Tom Thumb on DVD, Musical, Russ Tamblyn, June Thorburn

Made 52 years ago and still enchanting, this MGM musical and puppetoon version of TOM THUMB is still a valid solid family delight. Told in a very European storybook manner, rather like the illustrations from a Little Golden Book, TOM THUMB unfolds into a spectacular special effects laden thrill… and no CGI all marvelous sets and over-sized art direction with amazing stop frame animation and puppet movements. It actually became more interesting for the astonishing and clever ideas edited together to make the story work. In 2009 this version might at first seem a bit too juvenile for today’s kids but the simple ideas presented as a pantomime with sheer brilliance of on screen mastery and some hilarious acting by Terry Thomas Peter Sellers and Russ Tamblyn made me in middle age realize that once the lights go down and a genuinely well made film begins, it works for any person of any age. The two 8 year olds with me who are saturated with Harry Potter and Star Wars simply loved TOM THUMB and like kids of any year gone, laughed along with the beauty and wit on screen. It must have had a big budget because what I saw in scene after scene was a beautifully constructed lavish fantasy with completely convincing special effects.. made of cardboard and film. TOM THUMB still works !! What a delight. This version did not have a gollywog dance wither so it might have been the shorter version still clocking in at about 92 minutes. I saw the Gollywog but he was lying down by the time he appeared. I saw a new 35mm print in a cinema in Sydney on Jan 13, 2009. The color was rich and a bit dark and the grain obvious, but it was so clever and funny I forgot any film laboratory hardness.