A faithful rendering of Mark Twain's classic, well directed by John Cromwell. I particularly like the way whole passages of Twain's original dialogue have been integrated into the screenplay and the way Cromwell keeps his cameras moving during some of these exchanges. Cromwell, too, has a real flair for creating atmosphere and sustaining it at a consistent level throughout the film. Notice how he resists the temptation to turn the graveyard sequence into a James Whale feat of horror. One cannot imagine Walt Disney having such respect for his audience! Fine photography by Charles Lang, Jr.
Tom Sawyer dates only from its lack of background music although Cromwell tries to make up for this by using natural sound effects (Tom twanging the Jew's harp) and by keeping the story moving at a brisk pace. The screenplay is remarkably faithful to the original novel and retains all its major incidents and characters - as well as a large share of its dialogue.
Paramount has also wisely lensed the film on locations astonishingly similar to those described in the novel so that in atmosphere as well as story the film is supreme in its fidelity to its source. The cast too is well-nigh perfect. Coogan fits easily and naturally into the shoes (or rather feet) of Tom Sawyer and while he seems a little old for the part Junior Durkin brings a fair amount of conviction to the part of Huck Finn (of course, we do not see so much of him as he comes into his own in the sequel - as does Jane Darwell who has only two or three brief scenes here as the Widow Douglas).
Lucien Littlefield is inclined to over-act the part of the schoolmaster but Mitzi Green as the curled and beribboned Becky Thatcher, Jackie Searl as the obnoxious Sidney and Clara Blandick as harassed Aunt Polly are absolutely perfect. Oddly enough, Charles Stevens who would seem to have a role right up his alley as Indian Joe, is not wholly convincing, especially in his earlier scenes but Tully Marshall as Muff Potter gives a memorably realistic portrayal.
Cromwell often keeps his camera moving with tracking shots through the town following the boys as they converse or picking up snatches of conversation in the store as it darts from one corner to the other. He has chosen to play many of the scenes with restraint, probably in deference to his youthful audience. Even the graveyard scene with its rapid tracking shot through the broken and lopsided crosses at midnight is not played for horror and even the lost-in-the-caves sequence with the flight from Indian Joe reaches a speedy conclusion and altogether this sequence is on screen for less than a quarter of the time it occupies in the 1938 version.
Charles Lang's soft photography and musty, dusty sets created by art director Hans Dreier capture the atmosphere of the novel more realistically than the heavily romanticized 1938 film.
Tom Sawyer dates only from its lack of background music although Cromwell tries to make up for this by using natural sound effects (Tom twanging the Jew's harp) and by keeping the story moving at a brisk pace. The screenplay is remarkably faithful to the original novel and retains all its major incidents and characters - as well as a large share of its dialogue.
Paramount has also wisely lensed the film on locations astonishingly similar to those described in the novel so that in atmosphere as well as story the film is supreme in its fidelity to its source. The cast too is well-nigh perfect. Coogan fits easily and naturally into the shoes (or rather feet) of Tom Sawyer and while he seems a little old for the part Junior Durkin brings a fair amount of conviction to the part of Huck Finn (of course, we do not see so much of him as he comes into his own in the sequel - as does Jane Darwell who has only two or three brief scenes here as the Widow Douglas).
Lucien Littlefield is inclined to over-act the part of the schoolmaster but Mitzi Green as the curled and beribboned Becky Thatcher, Jackie Searl as the obnoxious Sidney and Clara Blandick as harassed Aunt Polly are absolutely perfect. Oddly enough, Charles Stevens who would seem to have a role right up his alley as Indian Joe, is not wholly convincing, especially in his earlier scenes but Tully Marshall as Muff Potter gives a memorably realistic portrayal.
Cromwell often keeps his camera moving with tracking shots through the town following the boys as they converse or picking up snatches of conversation in the store as it darts from one corner to the other. He has chosen to play many of the scenes with restraint, probably in deference to his youthful audience. Even the graveyard scene with its rapid tracking shot through the broken and lopsided crosses at midnight is not played for horror and even the lost-in-the-caves sequence with the flight from Indian Joe reaches a speedy conclusion and altogether this sequence is on screen for less than a quarter of the time it occupies in the 1938 version.
Charles Lang's soft photography and musty, dusty sets created by art director Hans Dreier capture the atmosphere of the novel more realistically than the heavily romanticized 1938 film.