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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Acorn
EAN: 9781569387474
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 1569387478
Item Dimensions: 55
Label: Acorn Media
Languages: EnglishOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Acorn Media
MPN: 054961747894
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Acorn Media
Region Code: 1
Release Date: March 01, 2005
Running Time: 219 minutes
Studio: Acorn Media
Theatrical Release Date: January 14, 1973
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The story of Tom Brown set in English public school life in the 1830s.
Amazon.com:
The trials and traumas of boarding school have always given British writers rich material--Tom Brown's Schooldays, based on the classic novel set in the Victorian era, is no exception. In this five-episode miniseries broadcast on Masterpiece Theatre, young Tom Brown (Anthony Murphy) leaves home for Rugby, a well-respected school in decline. His arrival coincides with the appointment of a new headmaster, Dr. Arnold (Iain Cuthbertson), who aspires to reform the school by stamping out bullying, drunkenness, and bigotry. Tom's struggle is more personal: Before his arrival, he offended a wealthy but corrupt man who commissions his equally dissolute son Gerald (Richard Morant), a senior student at Rugby, to make Tom's life miserable. Gerald schemes with relish, finally catching Tom in a trap that threatens to break the forthright boy's spirit. The story could be pure melodrama were it not for the vivid details of life in a boarding school. As the plot moves this way and that, it's always kept real by the hardships of the time (boys sleep five to a bed, younger boys act as servants to older ones), making Tom Brown's Schooldays a keen social critique as well as an engaging story. The adolescent actors are occasionally a little clumsy, but there are some inspired performances; Murphy deservedly won an Emmy. Too often a virtuous hero is a recipe for blandness, but the insightful script makes Tom clever but fallible. He refuses to mistreat those less privileged out of conscious choice, not because of some immutable goodness--the character (and the story) is more compelling as a result. --Bret Fetzer
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
4.5 stars
This 1971 BBC film adaptation based upon the novel of the same name by Thomas Hughes was most enjoyable. Because I have not yet read the novel "Tom Brown's Schooldays," I cannot say how accurately this mini-series follows the novel. However, I am left with the impression that it does cover the novel quite more accurately than the much shorter 2004 adaptation.
The major positives of the 1971 BBC adaptation are:
1. The series develops the characters very well. (Dr. Arnold receives much more screen time in this BBC adaptation than in the 2004 adaptation).
2. The series conveys well why Flashman hates Tom Brown so much. (This is left unclear in the 2004 adaptation).
3. The series leaves one with a good impression about what school was like in the early 1830s in England in schools like Rugby. (This is not conveyed nearly as well in the 2004 adaptation because of modernization--ex: class warfare and other aspects of Marxist criticism are almost completely absent in the 2004 adaptation.)
The major negatives of the 1971 BBC adaptation are:
1. The series refuses to show anything too immodest, sexual, or violent. The fight scenes are so evidently fake that one has a difficult time making one's mind imagine they are real. (Ex: There are numerous fight scenes with very little blood. The scene when Tom Brown is roasted by the fire is poorly executed as are the whipping scenes.) [Note: The fighting, whipping, and bullying scenes are all much more meaningfully portrayed, even overplayed, in the 2004 adaptation.]
2. The lack of attention to detail in other matters (ex: heavy breathing and other sound effects that are QUITE poor).
Overall recommendation:
This adaptation certainly is appropriate for anyone who traditionally enjoys BBC miniseries based on classic works of British literature and for individuals who enjoy understanding British culture and class-attitudes in previous eras. However, for individuals who really care a lot about a fast-paced storyline and accuracy to little details (see negatives #1,2), you might first wish to watch the 2004 adaptation.
Rating: -
This screenplay contains some brilliant character acting, but the characters have been subtly - and sometimes crudely - changed from those in the original novel. Much new content has been added (and much left out), and the whole second half of the book entirely omitted.
Flashman is very well played, but his violent father is introduced as a trendy "explanation" for Flashman's nastiness. Dr Arnold (the headmaster) is a beautiful characterisation, but in the original novel he never had to deal with the problem of five boys per bed (perhaps that idea was lifted from Dickens?). As for Tom Brown himself, he is simply marvelous (and what a lovely accent) - but not at all the complex character of the original novel, who was nearly expelled until the responsibility of supervising a younger boy brought out the best in him. Here Tom is lovable and angelic throughout - and when he does call the gamekeeper "velveteens", is hardly believable.
A moving and entertaining screenplay - but not a film to watch if you are going to be tested on the book!
Rating:  -
Our grandsons just loved the account - as did we - of this valient, principled boy. He survives and overcomes the hardships of a boarding school riddled with bullies and rather careless supervision. I suspect the good lessons here will benefit them for a long time. Content wise - great. All around, far superior to the other movie versions.
Rating: -
This was a part of the Masterpiece Theater series. Anthony Murphy was delightful in the title role. I was amazed to learn that he'd no prior acting experience. His Tom Brown was noble, egalitarian and polite, though combined with the normal cheekiness of a teenaged boy. The supporting cast was excellent, and I thoroughly enjoyed this adaptation of Thomas Hughes' novel....highly recommended.
Rating: -
I remember this series from over 30 ago and have been looking for it. It is a wonderful coming-of-age story for those who love the genre. The acting is not as well as I remember and neither is the photography. But Richard Morant as the villain Flashman does a superb acting job and it is he who I remembered the most. Perhaps it should have been he who won the Emmy, although Anthony Murphy was outstanding also. It is amazing the young actors did not continue with distinguished acting careers, but young actors are all too often quickly washed up.
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