- Tom, the rambunctious member of the Sawyer clan, takes it upon himself to teach the goody-goody boy of Hannibal, Missouri a lesson and, as Huckleberry Finn, his free-spirited best friend watches, pummels his foe to defeat. At school clever Tom makes mischief a regular practice, but as long as the punishment lands him next to his beloved Becky Thatcher, he remains carefree. After he is unfairly accused of his brother Sid's misdeed, Tom runs away with Huck and Joe Harper. Disguised as pirates, the trio builds a raft and sails down the Mississippi to a deserted island. Back at home, Tom's frantic Aunt Polly calls for a search, and cannons are fired into the river. When the search yields nothing, the boys are declared dead and a funeral is planned. At first tempted to reveal himself, Tom decides later to partake in his own memorial service, and as the townspeople mourn, he and his friends appear in the back of the church. Overcome with relief, Becky and Aunt Polly embrace Tom, forgetting to scold him for his mischief.—AFI
- Tom Sawyer, a young Missouri lad, finds fun and adventure with his pals Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn, running away to hide out on Jackson's Island and pretending to be Mississippi River pirates. When Tom is believed dead by his grieving Aunt Polly, he sneaks back to town to attend his own funeral.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>
- Tom Sawyer is a mischievous boy. He is seen with Aunt Polly and his cousins, Sid and Mary, living in such harmony as was possible for any boy with Tom's volatile spirit. He meets a goody-goody boy of the town and the sight of his neatly brushed hair and starched white collar so affects Tom that he challenges him to battle. They roll about in the roadway, and the fight ends when Tom has made the goody goody boy yell "'nuff." Tom hates to go to church. He also rebels ineffectually against the practice of his Cousin Mary of washing his neck and ears on Sundays, and adorning him with a hated white collar and flowing tie. In order to win a Bible, which was to be presented to the boy holding the greatest number of tickets given to Sabbath pupils for memorizing Bible verses, Tom trades his marbles, tops, kites, etc., for tickets and wins the Bible. When the superintendent presents the Bible and calls upon Tom to repeat some of the verses he is presumed to have memorized, Tom gets into deep water. But Tom grows fat on difficulties, and he never loses his nerve. At school he is quite willing to take his punishment for infractions of the rules, because this consists in being obliged to sit with the girls. He sits next to Becky Thatcher and puts in his time writing the magic message on her slate, "I love you." Tom and Becky get along famously until Tom admits that he has had a previous love affair. A quarrel results, and Tom gets a whipping at home. He determines to run away and become a pirate. With Joe Harper and Huck Finn, Tom fixes up a raft and sails away on the Mississippi River. They land on an island and establish pirate headquarters. Meanwhile, the parents of the missing youths institute a search for them, and, believing that they were drowned, they cause guns to be fired on the river in the hope that the concussion may bring the bodies to the surface. Stricken with remorse, Tom swims away from the island at night, writes a note on a piece of bark announcing that neither he nor his companions were dead ones, and finally reaches Aunt Polly's house, only to find her in consultation with Mrs. Harper relative to the funeral of the missing lads on the following Sunday. The humor of the situation appeals to Tom, and instead of leaving the note, he steals away, returns to the island, and urges upon his companions the necessity of attending their own funerals on the following Sabbath. When the church bells begin to toll, they start back home and creep into church just as the minister sobbingly dwells upon the delightful qualities of the deceased lads. Of course, the appearance of the trio causes a sensation, and in the excitement Aunt Polly quite forgets to lick Tom in punishment of his escapade. Becky Thatcher's tears vanish and she stands proudly beside Tom in the pew as they sing the Doxology.
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