On TCM
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is going to be shown early in the a.m. on January 20th.
Just a head's up for people who love this movie.
I'm watching right now on the 18th.
shareIt is being shown on July 7, 2015 on TCM as part of a celebration of Technicolor.
shareI just finished watching it....a wonderful movie! I'm in my 60's now, and oh how the memories came back from my childhood from when my parents took me to see it in the theatre (1960s). I can see why it's been called a dress rehearsal for GWTW. Great nostalgia - the colors are breathing. Remembering how I was scared stiff of Injun Joe (Victor Jory) at the time.
shareI just finished watching also.
I had never seen it before, and enjoyed it very much.
Victor was, indeed, scary, especially when he was grimacing while he was after Tom in the cave.
As stated, I hadn't seen the movie before, but it did bring back memories, of the book.
In elementary school, I brought home a Dr. Seuss book and asked my dad to read it to me. He read a couple of pages, said, "This is stupid. I will get a REAL book for you." and got out his copy of TOM SAWYER.
He read me a chapter every night, usually at the kitchen table (complete with gestures, I remember him doing some bit with imaginary glasses like "Aunt Polly" did).
I work as a Volunteer in partnership with the National Park Service, as a researcher and historian for Paramount Ranch, the old movie ranch that is now part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Agoura Hills, California. The exterior town scenes were shot in the original studio built Western town set and its adjacent residential street. The same sets are Paramount's earlier 1930 Tom Sawyer! We recently showed the Selznick version at the ranch. Lyle Wheeler's son, Brook Wheeler was a special guest and talked about his father's work. I could have listened to him all night! Nice guy, too. Met him.
Selznick had wanted to shoot his Tom Sawyer in color, but there were no Technicolor units available when they planned to shoot. So, they started filming in black and white. A few weeks in, a Technicolor unit unexpectedly freed up, so Selznick scrapped everything that had been done and started over in color. Boy, don't you know we'd love to see that original footage if it still existed! Not that many movies were shot in color on the original ranch Western street (not the Western town that is there to visit today. That came later.), so it is a real treat to watch this version on Tom Sawyer and revel in seeing the streets in glorious Technicolor!