Tom Brown's School Days

Plush Hollywood production values (including atmospheric photography by cameraman Nicholas Musuraca, soon to be become legendary for his work on film noirs) combine with offbeat casting (such as Dead End Kid Billy Halop as Flashman) and the bold decision to cast an actor rather than a star as the inspiring Dr.Arnold.

The film begins and ends with a reminder that Arnold himself died in only his 47th year, and nearly two centuries later bullying remains (as he himself says) "a tradition in our schools". Still going strong, alas.

Since this was made, there have been some other very good movie versions of the story, but this adaptation of "Tom Brown's School Days" is still worth seeing. It has a good cast and good atmosphere, with effective story-telling by Robert Stevenson.

Cedric Hardwicke is well cast as the stern headmaster Arnold, and the three most important young characters also work well. Jimmy Lydon as Tom, Freddie Bartholomew as his friend and rival East, and Billy Halop as the bully Flashman all give good performances.

The boarding school setting is also done effectively, and it works both in creating the right atmosphere and as a period setting. There are times when it pulls you right into the world of the young characters, a world in which they are their own masters in many ways. Their boyish loyalties, threats, fears, rivalries, and misunderstandings all come across believably.

On a broader level, it also succeeds in establishing the tension between the adult's (i.e. the headmaster's) goals and the students' goals. Some of the more recent versions have probably done an even better job of communicating the themes while also making the story entertaining, but this one does a solid job as well, and it deserves also to be remembered.

Sir Cedric Hardwick is superb as Doctor Arnold.

It is hard to over-estimate the importance of this headmaster in the history of education. Singlehanded, he revolutionised not only school discipline but also curriculum in one of England's oldest and most famous Public Schools. From Rugby the reforms spread out to Eton, to Harrow and to Winchester. The ideologies were carried by students of these colleges to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and out into the world.

To our modern eyes, the notion of a master whipping a student with a birch for fighting and expelling a boy for telling a lie seems a bit extreme. But prior to Dr Arnold, punishments were brutal and were administered in an arbitrary manner by each teacher. Boys were exploited by the masters, and junior boys were exploited by the seniors.

Hardwick's portrayal of Arnold as a dour, devout and almost obsessively righteous man is wonderful. Arnold hates bullying, but more than anything, he hates lies. Lies, to Arnold, are the mark of real cowardice. Where there are lies, there is Sin and Corruption. A boy that lied to Arnold was immediately expelled.

There is an aspect of Dr Arnold's reformation that is only hinted at- It was he who brought modern subjects such as History and Geography to the school syllabus, to stand alongside the Classic as valuable learning.

Jimmy Lydon is wonderful as Tom. His emotions, be they glee, grief, pain or loneliness are expressed in an irrepressible manner by this lovely boy with his mobile face and eager expression.

Comparing this, 'Little Men' and 'Swiss Family Robinson', all made in 1940 by RKO and based, 'Tom Brown's School Days' is not as good as the unjustly forgotten and actually very good 'Swiss Family Robinson' but it does fare much better than the terribly adapted and mediocre at best 'Little Men'.

As an adaptation, 'Tom Brown's School Days' doesn't have a huge amount to do with the original source material, which is one of the best books depicting schoolboy life. However, it is a quite good film on its own, haven't seen any other adaptations yet so can't compare.

It does have its flaws as a standalone, the ending agreed does feel rushed, anticlimactic and not as complete as it could be, some of the script does lay it on a bit too thickly with the sentimentality and juvenility and although a more dominant focus on Arnold comes off well because Arnold is an interesting character for a titular character there should have been more of Tom Brown, who sometimes did feel like too much of a supporting character in his own story.

On the other hand, 'Tom Brown's School Days' is a beautifully shot and very capably directed film (though Robert Stevenson did go on to even better things), and the period setting is both quaint and austere and suitably so. Anthony Collins' score is superb, it complements the film beautifully and fares even better on its own. The script is not perfect but has some nice doses of humour, poignancy and charm. The story is told with a great charm and lively pace, with plenty for youngsters to delight in and enough for adults to be interested too.

Cedric Hardwicke, benefited by Arnold being very interestingly written, is wonderful in the role, appropriately stern and authoritative. He was a fine actor and his performance ranks up there with his best in my opinion. The three juveniles fare just as well, Jimmy Lydon handles the title role exceptionally, Freddie Bartholomew plays East with an appealing charm and Billy Halop is a suitably intimidating bully.

To conclude, flawed but quite good and worth seeing, especially for Hardwicke. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Pinch-penny version of the oft-filmed fictionalized memoir (rushed out by RKO to pick up any GOODBYE, MR CHIPS backsplash) is remarkably clear-eyed in detailing the petty (and not so petty) sadism of British "public" schools, as well as its harrowing ostracism, despair & loneliness. Thomas Arnold's 19th century school reforms are alluded to, but neither dramatized nor properly integrated into the dorm dungeon life which the reliable director Robert Stevenson unintentionally(?) exposes. A good cast mixes real Brits like Cedric Hardwicke & Freddie Bartholomew with Yankee ringers who come off better than you might expect. Especially the Flashman, played by DEAD END kid Billy Halop, who makes a convincingly threatening top boy. Added bonus value: dig those musical lifts from Verdi's FALSTAFF in Anthony Collins' score. And you might want to try this out on a HARRY POTTER fan who wants to know where schools like Hogwarts come from. No quidditch field, but the school is called Rugby.