Tom Brown's Schooldays

Old-fashioned British film-making at its best, taking a literary classic, in this case Thomas Hughes's novel of the same name, and simply re-telling the tale in an un-flashy (pardon the pun) manner.

Reportedly faithful to the book source (although I've read the book, it was donkeys years ago, as a boy), the film certainly seems to accurately recreate the cloistered world of private boarding schools of the early 19th Century and all the calumnies which occurred on campus, none worse than the established but nefarious practice of older-form boys requiring the first-year intake to "fag" for them, which basically meant them doing any kind of menial task considered beneath their elders. The point is made in the film that most of the teaching staff were aware of and indeed condoned the practice, probably because they'd been through it themselves and took the view that it was a necessary rite of passage on the path to manhood. Utter nonsense, of course, it was authorised institutional bullying, involving both psychological and physical abuse, usually combined at the same time with anyone trying to change the status quo, such as one of the junior masters or even the humanitarian headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold, denounced as reformers, terrible thing.

Into this battle-, sorry, school-ground comes young Tom Brown, a reserved boy of eleven who despite making friends his own age soon learns his place at the bottom of the school hierarchy and worse, comes into the orbit of the school's most notorious bully, Flashman, who takes an immediate dislike to him and tries to make his life a misery. But young Tom, despite being pushed to his limits, is no quitter and finds a way to get back at his tormentor by learning a new skill over the summer break.

The climax of the film involves Tom and a couple of his chums carrying out a brave and selfless act which sees one of their number face a life or death struggle while the rescued party, in classic blame-avoidance fashion tries to twist the truth for their own ends.

Thankfully truth will out and helped along by a healthy dose of Christian prayer, wrongs are righted although you suspect Dr Arnold might need to apply some root and branch treatment to rid the school of some of the more ingrained practices perpetrated by both senior staff and pupils.

I could have done without the forced religiosity at the end and unsurprisingly some of the child acting is a little stiff and wooden in places but there's no denying this is a rattling good tale with an exemplary young hero who learns fast how to handle himself in an alien environment (I had to smile at the second-year Tom calling his new protege "young 'un"). Young John Howard Davies and Robert Newton are happily reunited from David Lean's "Oliver Twist" three years before, the latter in a markedly different role, while John Forrest shines as the venal, rascally Flashman.

A success at the U.K. box-office with its example of the national stiff upper lip to a land still enduring the stringencies of post-war rationing and all that, it's an entertaining, well-made British drama with an underlying anti-bullying message still highly topical today.

John Howard Davies - probably most famous for his portrayal of orphan "Oliver Twist" in David Lean's classic - is a little too weedy, for me, as the title character in this adaptation of Thomas Hughes' story about a young boy sent to the prestigious Rugby School in the 1830's where he encounters bullies; brutality and ultimately kindness. Robert Newton turns in a great performance as "Dr. Arnold" who believes that the somewhat cruel educational practices are of the past, and so he and "Tom Brown" try to improve things. This film is not so faithful to the book; but uses the two lead performances, as well as a convincing effort from John Forrest as his nemesis "Flashman", to convey much of it's sentiment. I probably preferred the 1940 version, but there's not much in it.

On one level this is a rollicking tale of life in an English Public School (other nationals may need to remember to read "Private" for "Public" here.) during the reign of King William IV in the first half of the nineteenth century. It is a well acted and well directed film that most people would find enjoyable to watch, but because of the specialised and unfamiliar scenario it is unlikely to attract audiences from outside those who themselves attended similar schools or those with some form of interest in the history of education.

At a slightly deeper level we must recognise that this film is essentially a remake of a film with a very similar title (Tom Brown's School Days rather than Tom Brown's Schooldays) released ten years earlier. Both films featured Rugby school under the headmastership of the famous educationalist Thomas Arnold - a part played by Sir Cedric Hardwicke in the earlier film and by Robert Newton in this remake - and both were based on the book of the same name written by Thomas Hughes in 1857. It is very hard to discuss one of these films without referring to the other, and since there is no point in duplicating comments on this IMDb database I would recommend anyone reading this page who is sufficiently interested to refer also to my comments on the earlier film. This second version of the story is much more melodramatic than the previous one, but is less in keeping with the original book, and I feel that it probably reflects life as it was in Rugby school at the time less accurately. The climax of the book is Arnold expelling the school bully Flashman for breaching the school moral code. This later film is slightly longer than its predecessor and in it Flashman's behaviour is shown as so reprehensible that the viewer can have no sympathy for him, whereas in the book and the earlier film Flashman is simply a typical bully who is caught out for lying. This is important because it causes the viewer to reflect on the magnitude of the task of creating a school code of conduct strict enough to justify this expulsion. For these reasons, whilst I can watch and enjoy both these films almost equally, I regard the 1940 film as the better, and as more worthy of repeat viewing. For the IMDb database I have also rated it slightly higher than the present one (six out of ten rather than five out of ten).

I caught this years ago on a classic movie station and I thought it might be another hopelessly dated "classic" movie. Classic in the sense that just because it's old it's good. When, more often than not, that is obviously not the friggin' case, Jack.

But this was a rousing fun tale of a young British dude and his trials and tribulations at a English boarding school. It's all about the revolution/revenge (good hearted arse kicking revenge, mind you) Tom Brown and the other underclassmen take on the bullying upperclass dudes.

The scene that got me most was the "roasting" scene. It involves the main character, the bad guy, and a turn of the century fireplace, what happens, well...you'll have to see the flick to find out. For an older movie it's a pretty brutal, wincing scene. Hooray for the revolution!

'Tom Brown's School Days', one of the best depictions of schoolboy life in literature, was previously adapted in 1940. While not the truest to the source material either, that was also a good film, especially for Cedric Hardwicke's performance, and it is hard to say which is the better one out of that and this film.

1951's adaptation is not perfect. The direction is a bit staid and lacklustre, Robert Stevenson in the 1940 film directed with more sympathy, energy and style to me, here the direction is not bad, just that it could have been more.

The story is sometimes a little too episodically told, and while it's well paced on the whole there are occasions where it sags. John Howard Davies is more age appropriate than Jimmy Lydon and has cuteness and charm, but is also a little too delicate and wistful in the title role, which due to being the main focus is more interestingly written, the earlier version focusing more on Arnold.

However, 'Tom Brown's School Days' looks great, beautifully shot and the period setting is suitably atmospheric and quaint. Richard Adinsell's score complements well and has the right amount of jauntiness and whimsy as well as stirring atmosphere. The script is very thought-provoking, with some nice charming, humorous and poignant moments, and much of the story is charming and lively, with Arnold's strictness and progressiveness and Flashman's very vindictive bullying (to the point of being reprehensible, have to agree that one cannot feel sympathy for him as a result) very well-realised.

Particularly notable here in 'Tom Brown's School Days' is the acting. A more restrained than usual Robert Newton gives an authoritative and very sincere performance as strict but saintly Arnold, while John Clarlesworth is appealing as East and John Forrest comes very close to stealing the show making for a viciously snobbish and quite intimidating bully in Flashman. Supporting turns are splendid, though some are brief.

Overall, solid film with the acting being especially noteworthy. 7/10 Bethany Cox