The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film)

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
UK DVD cover
Directed by	Norman Taurog H. C. Potter (fired, uncredited) George Cukor (uncredited) William A. Wellman (uncredited)
Produced by	David O. Selznick
Written by	John V.A. Weaver Marshall Neilan (uncredited)
Based on	The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876 novel by Mark Twain
Starring	Tommy Kelly Jackie Moran May Robson Ann Gillis
Music by	Max Steiner (uncredited)
Cinematography	James Wong Howe
Production company	Selznick International Pictures
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	February 17, 1938 (1938-02-17) (New York City)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is a 1938 American literature adaptation directed by Norman Taurog starring Tommy Kelly in the title role. The screenplay by John V. A. Weaver was based on the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain. The picture was the first film version of the novel to be made in color. It was remade in 1973 as a musical.

The United Artists release includes most of the sequences familiar to readers of the book, including the fence-whitewashing episode; a wild raft ride down the Mississippi River; Tom and Huckleberry Finn's attendance at their own funeral, after the boys, who were enjoying an adventure on a remote island, are presumed dead; the murder trial of local drunkard Muff Potter; and Tom and Becky Thatcher's flight through a cave as they try to escape from Injun Joe, who is revealed to be the real killer.

This was the fourth screen adaptation of the Twain novel, following versions released in 1907, 1917, and 1930, and this the first filmed in Technicolor.

H. C. Potter originally was signed to direct but was fired and replaced by Taurog after George Cukor declined the assignment. Cukor directed some scenes, but received no on-screen credit for his contributions.

Tommy Kelly, a Bronx fireman's son, was selected for the title role through a national campaign waged by producer David O. Selznick, who later would conduct a similar search for an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. According to a 1937 memo he sent to story editor Katharine Brown, he originally hoped to cast an orphan as Tom, feeling such a stunt would receive "tremendous attention and arouse such a warm public feeling that it would add enormously to the gross of the picture." Kelly failed to achieve the star status of fellow child actor Freddie Bartholomew, and after an inconsequential career he retired and later became a school teacher.