 Tom Jones is a 1963 UK comedy adventure by Tony Richardson.
Starring Albert Finney, Susannah York and George Devine.   The BBFC has just made the unusual decision to waive animal cruelty cuts. In this case the cuts were to a cockfight.
The BBFC does seem more likely these days to waive cuts to animal cruelty shown to be staged, but maybe this case is different in that the BBFC commented in 2003 that cuts to Tom Jones were r equired to sight of real animal cruelty (cockfighting).
The BBFC has also uprated the age classification from the previous PG rating to a 12 rating this time.
An upcoming BFI release will feature the Theatrical Version and shorter Director’s Cut and have both just been rated 12 for moderate sex references, violence, language
Censorship History
Passed X uncut by the BBFC for 1963 cinema release. BBFC have required animal cruelty cuts for all releases from 1971 until 2018 when the cuts were waived for home video release. The film exists in a longer original version and a shortened Director’s Cut. Both versions are available MPAA Unrated and so without censor cuts in the US.
Promotional Material
In the early 1960s, at the height of the British New Wave, a movement whose gritty realism they had helped establish, director Tony Richardson and playwright John Osborne set out for more fanciful narrative territory. Tom Jones brings a theatrical flair to Henry Fielding s canonical eighteenth-century novel, boisterously chronicling the misadventures of the foundling of the title (Albert Finney, in a career-defining turn), whose easy charm seems to lead him astray at every turn from his beloved, the wellborn Sophie Western (Susannah York). This spirited picaresque, evocatively shot in England s rambling countryside and featuring an extraordinary ensemble cast, went on to become a worldwide sensation, winning the Oscar for best picture on the way to securing its status as a classic of irreverent wit and playful cinematic expression.
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