Product Details

• Actors: Albert Finney, Susannah York, George Devine, Rachel Kempson, Angela Baddeley
• Directors: Tony Richardson
• Writers: Henry Fielding, John Osborne
• Producers: Tony Richardson, Michael Balcon, Michael Holden, Oscar Lewenstein
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Dubbed: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Lopert Pictures Corporation
• DVD Release Date: June 19, 2001
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005AUKE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,468 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Tom Jones" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Winner of four Academy Awards including best picture, director, screenplay, and music, this 1963 adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel is a rousing, bawdy comedy about a young man's ribald adventures in 18th-century England. Albert Finney is splendidly hilarious in the title role of a charming womanizer who was discovered as an abandoned infant in the bed of Squire Allworthy, a wealthy landowner who named the child Tom Jones and raised him as his own. As a young man, Tom yearns for the comely daughter (Susannah York) of a neighboring squire, but his amorous adventures (including an extended food orgy that becomes the film's funniest scene) lead him to London and to a duel with a jealous husband. He's sentenced to hang, but fate intervenes. A hit around the world, the film was expertly written by noted playwright John Osborne, and director Tony Richardson uses a variety of old-style movie techniques to heighten the lusty, good-natured fun. Don't miss this one! --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

Director Tony Richardson and scripter John Osborne's sprawling, bawdy romp through 18th-century England earned four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Albert Finney stars as the titular hero, a charming country boy whose beguiling manner gets him into one hilarious romantic misadventure after another; based on the novel by Henry Fielding. With Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, David Warner, and Edith Evans. 121 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital stereo; Subtitles: English, Spanish, French. NOTE: This Title Is Out Of Print; Limit One Per Customer.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 53 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE this movie!!!! February 27, 2003

By Schuyler V. Johnson VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I saw this in the theatre when it was first released, and the passage of time has done nothing to dim my love and fascination of this superb translation of the novel by Fielding. Of course, Albert Finney made a very dashing Tom Jones, and wqas so perfectly suited to the role; Susannah York great as his true love, Sophie, and the other roles, Hugh Griffith as Sophie's father, and hilarious in his part as a drunken, boisterous, lusty squire, and Dame Edith Evans as his rather disapproving, but very funny sister, reprimanding him with a trilling "Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrother...." while he is wrestling some country maidens in the haystacks, straw in his hair and a pack of bulldogs surrounding him. The dinner scene with him eating a roast chicken with great gusto, so much so that he harangues Sophie with pieces of it in his nose, is delightful, as is his unscripted departure from Squire Allworthy's residence, on his horse, and turning so tightly that the horse rears and collapses with Hugh Griffith on top of him...so funny Richardson wisely decided to keep it in the film.
I also appreciated the performances of David Warner, as the disgustingly priggish tutor, Mr. Bliful, and Diane Cilento (once married to Sean Connery...) as Tom's sometime paramour. The entire cast is excellent, including Joan Greenwood as the predatory older woman after Tom at any cost. Watch for the Masquerade Ball and see Hugh Griffith in his elephant mask; what a great scene!
The peripheral players are superb, as is the setting of London in the eighteenth century, with the deplorable lack of sanitary conditions and the terrible poverty. The music is haunting, the scene at the Inn (yes, the food scene, of course, one of the more outstanding in the movie) but also the frenetic byplay of the characters winding up in each other's beds with different wives and lovers, it is such a classic melange of humor, drama and near tragedy, there simply isn't one moment of bad film or minute of tedium...you will be absorbed all the way through, and enjoy this rambunctious, joyful frolic with Tom and his supporting cast of finely drawn characters. One last comment: The scene of Tom and Sophie, running, taking turns rowing a boat and falling in love on the grounds of her father's estate, is absolutely beautiful; watch for the scene of them picking blossoms and Sophie laughing and the blossoms falling into her mouth; very sensual and exquisitely detailed, as is the entire production.

41 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nicely Naughty Vintage Fun! May 30, 2002

By Cowboy Buddha

Format:VHS Tape

For many years, Tom Jones was my absolute favourite film. My views have mellowed and my tastes changed somewhat, but I still enjoy seeing it every now and then. It's like an old friend. Although, I will admit, it is one of those films that viewers either love or hate.

Even though the story is set in the England of the early 1700's, the film is solidly a reflection of the 1960's. It was extremely popular when it came out - winning the Academy Award as best film. Audiences were overwhelmed by its bawdy humour, sinning and sinful characters, and endless camera trickery - all briskly paced and accompanied by a rollicking musical score. Director Tony Richardson threw everything into the mix - speeded up film, freeze frames, screen wipes, character asides to the audience, a lip-smacking narrator, even a silent movie opening sequence. The characters looked like real people instead of actors - the costumes and settings actually looked lived in. John Osborne's script contained dialogue with a proper period flavour (too much so occasionally) and the whole thing was photographed with a subdued, grainy quality not unlike an old painting. In fact, Tom Jones is almost two films in one - the first part rustic, earthy and halcyon on the sprawling estates of Squires Western and Allworthy, then an abrupt change of style to the intimidating Hogarthian squalour of London where danger seemed to lurk behind every corner. Newgate Gaol and a public hanging are uncompromisingly realistic for what is, after all, basically a comedy.

Most memorable of all are the performances. Albert Finney as Tom and pert Susannah York as his one true love are suitably attractive and talented. But the real flavour of this feast is provided by one of the most incredible supporting casts ever assembled for such a film. Hugh Griffith shamelessly steals every scene he's in but the haughty Edith Evans is more than a match for him. Diane Cilento, Joyce Redman, and the incomparable Joan Greenwood give plenty of variety to Tom's sex life, while David Warner, Julian Glover, and Peter Bull lead the villains.

I have never read the Henry Fielding novel on which the film is based and have no intention of ever doing so. The film of Tom Jones is more than capable of standing on its own. Its style, like its setting, may seem like a relic from the distant past. But, in many ways, Tom Jones represents the high point of British film making in the Sixties - an achievement the Brits have rarely equalled since. More than that, Tom Jones is an immensely enjoyable film - it is fun! And that is something we can never have too much of.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Picture, Horrible Transfer March 8, 2001

By Frank Dudley Berry, Jr.

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

Pay attention to this review if no other. `Tom Jones' is a terrific movie, in my humble opinion. But this DVD version is one of the worst transfers you'll ever find. It is missing at least three minutes of of footage from the original, including one key scene where Lady Bellingham encourages Lord Whoever to rape Sophie. In the original, the scene is cool, elegant, and evlil. It's missing here, maybe for politically correct reasons, and the edit chops with incredible crudeness directly from Lady Bellingham sipping tea to the lord to that gentleman unaccountably attacking Sophie. The result is that a lof of subsequent plot makes no sense at all.

That alone would justify giving this one the miss, but the transfer is also hazy and unfocused, and may even have been made from a VHS tape. MGM Enterntainment is bringing out a new version on 6/19/2001. Wait for that if you have any sense.