Through the magic of special effects, Russ Tamblyn becomes the five-inch lead, Tom Thumb. His adoptive middle-aged parents are Honest Jonathan (Bernard Miles) and Anne (Jessie Matthews). Tom Thumb hangs out with Woody (Alan Young), a dufus in a romance with hottie forest spirit June Thorburn.
Antagonists are provided in the form of hapless robbers Ivan (Terry-Thomas) and Antony (Peter Sellers), who are after the village treasury. They need the assistance of naive Tom Thumb to accomplish their ends.
How others will see it. True to his word to MGM brass, George Pal delivered the movie for less than 1M, and the film did well financially, aided by favorable reviews as colorful family entertainment. tom thumb was bestowed with prestigious award nominations by the most important film festivals, including Best Special Effects by the Oscars, a Golden Globe nod for Best Musical, and even BAFTA candidacy for Best British Actor (Terry-Thomas).
Today at imdb.com, the film has a modest 2K user votes and a humdrum user rating of 6.5 out of 10. Women grade the movie somewhat higher than do men, who generally believe they are above such fare.
User reviews wax nostalgic or note that it is good for children, though today's kids will likely be unimpressed by the six-decade-old special effects.
How I felt about it. This colorful MGM musical was a mixed bag for me, more interesting than good. Casting certainly helps: the highlight is opera baritone Ian Wallace singing the praises of his talented shoes. We can also enjoy the antics of fascinating Peter Sellers as the criminal sidekick of hammy comic Terry-Thomas. Alan Young in his pre-"Mister Ed" days is the clueless hero, June Thorburn is ravishing as the forest queen, and dancer Russ Tamblyn is the diminutive but energetic lead. Stan Freberg voices the ever-sleepy Yawning Man.
Problems include stereotypical Chinese toy Con-Fu-Shon and various lame plot elements. The Forest Queen has better things to do than marry a dufus like Woody, why would beasts of burden obey tom thumb, and nobody actually believes that Anthony will squish Tom Thumb, or that Jonathan and Anne will receive a whipping. The comedy of Ivan and Antony is limited by their mundane material, and they forget all too quickly the violence they have inflicted upon the other.
But we can't criticize the special effects, a George Pal specialty, since they were state of the art at the time the movie was made. The Tamblyn dance with a paper cut-out is particularly entertaining. We also like it when Bernard Miles' nose is turned into a big sausage by his wife, which forces the squandering of his final precious wish to restore the nose to its prior state. Curiously, in the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad, the hero also burns his first wish on sausages. Don't these people know that they are high in nitrates?
Fortunately, the critical and commercial success of tom thumb led to future noteworthy George Pal projects. The Time Machine (1960) drew the most attention, but his final effort as director, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964), is best of them all.