Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

adamshl It's gratifying to know how much this film meant to some folks. Apparently it did what the filmmakers intended, as far as supporters of this work are concerned.For me, it was a rather tedious, limp affair, despite the vigorous performance of Russ Tamblyn. The Pal special effects seemed dated, though impressive from a historical perspective. The songs come across as fair, and the whole enterprise seemed pale and drawn out. One can see the effort (and cost) that went into this production, for it's often quite opulent and elaborate. Perhaps kids from ages 3-7 might be its best audience. There's nothing harmful here for very young children, and their parents might appreciate a film the family can watch together. In that sense, "tom thumb" has a value.

bkoganbing Unfortunately for the career of Russ Tamblyn he came along just as musicals were being phased out along with the big studio system. But MGM did have Russ under long term contract and there was the fact he had to be used. Tamblyn went to the United Kingdom in 1958 to film tom thumb, one of the Brothers Grimm more interesting fairy tales. As desired by Jessie Matthews after she and husband Bernard Miles waste three wishes granted by the forest fairy June Thorburn, she would love any child sent though the child be a wee one.Of course Tamblyn becomes the joy of their lives and his best scenes are dancing with those animated George Pal Puppetoons. Twenty years earlier, Russ Tamblyn would have been a great musical star, he didn't do half bad coming along when he did. The Puppetoon scenes won for tom thumb an Oscar for Special Effects in 1958.I remember accompanying my younger siblings to see the film when it opened. Believe it or not the thing I remember best is that scene where Miles races home to tell Matthews about the three wishes. He casually remarks he'd like a sausage and then it appears. And then she just as casually wishes it would grow on his nose and poof there it is. Seeing it today on TCM brought that memory back of the sausage growing on Bernard Miles's nose. Fortunately the kind fairy gave her a heartfelt fourth wish.Alan Young is an earnest if diffident hero who performs a heroic deed and wins mortality and the heart for and of June Thorburn. And Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas make a wonderful pair of villains who trick Tamblyn into using his small size to rob the king's treasury.And in the Grimm Brothers world of happily ever after, young tom gets a bride of his size. They might have been the ancestors of the gnomes from the Gnomemobile

movingpicturegal Rich, colorful musical fantasy based on a Grimms fairy tale that is delightfully fun to watch. Telling the tale of a woodsman who is granted three wishes by a very beautiful blonde fairy, the Forest Queen, after he agrees to not cut down a giant oak. But he blows it on the wishes (gee, who could have guessed that would happen?!), much to the chagrin of his patient wife, by blurting out a wish for a sausage, which ends up on his nose via another wish, forcing him to use the last wish to get it off his nose - okey dokey. Luckily, the Forest Queen is very patient, apparently, for they are given a fourth wish - they would like to have a young one to play with their room full of toys, someone they can love even if he is no bigger than their thumb. Well, next thing you know, Tom Thumb (played by Russ Tamblyn) has come knocking on their door - he's tiny, but he sure can dance! He's bedded down for the night by his new "parents" and wakes up to have a magical dance party with his toys, now come to life via some really wonderful special effects. Another fun musical number features a village dance where all the dancers have purchased "talented shoes" from the cobbler that keep dancing as long as there is music. Later poor Tom gets mixed up with two villains who force him to steal bags full of gold (this part of the film was the one segment that I thought dragged the story down a bit). There is also a subplot involving a local music man (Alan Young) who is in love with the Forest Queen and doesn't realize that he can turn her into a mortal via a kiss.As a whole, this film is really a lot of fun - with great dancing, brightly colored period costumes, and trick photography which really succeeds in making Tom look small. All the actors are great in this - but Russ Tamblyn really steals this film with his marvelous, amazing, athletic skill at combining dance with gymnastics - really a fantastic talent. The music in this is fairly good, although nothing spectacular - though I must say that I saw this screened at Cinecon 43 in Hollywood four days ago (it looked great on the big screen, by the way) and I still keep finding myself humming one of the tunes from this all day long, it's really stuck in my head. Alan Young appeared in person for this screening and proved to be highly funny and entertaining during an interview after the film was shown. This would be a terrific movie for children to see, for adults I also find this film to be quite entertaining - I am partial to fantasies, this was a treat to see.

John Rusk Average musical almost redeemed by Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers as the villains as well as by special effects that surpassed most of those of the 50s.The Peggy Lee songs do not come near matching those of The Lady and the Tramp. The dance numbers are not well choreographed. Alan Young, an acquired taste at best, stumbles through his role as Woody.Still, it's not a complete failure as a movie. Russ Tamblyn is energetic, the Forest Queen is pretty, and the story is sweet.The IMDb tells me that I need 10 lines in a review. I'm sure the powers that be are much too young to have read the short zingers in _Time_ and _The New Yorker_ of 50 to 60 years ago.