Tom Brown's Schooldays

Over the holiday period I enjoyed Martin Clunes' "Mr Chips" and "Pollyanna", both recent ITV adaptations, so was looking forward to this offering. I have never read the book, so cannot judge how close it was to the original story, but did see the 1971 BBC series, which I remember enjoying immensely.

I think the problem may be that it tried to squeeze three hours of story into two hours, (less ad breaks) and there is a sense of non-resolution at the end. Ending on the funeral of the unfortunate Arthur leaves things weirdly up in the air. There is no sense of catharsis that there is with the well received 1971 version. It all seems to be made up of bits and pieces of story stuck together without any real narrative thrust.

I remember the BBC series ending with the sweeping reforms of pay and conditions for masters and boys introduced by Arnold, this being the culmination of his experience and his journey to restore Rugby to its former status as a place fit for "gentlemen and Christians". In this version this is dealt with over a brief conversation while walking with an elderly master, asking him to spend the nights on the premises.

Flashman's comeuppance is disappointingly glossed over, and the consequences of incurring the wrath of one of the school's major benefactors are not addressed.

The film looks good and the acting is competent (although I too, found the "reality" camera work intrusive), but I feel that, as I have already said, the problem may well may on the cutting room floor and the amount of footage that had to be excluded to fit into 1 3/4 hours.

This is the story of important 19th Century educationalist and Headmaster Dr.Thomas Arnold's effort to stamp out some of the less desirable traits in the exclusive Rugby School of that era, including bullying, gambling, and drinking. A well intentioned if sanitized version, a small pity the "good" boys all look so angelic and scrubbed up. In Alex Pettyfer we have a John Howard Davies lookalike. Davies played Tom Brown in the 1951 film, and Pip in David Lean's "Great Expectations". Overall its good clean fun and suited to television. Christopher Fry tries hard to bring some credibility to the Headmaster and largely succeeds, while Joe Beattie as the unpleasant bully Flashman is perhaps a little less effective. Not as dark as the novel suggests, often the lyrical settings are at odds the drama, certainly not a Dickensian approach. But full marks for trying to show the making of a man in Victorian England.

I really liked this drama, it just showed on television here and I really liked it.

Stephen Fry's performance was excellent as headmaster Dr Arnold. He plays his role perfectly, being firm but kind in transforming a rowdy school into a good Christian one. I love his performance, as he is a great actor. I have seen him in a few other things (Peter's Friends, Jeeves & Wooster, Wind In The Willows), all great work.

The boy who played Tom Brown was, in my opinion, brilliantly acted and amazingly cute. I loved his character and I hope to see more work from him.

Flashman was a great character also, I particularly liked him. Also greatly acted as the arrogant school bully, his character was powerful yet brutal. I enjoyed his performance very much.

The overall story was amazing. It reminded me of some things about school life as a young child. A great plot indeed. There's humor, a little bit of action, some tearful parts and some brilliant acting. I really do love this.

Please watch, it's brilliant! *10*

This at least fifth adaptation of Thomas Hughes' 1857 autobiographical novel "Tom Brown's School Days" provides a classic comparison to Harry Potter's Hogwarts, which has probably revived curiosity in portrayals of English boarding school life.

While I presume any 90 minute version (2 hours on BBC America with commercials), has to cut a lot more from the book than the 1971 mini-series that I haven't seen (nor have I read the book), the characters and the situations came through strongly.

Not the Dickensian deprivations of the poor house in "Oliver Twist", Ashley Pharoah's adaptation is much more about typical behavior in an all male environment that is a precursor to "Lord of the Flies," the dark side of "Peter Pan" where boys do adult actions without growing up, or at least various military movies (I only knew the naval song "Heart of Oak," used in a humiliating scene, because of "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World").

Key to enlivening this from just another costume drama with stock characters (the bully, the victim, the ineffectual leader, etc.) is the wonderful titular performance of Alex Pettyfer, billed as "introducing." I can't recall seeing a boy actor transform so much in front of our eyes other than Christian Bale in "Empire of the Sun," as he develops from timid to athlete to swaggerer to mature leader.

Stephen Fry is particularly good at conveying his guilt at the hypocrisy he gets trapped into as a well-meaning new headmaster trying to change a traditional den of testosterone gone wild. Jemma Redgrave doesn't get do very much as his oblivious wife.

Joe Beattie, in the thankless role of the arrogant, wealthy villain a la Malfoy in the Potter oeuvre, plays him foppishly, like Guy Pearce in the most recent version of "The Count of Monte Cristo." I was actually surprised when he cruelly seduced a maid, as I thought the homo-erotic potential in this hot house environment was implied, particularly when it is emphasized how "different" the weakest victim is as he shines at poetry readings.

A story of the perniciousness of bullying left unchecked never goes out of date, and this portrayal is universal and timeless, regardless of its period setting.

This adaptation has been tried and tested on four separate occasions. Right from the outset you could tell this screening of the famous story was sticking to the old traditional set. This was reassuring. Stephen Fry played the Doctor well with the casting of both Flashman and Tom Brown accurate. It was an average performance from Flashman, but a strong performance from the youngster who played Tom. Especially since it was his debut acting role. The story was intended for light entertainment and had no real meaning, therefore I can't scrutinise it for lacking depth. The other roles seemed too minor and the rest of the cast played their part well enough to go unnoticed. The viewers of this will forget it ten minutes after they've seen it but entertaining nonetheless and better than most in this genre.