1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lovely bit of Americana, a tragic director and star., April 25, 2001
This review is from: Tom Sawyer [VHS] (VHS Tape)
William Desmond Taylor's 1917 film version of "Tom Sawyer" was the first screen adaptation of Mark Twain's classic. It isn't wholly satisfactory; it depicts only about half the book (Taylor reserved the parts about Muff Potter and Injun Joe for a sequel, "Tom and Huck"). Robert Gordon's portrayal of Huckleberry Finn is ridiculously broad and clownish; Clara Horton makes an alarmingly plain Becky Thatcher; and Jim (particularly appalling in our day and age) is a boy, not a man, and limited to a humiliating walk-on. Nevertheless, the Taylor version of "Tom Sawyer" has considerably more charm than any subsequent film version I know of. He stages each scene cleanly, and with obvious affection; some of his camera work is as beautiful as D.W. Griffith's. Furthermore, in Jack Pickford (Mary's brother), he had by far the best screen Tom Sawyer ever. Though at 21 Pickford was old for the role (he looks about 16 in the movie), he has such cheeky, unforced charm that you can't help but love him and believe in him. Pickford is somewhat reminiscent of Matthew Broderick, and his performance makes you realize just how much Ferris Bueller owes to Tom Sawyer! The very age of the film helps its verisimilitude these days; because it was made so much closer to the actual time of the story than any subsequent version, Taylor's film takes on almost a documentary urgency today. This film is so lovely on the whole that you can't help but mourn for the people who made it. Taylor's still-unsolved 1922 murder robbed Hollywood of a great directing talent. As for Pickford, unfortunately, he was already well on the way to becoming a hopeless alcoholic by the time he made "Tom Sawyer." The drug-overdose death of his beautiful wife, Olive Thomas, in 1920 accelerated his downward spiral, leading him to an alcoholic's grave at the age of 36. Buy this video, enjoy a delightful bit of Americana, and say a prayer for the souls of William Desmond Taylor and Jack Pickford.
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