Tom Thumb

Delightful Family Entertainment
Are you looking for a film that you can safely watch with your children ? Have you seen most of the Disney catalogue ? Well, happily--once in a while--someone other than Disney produces a film that can enchant young and old, and in 1958 Mr. George Pal did just that with "Tom Thumb". After producing several science fiction classics in the fifties, Mr. Pal and his crack special effects team set up shop in England for this winning musical fantasy, based on the famous fairy tale.

A poor, honest wood-cutter, Jonathan (Bernard Miles) and his wife, Anne (Jessie Matthews) are granted three wishes by the Forest Queen (lovely June Thorburn) for sparing her favourite tree. They basically bungle their wishes, but they are granted a son to raise. His name is Tom, and he is 5 1/2 inches tall. Of course, being so tiny, Tom has all sorts of interesting adventures. Unfortunately, one of them involves innocently helping two crooks (the hilarious team of Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers) steal...

when i was a little kid, this was my favorite movie
and the good parts are just as good today.

start off, of course, with the brilliant sequences from george pal. if i am not mistaken, this was the final puppetoon animation he did, as he was then involved increasingly in directing feature length films. but if only for the yawning man and con-fu-shen, this film would be worth seeing.

add to that, the wonderful live performances by such as the underrated dancer russ tamblyn in the title role; the legendary jessie matthews; and a young peter sellers and terry thomas as marvelous comic villains. sadly, the love story between queenie and woody slows thing down, and even the usually wonderful alan young cant save that part of the movie. (incidentally, a year later young would turn in his finest performance in the george pal "time machine.")

i have such fond memories of this movie, and it manages to live up to them -- i would wholeheartedly recommend it, especially to fans of fantasy, dance, or puppetry. bravo!

Tom Thumb
Loved the film; brought back memories of my childhood when my parents brought me to see it back in the late 50's. The film though presented principally for children, has a lot of sentimentality and morals to its' credit. Really nice movie.

Click to Editorial Reviews