It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Tom Thumb (1958) – Musical #762

Studio:
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Director:
George Pal

Starring:
Russ Tamblyn, Peters Sellers, Terry-Thomas, Alan Young, June Thornburn, Bernard Miles, Jessie Matthews, Ian Wallace

Plot:
After a woodsman (Miles) stops cutting down a tree when he’s halted by the Forest Queen (Thornburn), the woodsman and his wife (Matthews) are granted three wishes. The couple accidentally squanders their wishes and realize they could have wished for what they always wanted—a child. Sadly, they think how they would love a child no matter how small. That night, their child Tom Thumb (Tamblyn) arrives thanks to the Forrest Queen. The couple is exuberant. Tom has several adventures, including dancing with his toys that come to life and being conned by two thieves (Sellers, Thomas) who want him to rob the treasury.

Trivia:
• While George Pal had directed Puppetoon shorts since 1934, this was the first time he directed a feature length film.
• Development for the film began in 1947 with several actors interested, but not in the finished product. This included Buster Keaton, Thomas Mitchel, Tom Neal, and Dick Haymes.
• Based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, “Thumbling.”
• Actress, singer Jesse Matthews’s first feature film since 1944.
• The singing voice of Jesse Matthews was dubbed by Norma Zimmer.
• Two of the songs in the film, “Tom Thumb’s Tune” and “Are You a Dream,” were written by singer, Peggy Lee. “Talented Shoes” was written by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre, and “The Yawning Song” was written by Fred Spielman and Kermit Goell.
• Principle filming took place at England at M-G-M’s British Studios in Boreham Wood, Elstree.
• The head of the MGM British branch was impressed by director George Pal’s work and that he brought it under budget that he said Pal could select and unproduced project, which ended up being THE TIME MACHINE (1960).
• This film was Peter Sellers’s American film debut. He primarily acted in England up until this point.
• Tom Howard won the Academy Award for Best Effects, Special Effects for his work on this film.

Highlights:
• The opening credits that look like an illustrated storybook.

Notable Songs:
• “After All These Years” performed by Jesse Matthews, dubbed by Norma Zimmer
• “Talented Shoes” performed by Ian Wallace
• “Are You a Dream” performed by Alan Young
• “Tom Thumb’s Tune” performed by Russ Tamblyn and the “Puppetoons”

My review:
One thing’s for sure: The 1958 film, Tom Thumb, was made to showcase the acrobatic skill of Russ Tamblyn and the animation techniques of George Pal.

In this adaptation of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, a woodsman, Honest Jonathan (Bernard Miles), is stopped from cutting down a tree by the Forest Queen (June Thornburn). Because he stops, the Queen gives Jonathan and his wife (Jesse Matthews) three wishes. When Jonathan excitedly returns home to tell his wife about the wishes, they foolishly squander the wishes in an argument. Realizing this, they think about how they could have fulfilled their desire to have a child. Taking pity on them, the Queen sends Tom Thumb (Russ Tamblyn), a boy no bigger than your thumb, to their home. The woodsman and his wife are exuberant about their new child.

Due to his size, Tom’s toys come to life and play with him. But his small stature also makes him a target for two thieves (Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas) who hope that he can help them rob the treasury of money.

In a secondary plotline, the Forest Queen and Woody (Alan Young), a friend of woodsman’s family, are in love but the queen is not mortal. All it takes for her to become mortal is a kiss from the man she loves.

I remember starting to watch this film as a teenager and turning it off partially the way through, so 20 years later, I decided to give it another try. For me, a little goes a long way with George Pal’s moving puppets, and I feared the whole film would be the talking toys. Thankfully, they are in but two lengthy musical numbers (“Tom Thumb’s Tune” and “The Yawning Man”) and much of the film narrative includes our

A little goes a long way of George Pal’s stop-motion puppets (aka “the Puppetoons”) for me, but thankfully, the talking toys were not the bulk of the movie (which I feared).

“Tom Thumb’s Tune” both demonstrates Russ Tamblyn’s acrobatics and dancing, as well as various George Pal animation techniques – from moving puppets, a drawing dancing with Tamblyn, and figures coming out of the ground. Knowing the level of skill this took in 1958, Pal’s work is impressive, though a 10 minute segment of this in the film felt a bit long.

However, outside of the Puppetoons, I thought 80 percent of this movie was really lovely. I adore actors Bernard Miles and Jesse Matthews and was thrilled to see them in the cast. The moment they realize they could have wished for a son is very sweet and sad, and when they finally get a son is lovely. Knowing that Jesse Matthews’s career tapered off after the 1940s I was surprised and thrilled to see her in this movie. However, I was disappointed that her singing voice was dubbed, especially since she was known for performing in musicals.

June Thornton as the Forest Queen was perfect casting. In vibrant Eastman color and costumes by Olga Lehmann, Thornton is a vision and looks like she is straight out of the illustration of a fairy tale book. It was perfect casting! Alan Young was also fun in his role.

Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas are appropriately dastardly and entertaining in their roles. When I saw them in the credits as the villains, I was worried their characters would monopolize the plot and have too much screen time, similar to Ray Bolger, Henry Calvin and Gene Sheldon in BABES IN TOYLAND. While their final scene with Tom felt a bit long, thankfully their characters didn’t overtake the storyline.

And finally, it goes without saying that as he plays the title character, this is Russ Tamblyn’s film. Coming off of the successful of SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and an Academy Award nomination for PEYTON PLACE, Tamblyn essentially has a film dedicated to his youth, exuberance and acrobatics. He does a wonderful job and his dancing numbers are top notch and impressive! The dancing shoes number where Tamblyn has to pretend he’s being dragged around by these magic shoes is outstanding.

As for director George Pal in his feature film directorial debut, there were so many innovative and creative tactics that I enjoyed. I particularly loved the camera angles (like looking down at Alan Young as Tom sits atop his hat) that show Tom’s perspective.

As I’ve noted above, that while they stop-motion animation was groundbreaking, the Puppetoons aren’t for me. I especially got impatient with “The Yawning Man” scene. Sadly there are also a few Puppetoons in this film that are racially inappropriate, such as a the Buddah like toy, Con-Fu-Shon (voiced by Dal McKennon) dancing Golliwog doll.

It’s interesting to look back and see that George Pal had been planning this film since the late 1940s and some of the cast members. Can you imagine Dick Haymes in 1948 as Tom Thumb? I sure can’t.

I think the finished product has the perfect cast and Russ Tamblyn is the perfect fit for this 1958 film. This film would also make a perfect double feature for another Pal co-directed film, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962).

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