A nice children's picture where the story of Tom Thumb is brought to the screen and Russ Tamblyn, who was Oscar nominated the year before for the blockbuster "Peyton Place," and who also appeared in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," that same year was perfect for the part of small Tom.Granted as a wish by his childless parents, Tom immediately sings and dances his way into the hearts of the viewers.Peggy Lee must be given credit for writing the songs for this film and Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers steal the film with their villain roles.A little tedious at times, especially near the film's end, the picture brings joy to our youngsters.

I understand why some of the reviewers have fond memories of seeing "tom thumb" when they were kids. Back in 1958, the special effects were amazingly good. However, when seen today, the film comes off as very badly dated and a bit stupid. There...I said it. So, despite some wonderful George Pal effects, today it just seems like a silly and insignificant film.The story begins with a magical queen giving an old couple a 'son'--a 4 inch high one! Tom turns out to be a lot like Pinocchio--very naive and ripe to be taken advantage of by baddies. And, the baddies (Terry-Thomas and Peter Sellers) convince the little guy to steal for them--and poor Tom doesn't know what he's going. Additionally, Tom has lots of singing and dancing adventures with magic shoes, toys that come alive and the like.I guess that part of the reason the film hasn't aged well is that stop-motion has been supplanted by CGI. The computer animations simply look better and don't have a 'halo' around characters when they are superimposed onto backgrounds. Another problem is the singing and dancing--there is just too much and it probably would bore many kids. Overall, a nice film back in the day but a terribly dated one today.

The talented RUSS TAMBLYN does a superb job of singing, dancing and acting while playing the title role of the miniature boy presented as a gift to a woodsman and his wife by a woodland spirit. They treat him as their own son and the film revolves around his misadventures after his parents are wrongly accused of a crime and he must find the real culprits (TERRY-THOMAS and PETER SELLERS) in time for a happy ending.The trick photography is marvelous, the toys that come to life are inventive and fun, the interaction between Tom and all the other townspeople is well done--and this was all before the CGI effects we have today.There's a lot of charm to several musical numbers, especially one called "Yawning Man," and all of the song-and-dance numbers are done in rollicking style. Songstress Peggy Lee wrote several clever songs.Well worth watching, a family film that can be enjoyed by adults or children. Tamblyn's talents are given full reign in this one.

This is a brilliant kids movie, I saw it as a kid and I was so impressed with Russ's acrobatic dancing and the special effects. I was a little disappointed when I showed it to my own kids years later and discovered the dancing sequence with a 'gollywog' had been cut. This had been something I wanted to show my kids so they could see what a 'gollywog' was. I can't imagine anyone been offended by this sequence but I guess that is in line with the modern practice of over zealous protection of minority groups. I guess you better see the movie before someone decides that Tom himself has to be cut in case he offends 'little' people.