Albert Finney

TOM JONES

Woodfall Film Productions, 1963.  Directed by Tony Richardson.  Camera:  Walter Lassally.  With Albert Finney, Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Diane Cilento, George Devine.

In 18th century England, Squire Allworthy returns to his manor house to find a smiling baby boy abandoned in his bed.  A serving maid, Jenny Jones, is accused of being the infant's unwed mother and Allworthy banishes her from the household.  The squire then names the child Tom Jones and rears him with his legitimate heir, Blifil.

Tom grows up to be an earthy but good-natured boy liked by all except the envious, pimply-faced Blifil.  Although Tom is in love with Sophie Western, the daughter of a neighboring squire, he falls into disgrace because of his amorous adventures with Molly, the local trollop.  The two squires, goaded by Sophie's meddlesome aunt, Miss Western, arrange for a marriage between Sophie and Blifil; but when Sophie refuses because of her love for the lowly-born Tom, Squire Allworthy is pressured into sending the boy away.

En route to London, Tom dallies to spend a lusty evening with Mrs. Waters, unaware that she is the former Jenny Jones.  After a subsequent affair in London with the worldly Lady Bellaston, Tom is reunited with Sophie, who has left home rather than marry Blifil.  Determined to be rid of Tom, Blifil has him framed for robbery and sentenced to be hanged; but at the last minute Blifil's villainy is exposed, and Tom is saved from the gallows.  Further, it is revealed that Tom, although still illegitimate, is actually the son of Squire Allworthy's deceased sister.

Once more reinstated in the affections of both Squire Allworthy and Squire Western, Tom is at long last granted permission to marry his beloved Sophie.

American Film Institute Catalog