Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was excited to see this title being released on DVD, as I have fond memories of watching it as an 11-year-old with my father when it first aired on "Masterpiece Theatre" in 1973. I was also concerned about how well it would hold up, having been frequently disappointed upon revisiting some of my favorite childhood films as an adult. Well, this one held up just fine, not only for me but for my own 11- and 9-year-old children.
The story is your average Victorian potboiler: young Tom foils the nefarious doings of a wealthy landowner, who tasks his son Gerald Flashman (a schoolmate of Tom's) with obtaining revenge by any means necessary. A parallel and related plot thread deals with the reform efforts of new school headmaster Dr. Arnold, who earns Tom's trust. My kids enjoyed, as I did on that long-ago first viewing, finding out whether Tom would triumph over the bully Flashman, and insisted on watching all five episodes in one day. (As avid "Harry Potter" fans, they found parallels between the characters and relationships of Tom/Flashman/Dr. Arnold and Harry/Draco/Professor Dumbledore. I have to agree that J.K. Rowling might have read Tom Brown once or twice.) I focused more this time on the production values, the performances (young Anthony Murphy won a deserved Emmy as Tom), and of course the memories that were brought back to me.
On the downside, some of the other child performances are pretty awful, and the back-and-forth jumps between film (for exterior scenes) and videotape (for interiors), which was common to "Masterpiece Theatre," are irritating. Still, this miniseries is highly recommended, particularly if you're a sucker for British period pieces (as I am).
Click Here to see more reviews about: Tom Brown's Schooldays (1973)
In an upper-class Victorian boarding school, a loveable schoolboy suffers at the hands of a vicious bully and is inspired by a forward-thinking headmaster. This Masterpiece Theatre classic is a fascinating portrait of the times and a heartwarming story of courage and friendship. Though a son of privilege in a rigidly class-conscious society, Tom Brown is a born egalitarian. What he learns at the famous Rugby School is that breeding really does determine character and scoundrels exist in every part of society. Based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Thomas Hughes, who studied at Rugby in the 1830s under the educational reformer Dr. Thomas Arnold, this family drama stars Anthony Murphy in an Emmy®-winning debut as Tom with Iain Cuthbertson (Gorillas in the Mist) as Dr. Arnold.
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