The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones ** (1976, Nicky Henson, Trevor Howard, Terry-Thomas, Arthur Lowe, Georgia Brown, Joan Collins) – Classic Movie Review 9165

Nicky Henson was also top-billed in a lesser remake of Henry Fielding’s novel The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976) after his star turn in the cult horror film Psychomania [The Death Wheelers] (1973).

No one had been quite able to get over the freak success of Tom Jones (1963) in the Sixties, so along with the unsuccessful copies (The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders, Joseph Andrews) came this energetic, if rather ill-advised musical version, curiously based on a Sixties Las Vegas and, later, London stage show Tom Jones by Don MacPherson.

Nicky Henson stars very amiably and entertainingly as Tom in director Cliff Owen’s 1976 The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones, though perhaps the film’s highlights are the exuberant guest star turns from the likes of Trevor Howard in Hugh Griffiths’s old 1963 role as the Squire Western, Joan Collins as a highwaywoman called Black Bess, Arthur Lowe as Dr Thwackum, Georgia Brown as Jenny Jones, and Terry-Thomas as one of Tom’s tutors, Mr Square.

The film’s script is by ‘Allo ‘Allo! co-writer Jeremy Lloyd, who also appears to amusing effect as Lord Fellamar.

Also in the cast are William Mervyn, Murray Melvin, Geraldine McEwan, Michael Bates, James Hayter, Isabel Dean, Janie Greenspun, Frank Thornton, Gladys Henson, Joan Cooper, Maxine Casson, Judy Buxton, Arthur Howard, Joan Forrest, Arnold Diamond and Griffith Davies.

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones was made at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones is directed by Cliff Owen, runs 94 minutes, is made by Chobridge Productions, Robert Sadoff Productions and Universal Pictures, is released by Universal, is written by Jeremy Lloyd, is shot in Technicolor by Douglas Slocombe, is produced by Robert Sadoff, is scored by Ron Grainer, with music by Paul Holden and lyrics by Paul Holden.

It is Gladys Henson‘s final movie before her death on 21 December 1982, aged 85. She was the second wife of Nicky Henson’s comedian father Leslie Henson.

Nicky Henson (1945–2019).

RIP Nicky Henson, who died of cancer on 15 December 2019, aged 74.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9165

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