Tom Jones (1963)
won Best Picture at the 36th Academy Awards.
The film tells the story of an illegitimate child. An English squire came home from London to find a baby boy in his bed. The squire found the baby boy's mother, dismissed her, and adopted the baby boy. The baby boy grows up to be the hero, and he often hangs out with a farm girl. One day, the squire's family went hunting with the neighbor's house, and the hero rescued the heroine who was riding a frightening horse. As a result, the hero and heroine are together every day, and the relationship develops rapidly. The squire and his sister suddenly had a car accident. The younger sister died on the spot, and the squire also lost his life. Everyone was very sad. Before his death, the squire said his will: all the property will be inherited by the nephew, and the actor only has a small amount of cash every year. The nephew and the two teachers are very happy after hearing this. However, the squire soon recovered to health, making the hero very happy and drunk with joy. At this time, the nephew and the two teachers were not happy. They secretly found that the drunk male protagonist had a private meeting with the peasant girl, but they did not immediately tell the squire. At this time, the sister of the neighbor's owner came to propose a marriage, hoping that the heroine would marry his nephew. In order to successfully marry the heroine, the nephew told the story of the private meeting between the hero and the peasant girl. The squire was very disappointed and had to let the hero leave home and go to work in London. So, the hero begins his adventure. The hero first fooled around with a group of soldiers, was knocked unconscious, and lost his wallet. Then, the hero saves a beautiful middle-aged woman. At the same time, the heroine escaped from her father's castle with the help of the maid and went to find the hero on horseback. On the way, the heroine meets her cousin who is avoiding her husband, and they walk together immediately. Late at night, the male protagonist cheated with the woman he rescued in the room, but was disturbed by the husband who came to look for his cousin. At the same time, the heroine is disappointed to learn that the hero is hanging out with women. The heroine's father also rushed over at this time, and everyone was in a mess. Afterwards, the heroine and cousin left first, the hero followed closely, and the father followed. On the way, the hero encounters a hapless old man who robs him, but he is quickly subdued by the hero. It turned out that this man was the barber of the squire, and was kicked out for his own sake. In this way, the two walked together and temporarily stayed in the hotel of the neighbor's old servant. In order to meet the heroine, the hero goes to the woman's house where the heroine temporarily lives every day, which makes the woman interested in the hero. The male protagonist couldn't stand the temptation, and the two had a relationship. At the same time, the heroine is being pursued by an old man, but suddenly finds the hero appearing, she is very angry and asks him not to see her again. In order to possess the male protagonist, the woman makes the old man overlord force the bow and win the female protagonist in one fell swoop. However, when the old man acts, the heroine's father catches up in time arrive. The male protagonist was eager to get rid of the woman, so he proposed to her and let the female protagonist know about it. The heroine leaves a message to the hero, determined to forget him. The male protagonist was very lost, and when he went to seek help, he was found by the man who was looking for his wife. The two fought in the street, and the actor accidentally killed the man. Pedestrians watching on the street immediately identified the male protagonist as the murderer. It turned out that they were hired by their nephew. The male protagonist is quickly sentenced to death, and only the old man is trying to find a way to help him. Later, the old man found the middle-aged woman rescued by the hero and told what happened. So, the middle-aged woman went to the squire alone to talk. Later, the squire met the neighbor's owner and told him that the male lead was her sister's illegitimate son and the true heir. In the end, the neighbor's owner rescued the hero who was about to be beheaded, and then the hero and heroine were happily together.
The film is a uniquely styled film, somewhat similar to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and "Brian's Life," but with the framework of a traditional story. Therefore, this film can be understood as a somewhat traditional nonsensical film. As for the theme of the movie, it is the "main theme" of European and American movies: justice conquers evil, and evil can never conquer justice!
In terms of the traditional story of the film, there are many classic bridges. The appearance of an illegitimate child, a romance with a neighbor's daughter, a neighbor's daughter's escape from marriage, a duel in the streets of London, etc., these storylines always seem familiar. This made me look very happy after reading countless films, especially the hour after the movie was full of surprises, and I almost finished watching it with a smile. Therefore, the film's borrowing and spoofing of traditional stories is a major advantage of this film. In contrast to the more conventional bridges, give it new connotations, which is beyond the reach of ordinary movies! Of course, the spoof of this film is still limited, and it is not as subversive as Monty Python.
The way the film is funny is British, which in my opinion exaggerates the conflicts. For example, the evil of the squire's nephew and the teacher's trio, the lasciviousness of the peasant girl, the innocence of the girl next door, the hypocrisy of the London nobles, and so on. Through these characters and stories, it can be seen that the film has completely masked them, corresponding to the characters in fairy tales one by one. For example, the nephew symbolizes the evil relative, the neighbor is the childhood sweetheart, and the squire is the kind of good person who is easy to be deceived. Of course, the most prominent character in this film is the male protagonist. He is kind, generous, and brave. In addition to being unable to withstand temptation, he is a typical Prince Charming image. It is this kind of bright Prince Charming figure that makes us laugh at the same time, but also understand that the bright will always win, but the road will be bumpy. In short, this film greatly expands the contradictions of the plot through the way of face-masking of characters, which not only makes the film funny and interesting, but also deepens the theme of the film.
Filming is also excellent. The most obvious thing is that this film tells a story like a fairy tale, and there is a "protagonist" in the narration for a while, which is very interesting. In addition to the witty narration, the film editing, structure, etc. are very fast and sharp. This is because the director uses a very unique way of storytelling, such as quick takes, shrinking circles that highlight the characters, subtitles and pictures that omit dialogue, and so on. These shooting methods allow the audience to have a hearty pleasure when they enjoy the film! A film with such a fast-paced narrative like this one is rarely seen even in contemporary films, let alone the 1960s? . Also, the music in this film is excellent. It uses witty and funny tunes to create a funny and absurd atmosphere of the film, which is extremely impressive. There is also a scene in the movie that impressed me, that is, the scene where the male protagonist eats with a middle-aged woman, it's too lewd! Even eating can be done like this, the director of this film is really a genius.
The actors in this film are excellent. The actor is Albert Finney, who has seen him in "Big Fish". In this film, he is young and handsome, and he does have the capital to attract women. The heroine is Susannah York, who has the face of a European and American woman, which makes me always confuse her with Julie Christie. In general, the exaggerated performances of the actors in this film are an indispensable part of the success of the film, and the British actors are really amazing.
in conclusion. It's a movie that surprised me, the plot, characters, themes, and the way it's shot are excellent, and it's full of laughs. It can be said that the film is a masterpiece, it deserves the Oscar for Best Picture. It's a pity that very few people know about this film. There's one more pity on the movie itself - its picture quality is terrible! It's a pity that such a good movie didn't get a Bluray remastered version.
Susannah York
Susannah York
Sequence: 0862
Tom Jones.Tom.Jones.1963.D5.MiniSD-TLF
2012-07-02
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