Tom Sawyer, Detective

Although based upon a novel written by Mark Twain in the 19th century, this movie holds up today. It's not a great movie, but it has some good acting with Billy Cook as Tom Sawyer and Donald O'Connor as Huck Finn. The two boys solve a murder case and, in the process, save Tom's Uncle Silas (Porter Hall) who was initially charged with a crime which he actually thought that he may have inadvertently committed. Elizabeth Risden plays the wife (Aunt Sally) of Uncle Silas. The primary villain in the movie is a rather suave character named Brace Dunlap played to the hilt by perennial "bad guy", Edward Pawley. Pawley had honed his acting skills on Broadway (he was the original "Elmer Gantry") prior to working in movies where he excelled primarily in gangster roles in such hits as "G-Men", "Each Dawn I Die","Prison Break", "Sworn Enemy", etc. prior to acting in this film.William Haade played Brace Dunlap's not-so-smart brother, Jupiter Dunlap, as well as Jupiter's twin. Clem Bevans provided some comedic relief as Sheriff Slocum, and Raymond Hatton played (what else?) the judge. All in all, a film I would recommend to everyone, especially those who like the works of Mark Twain.

While he might have been jealous of Gene Kelly's fame, or resentful that Danny Kaye replaced him and became immortalized in White Christmas, I have a feeling the biggest hurt in Donald O'Connor's career was Mickey Rooney. Often compared to Mickey in his youth and teen years, Donald played Huckleberry Finn in Tom Sawyer, Detective; Mickey played the same role the following year in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a movie that was infinitely better received. Elisabeth Risdon was used in both productions, but little Donald was cast aside-no pun intended. And, the only reason Donald got the part in 1938 was because Mickey Rooney, the studio's first choice, was busy filming Boys Town. Give Tom Sawyer, Detective a chance. It's obscure and you'll have to work hard to find it, but it's worth watching. Elisabeth Risdon and Porter Hall get a chance to shine in leading roles, and Billy Cook and Donald O'Connor are adorable. They carry the film, and while they weren't asked to sing and tap dance, everyone knows Donald would have been able to.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, there's a violent scene where a man gets beaten to death, so I'd send my kids out of the room for a few minutes.

Tom Sawyer (Billy Cook) and Huckleberry Finn (Donald O'Connor) are shipped to Arkansas for the summer. They are to help out at Porter Hall;s farm. But when Hall is accused of murder, it's up tot he boys to prove his innocence.

It's more than sixty years since I read the book, and I couldn't tell you what happened in it a month later. I later discovered that this was one of the many things Mark Twain wrote to clear his bankruptcy. Even so, this programmer from Paramount shows their usual gloss, with Elisabeth Risdon, Clem Bevans, Clara Blandick, and Si Jenks making appearances. They don't lift it out of the B category, but they are fun to see in this unsubtle boy's adventure.

Most people are aware that Mark Twain wrote a successful novel called TOM SAWYER in 1876, which has never been out of print. Based on his recollections of his youth in Hannibal, Missouri, Twain created a permanent boy's book about youthful coming of age and adventure. He followed it with his masterpiece, HUCKLEBERRY FINN (about Tom's closest friend) in 1885. Although he wrote five to seven other major works besides these two, most people recall TOM SAWYER and HUCKLEBERRY FINN as the novels they have read by Twain.

What most people don't know is that Twain kept toying, in later years, with returning to the two boys. He actually wrote two novellas, TOM SAWYER, DETECTIVE and TOM SAWYER ABROAD. The former is the basis of this film, so more a little later. The latter was actually one of two literary works by Twain where he spoofed popular writers of his age he did not like. In A DOUBLE-BARRELLED DETECTIVE STORY he makes fun of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle (Twain disliked detective stories and made mincemeat of them in THE STOLEN WHITE ELEPHANT). In TOM SAWYER ABROAD he deals with a balloon voyage from America to Africa and the Middle East, and he is spoofing Jules Verne (complete with a mad aeronaut).

Twain also would try a western story (which was published in LIFE MAGAZINE back in the 1960s), TOM AND HUCK AMONG THE INDIANS. It was never finished. In the end of his life he had plans of taking the two boys to their last days, and having them die together. A Broadway play based on that idea was produced in the 1980s with George C. Scott and John Cullum.

The story of TOM SAWYER, DETECTIVE is based on an actual crime story - but an ancient one from the late 17th Century. It involved Soren Quist, who was executed for murder in Veilby, Denmark, on circumstantial evidence. The story involves disguises and twins. Twain simply puts the story into the Mississippi Valley, involving Tom's Uncle Silas, who supposedly murders Jupiter Dunlap and is put on trial for his life. What the actual villains don't know is that Tom is aware of an alternative victim, and of a stranger who is not behaving as he should be. Tom is the dominant figure in the story (and the film), with Huck as "Dr. Watson" in the case.

The film is rarely shown nowadays. The last time I saw it listed was about 1968. It was a fair example of a "B" feature, but had nothing outstanding going for it except an interest in movies based on Twain's works. Even though a young Donald O'Connor was Huck Finn, he did not really shine in it too much. Porter Hall did have some moments acting mysteriously, trying to bury a body at night. I also recall Billy Cook (as Tom) preening himself in the courtroom while confronting the villains on the witness stand. It was not a boring film, so I give it a "6" out of "10", but I would not move heaven and earth to try to see it.

In chronological order, this is the first of several Donald O'Connor movies I'm reviewing on this site. He plays Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer's friend who's played by Billy Cook. O'Connor gets whatever laughs here when spitting on a fish or having to deal with his pet turtle. Also, he prays for rain then thinks the Lord overdid it when it becomes a storm! There's a case involving diamonds, twin brothers, and who's the bad guys and the good ones. I'll just now say this was quite a funny and dramatic movie based on a book by Mark Twain. So on that note, I recommend Tom Sawyer, Detective. P.S. One of the players is Janet Waldo-best known to me as the voice of teen Judy Jetson on "The Jetsons". She must have been in about her real teens at this time.