Tom Brown’s Schooldays **** (1951, John Howard Davies, Robert Newton, John Charlesworth, James Hayter, John Forrest, Diana Wynyard, Kathleen Byron, Hermione Baddeley, Glyn Dearman, Francis de Wolff, Max Bygraves) – Classic Movie Review 3526

Robert Newton stars in a brilliantly sturdy and showy performance from as the strict and stern English public school reforming headmaster Dr Arnold, in the 1951 British film remake of the 1940 Hollywood movie Tom Brown’s School Days.

Director Gordon Parry crafts a most acceptable 1951 British remake of the 1940 Hollywood movie Tom Brown’s School Days of the famed Rugby School story from the classic novel by Thomas Hughes. It is held firmly together by a brilliantly sturdy and showy performance from Robert Newton as the strict and stern English public school reforming headmaster Dr Arnold.

John Howard Davies from the 1948 Oliver Twist makes a wimpy Master Brown, though he is more appealing than 1940’s Jimmy Lydon and that is the role anyway, while John Charlesworth and John Forrest both have fun with the characters of Tom’s buddy East and the school bully Flashman.

Everything else is extremely brisk, professional and capable, and thank goodness for that, with applause for the acting (especially from James Hayter as Old Thomas, Michael Hordern as Wilkes, Diana Wynyard as Mrs Arnold, Hermione Baddeley and Kathleen Byron), direction (Parry), cinematography (C M Pennington-Richards) and screenplay (Noel Langley).

Richard Addinsell’s score is performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. It is shot in black and white but a colorised version was made available for video in the Nineties.

Also in the cast are Glyn Dearman, Francis de Wolff, Max Bygraves, Amy Veness, Brian Worth, Rachel Gurney, Geoffrey Goodheart, Michael Ward, Peter Madden, Anthony Doonan, Michael Brennan, Neil North, Ben Aris, John Campbell, Roland Dallas, Robin Dowell, David Jenks, Peter Scott, Derek Stephens and Gabriel Woolf.

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

And it was remade yet 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 3526

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

Robert Newton plays the strict and stern English public school reforming headmaster Dr Arnold