Tom Brown's Schooldays

Over the holiday period I enjoyed Martin Clunes' "Mr Chips" and "Pollyanna", both recent ITV adaptations, so was looking forward to this offering. I have never read the book, so cannot judge how close it was to the original story, but did see the 1971 BBC series, which I remember enjoying immensely.

I think the problem may be that it tried to squeeze three hours of story into two hours, (less ad breaks) and there is a sense of non-resolution at the end. Ending on the funeral of the unfortunate Arthur leaves things weirdly up in the air. There is no sense of catharsis that there is with the well received 1971 version. It all seems to be made up of bits and pieces of story stuck together without any real narrative thrust.

I remember the BBC series ending with the sweeping reforms of pay and conditions for masters and boys introduced by Arnold, this being the culmination of his experience and his journey to restore Rugby to its former status as a place fit for "gentlemen and Christians". In this version this is dealt with over a brief conversation while walking with an elderly master, asking him to spend the nights on the premises.

Flashman's comeuppance is disappointingly glossed over, and the consequences of incurring the wrath of one of the school's major benefactors are not addressed.

The film looks good and the acting is competent (although I too, found the "reality" camera work intrusive), but I feel that, as I have already said, the problem may well may on the cutting room floor and the amount of footage that had to be excluded to fit into 1 3/4 hours.