tom thumb

Once upon a time, prolific animator turned producer George Pal made it his mission to bring to life memorable flights of fancy. After cutting his teeth on films like When Worlds Collide (1951) and The War Of The Worlds (1953), George Pal took on the very big job of creating a five and a half inch screen hero. A well known fairy-tale by the brothers Grimm, tom thumb (1958) is the story of a modest couple, Jonathan and Anna (Bernard Miles and Jessie Matthews) who wish for a son that Anna says she would "love with all my heart, even if he were no bigger than my thumb." That night, the couple discovers a tiny boy who reveals that he has been sent by the Forest Queen. Unfortunately this remarkable character soon runs afoul of two rogues (Peter Sellers and Terry-Thomas) who plot to exploit the tiny boy for their own nefarious purposes. But since this is a fairy tale, all ends happily in this unique entertainment which features songs by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee, an array of amazing special effects, and an acrobatic performance by Russ Tamblyn as the title character. For George Pal, the road to tom thumb was a long one, but his patience and persistence paid off. Originally a creator of animated films in Paris, Pal eventually carved a niche for himself in Holland with his famed "Puppetoons" - cartoons using molded or carved puppets instead of drawings. After making hundreds of these stop-motion films in Europe, Pal brought his Puppetoons to Paramount, where they remai... more

The literary source credit card reads: "Based on a story from the pen of the Brothers Grimm." German writers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm created their tale, "Daumesdick," around a well-known European folk character. An earlier use of the tiny man known as "tom thumb" was in the late 17th century fairy tale in French author Charles Perrault's collection Tales of Times Past: or Mother Goose Tales (Paris, 1697).
       The film differed somewhat from the popular Grimm's fairy tale,which featured tom convincing his father to sell him to two traveling men in order to have adventures. Tom experiences hiding in a hole with a mouse, being swallowed by a cow and later a wolf, yet he returns home safely. The Perrault story also took liberties with the original tale, featuring an Ogre that terrorized tom's family. In that story, tom was the youngest of seven children.
       A June 1957 Hollywood Rep... more