Tom Brown's Schooldays

Tom Brown's Schooldays is a well acted drama by a large group of promising young actors. The drama is predominantly male, but I still managed to enjoy it! Stephen Fry played a firm but fair headmaster, and you can see how he really 'feels' for some of the boys, and gives every boy a second chance.

Alex Pettyfer, who plays the young Tom Brown is a very talented young lad, who carried the title character very well, and the audience could see what kind of character Tom Brown is like, and I felt he was really a nice character. His character development in the drama is good, and his acting improves and improved without, particularly when tragic events occur.

Joe Beattie who plays the bully Flashman is very good, and really evoked my feelings to a strong sense of dislike for the character.

Overall, I would say this drama is definitely worth a watch, and the actors cast to the roles fit them perfectly. They all give a really good sense of how cruel school life was for young boys in those times, and you really feel empathy for the young lads.

I also certainly hope to see more of Alex Pettyfer in more things to come, as many other girls I'm sure will agree with me!

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.

It's foolish to expect an exact equivalent in film/TV of a classic novel. Translating narrative prose into moving pictures offers opportunities as well as difficulties. But this was a botched job. The story was mangled and spiced up to a damaging extent. The story was seriously mangled. The aims of writer/production were confused. However quaint to us today, the story was real and based on Thomas Hughes' own schooldays. Hughes's sincere attempt to portray the great days at Rugby was thrown out the window. Several of the leading characters were retained but others were cut. Dr. Arnold was appointed to Rugby in 1827. Tom Brown (Hughes) came in the mid 1830's, this is clear from the book. Tom Brown and Scud East were pretty well portrayed. Bullyboy Flashman's wickedness was extended to include raping the matron's daughter. Brooke and Diggs, both important characters,were omitted. Young Arthur dies in this version. He does not die in the book but assists the reformation of the boys' behaviour by the example of his own piety.(He was based on Dean Stanley who actually wrote a celebrated biography of Dr. Arnold). Dr. Arnold's reforming character was fairly well presented. His regular meetings with the teaching staff etc. were pretty authentic, but his amazing reforms were more significant than shown here. His staff were all clerics with local livings but he made them sacrifice these, paid them handsome salaries and devote their professional careers to Rugby. Dr. Arnold's reforming zeal dragged British schools out of Regency degeneracy, brutality and educational sloth, paving the way for the golden age of the Victorian public school. He aimed to produce Christian Gentleman. He had little interest in games and the gift of a school gymnasium by the Flashman family an utter fiction. It was Thring at Uppingham who introduced games (as well as music) into the school curriculum twenty years later. Oddly enough, Stephen Fry was educated at Uppingham. As TV entertainment this was OK but taken as an attempt to bring a great classic to the small screen, well, really....

what a wonderful adaptation of the novel! Beautifully filmed on location in rugby school,David Moore the director has made a really fantastic drama which is modern and exciting....better than any period drama on itv all year!!

the acting was first rate...Steven Fry was Super as Dr Arnold and really nice to see this actor leading a drama rather than playing the comic relief of a piece...maybe an award in the wings for this performance!! young Alex Petyfer was a good Tom Brown..holding his own in some tough scenes with fry.Joe Beattie was a satisfactory Flashman running the school house with his bunch of cronies! Clive Standen playing Brooke was a Magnicent Hero and really electrifyed the screen when he was on!the perfect juxtaposition to Beatties Flashman. And the two young Boys playing East and Tadpole were really quite brilliant...especially Dane carter playing Tadpole in the most memorable scene in the film where he is accused of lieing to Steven fry!! a jolly good film which i would advise all to watch AND HOPE TO SEE SOME OF THE ACTORS TO GO ON TO GREAT THINGS

Well done ITV

Purchased DVD to have bonus material, which advertise Cast and Thomas Hughes biographies, History of Rugby School, Production Notes and Picture Gallery. What I was expecting was a short history of Rugby School featuring old clips of the School up to the present day, and perhaps what life is like for boys today at Rubgy School. How the production company cast for the roles, how the different parts were filmed in a School in use. Interviews with the Actors about what drew them to the part and what the film meant to them, the picture gallery featuring off screen images of the actors rehearsing/relaxing. What a disappointment. EVERY section is a let down. The cast biographies only feature four actors, two men and two women. Why, with a film using 99% of male actors, do we have a 50/50 split between men and women. Perhaps it's because most of the actors were young boys with little acting history ? This does not hold up to scrutiny, as the film did feature other well known and established male actors, which are not featured. The two male biographies are Steven Fry ( Doctor Arnold ), and Joe Beattie ( Flashman ), the main actor Alex Pettyfer is not featured, which I find unbelievable. A short History of Rugby School, Thomas Hughes Biography and Production Notes are only text, not even any pictures. The picture gallery was poor. I have seen two lovely images publicising the DVD, including one on the DVD cover itself, yet they are not featured. In conclusion, only buy the DVD for the film, which is very good. For the extras, forget it. Although not experienced in this area, even I could have made far superior bonus features. It seems the production company were not bothered with this part, and it probably only took one person a few hours to produce.