Tom Brown's Schooldays

There's a slightly musty air to this five-part, three-hour-plus 1971 adaptation of Thomas Hughes' famous semi-autobiographical novel set in 1830s England at the Rugby public school, where the curriculum was being molded to meet the needs of the modern world by educational reformer Thomas Arnold, who added more relevant subjects to the traditional gentlemen's classical studies. Young Anthony Murphy exuberantly plays the eager newcomer Tom Brown, described in the book as “robust and combative” and perhaps made somewhat too sweet and cheeky here, and Ian Cuthbertson strikes the proper pose as the principled, gregarious Arnold, whom the boy comes to idolize; the other members of the young cast also cut fine Dickensian figures. Anthony Stevens' script isn't entirely faithful to the original--he gives Tom's brutal treatment by the older student Flashman greater prominence than it has in the novel, and inserts the bully's vicious father into the narrative to explain the young man's nasty nature (a typical PC invention). The miniseries also plays down the book's heavy helping of Victorian religiosity. But overall it's a respectable version of the often-told tale (three earlier screen versions exist, and a new British television adaptation has just recently appeared). DVD extras include a text biography of Hughes, history of the school, cast filmographies, and a photo gallery. Rather old-fashioned, this production is still recommended. (F. Swietek)