had resurrected Dickens' beloved David Copperfield (1935); still, the definitive movie version of
that immortal piece of great literature. Alas, for his own company Selznick
could barely muster anything more than a reverence for Twain – mired by a
slight turgidity, made more acceptable and, at times, even ravishing in
Technicolor, though dulled to the point of no return by John V.A. Weaver’s
lumbering screenplay. In truth, Weaver’s construction was not the issue. He is
largely successful at streamlining Twain’s book, smoothing over its episodic
nature and providing a cohesive, linear timeline. But the real problem with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is none of
its characters, however finely wrought, ever come across as anything more than
wooden interpretations, rather than the vibrant and truly alive creations who
populated Twain’s novel, forever to live on in the hearts of millions.
Delayed multiple
times during its gestation, while Selznick pursued a Scarlett O’Hara-sized
search for just the right moppet to embody Twain’s beloved urchin, after some
consternation – and the producer’s insistence on plucking an ‘untrained’ child
from one of the orphanages and/or reformatories, Selznick instead settled on
Tommy Kelly, the 12-year-old son of a Bronx fireman, as his incorrigible free
spirit. Kelly had virtually no acting experience and was precisely what
Selznick was looking for in the moment. In support of Kelly, Selznick’s resolve
weakened some, turning to seasoned alumni, Ann Gillis and Jackie Moran as Becky
Thatcher and Huck Finn respectively, with other parts going to May Robson (Aunt
Polly), Walter Brennan (Muff Potter), Margaret Hamilton (one year removed from Oz’s
wicked witch of the west, herein as Mrs. Harper), and, in one of the most
grotesquely laughable miscalculations in acting history, Victor Jory (as blood-thirsty,
Injun Joe). Selznick longed to shoot The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer in Technicolor. Alas, owing to the process’
infancy and availability of cameras, Selznick was informed by Technicolor’s
President, Herbert Kalmus this was quite out of the question as all available
units had already been assigned.
Eager to meet
his Feb. 11th deadline, Selznick begrudgingly green-lit the
production, shooting exteriors designed by Lyle Wheeler on the Paramount ranch,
under Henry C. Potter’s direction, with imminent cameraman, James Wong Howe
photographing everything in B&W. Happy circumstance – at least for Selznick
– only one week into the shoot a Technicolor camera became available; Selznick,
scrapping everything to begin anew after three additional days of screen tests.
Potter was replaced by Taurog – who specialized in working with children. The
real problem was virtually all of the sets had been designed for B&W – not
color. As time was of the essence, Selznick elected to repaint them in drab
neutrals, concentrating on accessories – like flowers – and Walter Plunkett’s
vibrant costuming to provide the appropriate splashes of color. As this was
Howe’s first color production he concentrated on achieving subtler hues almost
exclusively devoting the splashier moments to performers in close-up. After
production wrapped, Selznick took one look at the footage and decided two weeks
of retakes were needed to improve upon the action. He hired George Cukor to
oversee these new scenes, including more footage in the schoolhouse, plus a
re-imagining of Sawyer’s respite with Huck on Jackson Island, and finally, the
penultimate ‘tag’ where Robson’s Aunt Polly gives a whiny Cousin Sidney (David
Holt) his just desserts.
Despite delays,
Selznick’s tinkering on The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer was unusually minimal. Perhaps in an effort to meet his
agreed upon premiere date; also, his commitment to RKO, the picture debuted
without much fanfare at Radio City just two months after wrapping up, and, at a
formidable outlay of $1.5 million, practically guaranteeing it would not turn a
profit. In spite of Selznick’s devotion to Twain, his beautiful craftsmanship
aside, the look of the picture seemed at odds with Twain’s visceral charm; the
sumptuousness in its values, somehow stifling whatever vitality is to be
gleaned from this tableau of waxworks. In retrospect, one can certainly see the
error of Selznick’s lavishness. Under the eye-popping brilliant hues of
Technicolor, only briefly do the machinations of our Tom, Huck and Little Jim (Philip
Hurlic) go beyond the perfunctory tribute to Twain’s un-scholarly charm. While
the performances throughout are solid, what Selznick has instead achieved is
basically another creaky period costume drama, intermittently peppered with
light – if crudely rendered – comedy.
Selznick fidelity
to the novel, at least in hindsight, ensured most of its highlighted vignettes found
their way from the reader’s heart to the big screen. Tom lives with his Aunt
Polly and cousin, Sidney. Perceived as a ne’er-do-well, simply because he
prefers exotic adventures to the book-learned stagnation of a formal education,
Tom frequently skips school to go skinny-dipping. Exposed in his delinquency by
Sid, Tom is ordered as punishment by his ear-pulling Aunt Polly to whitewash the
fence. Instead, he cleverly barters with pal, Joe Harper (Mickey Rentschler),
who gets other neighborhood children to partake of the exercise in his stead. As
the fence is painted in record time, Aunt Polly allows Tom his opportunity for idleness.
Almost immediately, Tom becomes smitten with Becky Thatcher, newly arrived in
this small town with her father, the Judge (Charles Richman) and forthright mother
(Nana Bryant). Becky’s heart, alas, is not so easily won. Even Tom’s barefoot
balancing act atop her picket fence, while perching a bird’s feather on his
nose, fails to impress her. What does finally win the girl over is Tom’s
willingness to accept unnecessary punishment from schoolmaster, Mr. Dobbins (Olin
Howland) after Becky’s crude chalk-rendered caricature of the curmudgeonly
scholar is found out by this stuffy old goat. Caned before the class, Tom later
engages Becky at his favorite watering hole. Regrettably, his imposition of a
kiss is met with resistance; his peace offering of a frog, terrorizing the girl
to no end.
Spurned and now,
more than ever, bored with school, Tom agrees to accompany Huck to the cemetery
late at night to bury a dead cat. Instead, the boys witness Dr. Robinson
(Roland Drew), Muff and Injun Joe robbing a grave. An altercation ensues
between the men. Muff is knocked unconscious and Joe murders Robinson, using
Muff’s knife. Reviving Muff, Injun Joe infers he has killed Robinson before
losing consciousness. Unable to recall the event, Muff is nevertheless
terrified the town will find out he is a murderer and agrees to remain obscure
for the next little while. Meanwhile, Tom and Huck swear a blood oath never to
speak of the events witnessed, as Joe will likely come after them in
retribution. Instead, Tom, Joe Harper and Huck decide to run away to a nearby
island and begin their ‘new’ lives as pirates. However, during their absence
the townsfolk assume the worst; the boys have drowned in the Mississippi River.
Dredging the banks in search of bodies, the posse becomes more frantic. Tom
sneaks back into town under the cover of night and learns what all the fuss is
about. And although he is torn in his devotion to Aunt Polly, Tom nevertheless
elects to sneak away again without informing anyone he, Joe and Huck are still
very much alive.
A funeral is held
for the boys. Tom, Huck and Joe Harper sneak into the choir loft to hear their
own eulogies. Struck by the outpouring of empathy from their community, they
sheepishly make their presence known and are promptly admonished for their despicable
behavior. By now, the townsfolk have discovered Dr. Robinson’s body and
wrongfully assumed Muff is his killer. Marched through the streets to be made
an example, Muff desperately implores his fellow citizens to reconsider their
accusation. It is of no consequence. Muff is tried for murder. Tom and Huck
concur. One of them must come forward and admit to what they saw that night in
the cemetery. Thus, Tom elects to become a witness for the defense. As he takes
the stand, Tom is repeatedly threatened by Injun Joe. Yet, despite his mounting
fear, and a near fatal attempt by Injun Joe to stab him, Tom confesses the
truth to the Judge. Injun Joe makes his daring escape through a window and Muff,
exonerated at last, is set free.
At this
juncture, Selznick’s The Adventures of
Tom Sawyer omits several vignettes from Twain’s novel, jumping ahead to the
town picnic near McDougal Cave. Tom and Becky elect to go off and become
disoriented inside the caves, losing their way. In the meantime, darkness falls
and the gathering return home without them; alerted to their absence when Aunt
Polly arrives to collect her young charge but cannot find him. Amassing a posse
to go in search of Tom and Becky, a cave-in prevents any further exploration.
Meanwhile, Tom discovers Injun Joe’s hidden treasure. He is elated until Joe surfaces
to reclaim his fortunes. Tom flees along a narrow precipice as Becky looks on
in horror. At the last possible moment, Tom causes Injun Joe to lose his
footing. He tumbles to his death into a darkened abyss, leaving Becky shell-shocked.
Tom follows a faint ray of light penetrating through the rocks and discovers
another way to safety. For his valor against Injun Joe and loyalty toward Becky,
Tom is well rewarded by a grateful Judge Thatcher. Better still, he and Huck have returned with Joe’s
formidable stash of gold doubloons. As
the townsfolk rejoice at Tom’s good fortune, Tom uses the opportunity to
gleefully smash a whole strawberry shortcake in Cousin Sidney’s face. “Tom may even be President someday,”
Aunt Polly nervously assesses with pride, “…if
they don’t hang ‘em first.”
The penultimate
showdown between Injun Joe and Tom inside McDougal’s cave was a complete
fabrication on Selznick’s part; the producer firmly believing Tom needed at
least one redemptive act of heroism to legitimize his otherwise mischievous
good nature. In Twain’s novel no such encounter occurs. Tom and Becky find
their way to safety after being trapped in the cave and Tom, having alerted
Judge Thatcher of its perils, is unaware a great iron door has been placed
before its entrance to prevent other children from similarly suffering. Alas,
Injun Joe is already inside the cave, where his loot is stashed. Unable to
escape, he dies from starvation before Tom can alert the townsfolk; his body,
later discovered inside. Also, for time constraints, the picture omits the
entire last act of Twain’s novel in which the Widow Douglas decides to adopt
Huck. He grows restless in her care and attempts a return to his former life as
a vagrant. Instead, Tom tricks Huck into a new scheme, but only if he remains
in the widow’s care. Very reluctantly, Huck agrees. While not entirely faithful to the plot of
Twain’s masterpiece, Selznick’s The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer bears an uncanny resemblance to the author’s
high-minded altruism. While several critics of their day poo-pooed the
inclusion of such moments as the aforementioned ‘cake-in-the-face-smash’ as
pure slapstick unworthy of Twain’s prose, pictorially, at least, these bits
provide what few bright spots of comedy emerge from this otherwise slavishly
devoted ‘picturization’ (a Selznick euphemism for bringing great literature to the
screen).
I am not
entirely sure what Kino Lorber considers a ‘meticulous
restoration’, but to my eyes, The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer still suffers from intermittent mis-registration of
the original 3-strip Technicolor elements. It is mostly the yellow record that
is out of whack, creating disturbing halos and a decidedly blurry image. The
main titles are horrendously marred by this anomaly, as are several key
sequences later on. Some effort has been spent to re-balance the color and
achieve somewhat brilliant hues as original Technicolor, with its metal-based
dyes, was capable of reproducing. So too, age-related artifacts have been
eradicated…almost. Contrast is excellent, with one or two minor exceptions. But
it is the mis-alignment of these color records that persists and becomes a real
downer. Honestly, I have stated this before, though it bears repeating herein
yet again. There is NO POINT releasing
vintage Technicolor masterpieces in anything less than perfectly minted Blu-rays,
comprised of properly aligned Technicolor records. Either put in the time and
effort required to achieve such results or do not release these movies at all
in hi-def. They otherwise look atrocious! The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer is hardly the worst transgressor of such slapdash
treatment. For this, we turn to the latest hapless Blu-ray travesty, known in
Universal’s For Whom The Bell Tolls.
But I digress. The audio herein is 2.0 DTS mono and adequate for this
presentation. Kino Lorber has included both the 91 min. original theatrical cut
and its slightly pruned 77 min. reincarnation, created for a 1954 reissue.
Ironically, the picture plays better in this shorter version – the action ‘tighter’
and the wordiness a little less grating on the ear. Bottom line: while Selznick
had hoped for a cinematic masterpiece to rival Twain’s literary art, the
results here are far from perfect, if still worthy of a second glance.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
3
VIDEO/AUDIO
3
EXTRAS
0
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