Tom Brown’s School Days *** (1940, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Josephine Hutchinson, Jimmy Lydon, Freddie Bartholomew, Billy Halop) – Classic Movie Review 3525

The 1940 school drama film Tom Brown’s School Days stars true Brit Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who is ideal as stern English public school headmaster Dr Arnold.

Director Robert Stevenson’s 1940 school drama film Tom Brown’s School Days is based on the old  1857 classic novel by Thomas Hughes. It stars real Brit Sir Cedric Hardwicke, who is ideally cast and gives an excellent performance as Dr Arnold, the strict and stern English public (i.e. private) school headmaster.

So are London-born Freddie Bartholomew as Tom’s buddy East and even Seattle-born Josephine Hutchinson as the headmaster’s kindly wife, Mrs Arnold, both ideal and excellent.

However, it is hard to accept Jimmy Lydon as Tom, Billy Halop as the bully Flashman and a roll call of other young Americans as the posh upper-class English inmates of the Victorian tough Rugby School, though the New York City-born Halop is speaking with an English accent.

Yet RKO Radio Pictures’ smooth Hollywood production is still fairly diverting, with fine production designs by Van Nest Polglase and striking cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca. The well-produced movie is very professionally handled by the expert director Stevenson (Jane Eyre, Mary Poppins), making the most of those effective sets, cinematography and music too by Anthony Collins.

In the famous story, little Tom arrives at Rugby boarding school, where he finds they are the unhappiest days of his life when he is soon being constantly tormented by the school bully Flashman.

Also in the cast are Gale Storm, Polly Moran, London-born Hughie Green (from TV’s Opportunity Knocks), Ernest Cossart, Alec Craig, Lionel Belmore, Barlowe Borland, Forrester Harvey, Leonard Willey, Ian Fulton, Charles Smith, Dick Chandler, Paul Mathews, John Collum, Harry Duff, Dick Chandlee and Peter Madden.

The film premiered on 27 June 1940 at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, enjoying a news photo spread in The New York Times, and was released on 14 July 1940. Nevertheless, it lost money, in the red for $110,000.

Tom Brown’s School Days runs 86 minutes, is made by The Play’s The Thing Productions Inc, is released by RKO Radio Pictures, is written by Walter Ferris, Frank Cavett, Gene Towne, C Graham Baker and Robert Stevenson (additional dialogue), and is produced by C Graham Baker and Gene Towne.

The cast are Cedric Hardwicke as Dr Thomas Arnold, Freddie Bartholomew as Ned East, Jimmy Lydon as Tom Brown, Josephine Hutchinson as Mrs Mary Arnold, Billy Halop as Flashman, Polly Moran as Sally Harowell, Hughie Green as Walker, Ian Fulton as Brooke, Ernest Cossart as Squire Brown, Alec Craig as Old Thomas, Gale Storm as Effie, Lionel Belmore as Tavern Keeper, Barlowe Borland as Grimsby, Forrester Harvey, Leonard Willey, Ian Fulton, Charles Smith, Dick Chandler, Paul Mathews, John Collum, Harry Duff, Dick Chandlee and Peter Madden.

It is remade as Tom Brown’s Schooldays in the UK by Gordon Parry in 1951 with John Howard Davies, Robert Newton, Diana Wynyard and Hermione Baddeley.

It was made again as the TV mini-series Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1971) with Iain Cuthbertson, Simon Fisher-Turner, Richard Morant, Richard Gibson and Anthony Murphy as Tom Brown. 

And was made again as the British TV movie Tom Brown’s Schooldays (2005) with Alex Pettyfer as Tom, Stephen Fry as Dr Arnold and Julian Wadham as Squire Brown.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3525

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Real Brit Sir Cedric Hardwicke is ideally cast as Dr Arnold.