So much average

Simply Perfect

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Masterpiece!

One of most seductive musicals from 1950 period. first - for story. well known . and so new. second - for performances. three - for special effects, lovely, nice and...provocative, nostalgic and fascinating. not the less - for choreography. but the basic motif for be gratefull to George Pal is the recreation of the flavor of childhood. this must be, maybe, the first word for the invitation to see it. because it is a fairy tale, and not only adaptation of one . so, delightfull . or charming. or magic. especially for Peter Sellers. not ignoring Russ Tamblyn as Tom Thumb the perfect.

George Pal made some great special effects (live-action) movies but this is his best, in my opinion. Yes, I like all his sci-fi and fantasy films. Of course, I own many of them. Relatively unknown, judging by the small number of IMDb reviews. Music by the talented Peggy Lee, who also wrote the songs of "Lady and the Tramp". An outstanding color print. A true fairy tale, with no objectionable real violence. Like the Brothers Grimm story, "tom thumb" is an enchanted little boy about 5-1/2 inches tall, given to a poor-but-honest wood-chopper and his wife Anna, by the Good Fairy of the Forest. He has many "small" adventures, dances in "talented" magic shoes, unwittingly steals gold for the villains, takes a balloon ride, and rides in a horses ear! A great cast, it's almost a musical! Alan Young as "Woody" the clarinetist. June Thorburn as the Mary Poppins-like Fairy Queen. A rather fat Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas as the two bumbling villains. The story borrows a little from here-and there. There is a haunted "Black Swamp" instead of a "Haunted Forest" from the "Wizard of Oz". The villains will remind you a lot of the cunning fox and cat from Disney's "Pinocchio". Their counting and slapstick routines are "borrowed" from both the 3 Stooges and Abbott and Costello. The "Puppetoon" figure animation in "tom's nursery" is amazing, especially the "Yawning Man". Clever and convincing use of "trick" photography and over-sized props. Gymnast-dancer Russ Tamblyn (7 Brides for 7 Brothers) is the perfect "tom thumb". It didn't win enough Academy Awards! For children of all ages and especially adults that love the "Wizard of Oz". In Warner Archive DVD-R format. (Why not a regular DVD?) It will play back on most current players, including new Blu-Ray models.

George Pal's splendid take on the Tom Thumb fairy story marries several intertwining story threads with some excellent special effects, some bravura performances, some cute songs, and a charm which is partly of the period and partly from the innocent joy with which the film is put together.Russ Tamblyn stands out. This film should have made him a major star; instead he enjoyed a steady but unspectacular career. Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers as the two comedy relief crooks form an effective (and funny) double act. And Alan Young and June Thorburn as the would-be lovers work well as the main, but understated, concern throughout the film.But this is a children's film, and the magic of Tom, as created and enhanced by the effects, is what holds the movie together. This film is as enjoyable now as it was over 50 years ago.

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.