910 Tom Jones
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm
910 Tom Jones
Tom Jones
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, a movement whose gritty realism they had helped establish, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful narrative territory. Tom Jones brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding's canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining turn), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England's rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director's cut, both supervised by director of photography Walter Lassally, with uncompressed monaural and stereo soundtracks on the Blu-ray
• New program on the film's cinematography featuring a conversation between Lassally and critic Peter Cowie
• Excerpt from a 1982 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring actor Albert Finney
• New interview with actor Vanessa Redgrave on director Tony Richardson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1967
• New interview with film scholar Duncan Petrie on the movie's impact on British cinema
• Illustrated archival audio interview with composer John Addison on his Oscar-winning score for the film
• New interview with the director's-cut editor, Robert Lambert
• PLUS: An essay by scholar Neil Sinyard
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, a movement whose gritty realism they had helped establish, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful narrative territory. Tom Jones brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding's canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining turn), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England's rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restorations of the original theatrical version of the film and the 1989 director's cut, both supervised by director of photography Walter Lassally, with uncompressed monaural and stereo soundtracks on the Blu-ray
• New program on the film's cinematography featuring a conversation between Lassally and critic Peter Cowie
• Excerpt from a 1982 episode of The Dick Cavett Show featuring actor Albert Finney
• New interview with actor Vanessa Redgrave on director Tony Richardson, to whom she was married from 1962 to 1967
• New interview with film scholar Duncan Petrie on the movie's impact on British cinema
• Illustrated archival audio interview with composer John Addison on his Oscar-winning score for the film
• New interview with the director's-cut editor, Robert Lambert
• PLUS: An essay by scholar Neil Sinyard
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Streaming the Criterion Collection
I thought it was pretty much guaranteed after Taste of Honey.domino harvey wrote:Tom Jones shocks me, mainly because it is suuuuuch a Twilight Time titleMinkin wrote:Tom Jones was one of the Mister Lime MGM titles that he listed as possibly with Criterion (the first actual Criterion confirmation from that list).
- ermylaw
- Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:58 am
Re: Streaming the Criterion Collection
On a recent Battleship Pretension Movie Journal podcast, one of the guys was discussing Tom Jones, and he hinted strongly that Criterion were doing some restoration work in preparation for a release. I gather this person has some inside knowledge of film restoration projects since he also had some information about the Taviani Brothers restorations prior to the release announcement.domino harvey wrote:Tom Jones shocks me, mainly because it is suuuuuch a Twilight Time title
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
I think this was already assumed, but Tom Jones just came on TCM with Criterion and Sam Goldwyn tags.
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
Very good news indeed -- I hope this comes to be. Soon.knives wrote:I think this was already assumed, but Tom Jones just came on TCM with Criterion and Sam Goldwyn tags.
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- Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 5:31 am
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
knives wrote:I think this was already assumed, but Tom Jones just came on TCM with Criterion and Sam Goldwyn tags.
please tell us it was the original cut and not the revisionist garbage Richardson edited in 1989.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
The end credits listed a restoration by Richardson which I assume indicates the later, but I am in no way an expert on the subject.
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- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:56 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
The last Region 1 DVD of Tom Jones that MGM released had the original cut on it, so I'd hope Criterion wouldn't revert to the Richardson bowdlerization. The problem with the latter is that in what appears to have been an attempt to snip out some of the more risqué dialogue toward the end of the film, Richardson ruined the pacing. Up until then, his changes are no big deal, but I'd be really shocked if anyone found the revision superior in any way to the original.
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- Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 1:51 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
Too risqué for 1989? It was only trimmed for the theatrical re-release.Ishmael wrote:The last Region 1 DVD of Tom Jones that MGM released had the original cut on it, so I'd hope Criterion wouldn't revert to the Richardson bowdlerization. The problem with the latter is that in what appears to have been an attempt to snip out some of the more risqué dialogue toward the end of the film, Richardson ruined the pacing. Up until then, his changes are no big deal, but I'd be really shocked if anyone found the revision superior in any way to the original.
The director said he grabbed the rare opportunity to return to the editing room and fine-tune a movie he had made a quarter-century ago. The new version is minus seven minutes of earlier footage, "all trims, the kind I would have done then if I'd been smart enough. It's taken me 25 years to not be so dumb."
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- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:56 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
Standards change. In the 60s, maybe it was amusing for a female character to say lightheartedly that "even the Sabine women sometimes enjoyed being raped" (paraphrasing, but not much), but that kind of stuff sounded pretty embarrassing 25 years later. Also, the trims weren't just for theatrical re-release, because I saw the revised version on videotape.vidussoni wrote:Too risqué for 1989? It was only trimmed for the theatrical re-release.
Who knows what other motives Richardson had? Maybe he thought he was improving the film. I don't think he did. (Though there's one strange scene near the beginning that no one would ever notice the absence of, so props to him there.)
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
Richardson seems pretty open from the beginning that he felt it didn't entirely work.
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Forthcoming: Discussion and Random Speculation Volume 7
TCM and Criterion ran the abominable Director's Cut from the late 80s, shame on them. Sad. I hope they come to their senses and release the original cut, as MGM did a few years back. I won't buy that other monstrosity.
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Criterion Newsletter: Clues and More, Volume Four
Let's hope they do the original release version, and not the abominable edited version that Richardson released in the late 1980s. Alas, the edited version is the one on FilmStruck, so...
- jsteffe
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
- Location: Atlanta, GA
Re: Criterion Newsletter: Clues and More, Volume Four
Ideally, I'd prefer both versions. Not sure how much say Criterion has in this.Roscoe wrote:Let's hope they do the original release version, and not the abominable edited version that Richardson released in the late 1980s. Alas, the edited version is the one on FilmStruck, so...
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- Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 1:53 am
Re: Criterion Newsletter: Clues and More, Volume Four
After MGM released the original cut on DVD, they were contacted by Richardson's estate declaring that the edited version was the only one they would permit to be distributed. Hopefully Criterion can appease them by including both versions.Roscoe wrote:Let's hope they do the original release version, and not the abominable edited version that Richardson released in the late 1980s. Alas, the edited version is the one on FilmStruck, so...
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: Criterion Newsletter: Clues and More, Volume Four
Pity. I'll treasure that MGM DVD all the more now. Fingers crossed that Criterion manages a GOLD RUSH-style double header. Otherwise I won't bother.Jameson281 wrote:After MGM released the original cut on DVD, they were contacted by Richardson's estate declaring that the edited version was the only one they would permit to be distributed. Hopefully Criterion can appease them by including both versions.
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- Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 4:49 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Tom Jones
Lady Bellaston’s line to Lord Fellamar is something like “Does the word ‘rape’ frighten you, sir? I believe even the Sabine women made tolerably good wives,” and, irrespective of changing standards, it’s crucial to understanding the depth of her viciousness. It's only barely disguised as a comic line. Tom Jones takes place some 40 years after the Restoration, but its sexual politics are virtually identical. Indeed, Miss Western, who was young in the Restoration, advocates marriage to Blifil even if Sophia doesn’t love him, claiming that many successful marriages are made without love, just as her brother, Squire Western, sees the alliance as a matter of joining his property to Allworthy’s. The traffic in women as property, with a focus on their dowries, is common in Restoration comedy and still obtained in 1745, when Fielding’s story takes place. The movie is a magnificent, panoramic portrait of the 18th century and its mores, and it's faithful to the behavior of the period. I think, too, that some of its importance as a film lies in the way it undermined Hollywood prurience by displaying language, bosoms and sexual encounters that no Hollywood film of the time would touch, or even conceive of presenting so brazenly. Yet here was a classic novel faithfully brought to the screen, and it supplied a spark for the coming sexual revolution. Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper railed against it, but they couldn't stop it.Ishmael wrote:Standards change. In the 60s, maybe it was amusing for a female character to say lightheartedly that "even the Sabine women sometimes enjoyed being raped" (paraphrasing, but not much), but that kind of stuff sounded pretty embarrassing 25 years later.
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- Joined: Mon Dec 02, 2013 4:49 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Tom Jones
My apologies. In my post above I meant to write "prudery," not "prurience."
- htom
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 1:57 pm
Re: Forthcoming: Tom Jones
I recall seeing this in the theaters in Richardson's revised cut (1989), and if I recall correctly the print shown appeared faded, much like the subsequent laserdisc release. At the time it was noted that the negative itself suffered premature color fading as single strip Eastmancolor was prone to doing in that era. I guess I'm wondering if it really has been possible since then to bring this closer to its original color look, unless that was what I was seeing. But I thought it didn't look very good on the big screen, with night scenes being more gray than black, and everything else being a shade of brown.
- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
- Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
- Location: SLC, UT
Re: Forthcoming: Tom Jones
Feb 27, both cuts
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: 909 Tom Jones
Very exciting that both the original theatrical version and Richardson's misguided trashjob cut will be included. An absolutely essential purchase. My money is theirs.
But what the fuck is that cover art?
But what the fuck is that cover art?
- Big Ben
- Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 12:54 pm
- Location: Great Falls, Montana
Re: 909 Tom Jones
I can't find anything relating to the cover being poster art. So the aborted Egon Shciele painting look is new.
- Ribs
- Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:14 pm
- Roscoe
- Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:40 pm
- Location: NYC
Re: 909 Tom Jones
The image on the cover is taken from a moment fairly late in the film, where Finney's Tom is all dandied up and listening to some not great news. A curiously pensive image for such a rowdy movie.
- jsteffe
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:00 am
- Location: Atlanta, GA
Re: 909 Tom Jones
The DVD Beaver frame grabs look better than I expected, considering the film's difficult preservation history. I can't wait to enjoy this film all over again...