Tom Brown’s Schooldays (British Mini-Series)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C+
It has been a very long time since I have sat through
Gareth Davies’ 1971 British TV Mini-series version of Thomas Hughes’ Tom
Brown Schooldays, and its tale of schoolboys and the sadistic environment
in British boarding schools holds up well over thirty years later. At the same time, the five-parts that seemed
so bold and honest in its time seems to drag on and seems repetitious in an age
of self-hate and hate-inducting multi-media.
The crazy guilt-based standards and illogic in which the
school exists is presented well enough, yet never questioned or examined. The mini-series is very well acted and
captured, but it never seems to get past its surface. However, that is exactly what PBS’ Masterpiece Theater
wanted early on and the series was a critical and even commercial success for
the network. Anthony Murphy is very
good in the title role and even got an Emmy Award for it, but this was a time
of precocious British kids, a cycle that included Sir Carol Reed’s musical
feature film Oliver! (1968) and like actors on children’s series like H.
R. Puffnstuf. With the
counterculture in full swing, the idea of upright children gave a very false
sense of relief to anxiety-ridden patents, adults and people in power. This returned in the 1980s as ignorant,
sickening, suburban conformist “good” children who made these British types
seem like they were going to Woodstock.
The overall result would have been cartoonish had this not been so well
made to begin with. It is still of
quality enough that I would be surprised if another production of Tom Brown
Schooldays surfaced anytime soon.
You will have to see it for yourself.
The five parts are presented on two DVDs and the full
frame 1.33 X 1 image is not bad for its age and is a mix of PAL video and
outdoor film footage so typical of many productions of the time. It has held up well enough. The Dolby Digital 2.0 was originally
monophonic, but the BBC and Acorn Media have done some boosting of the audio to
a simple stereo. The combination is
better than the original broadcast. The
only extras include a biography of the author, a stills gallery, text on the
cast and a history of the Rugby School.
- Nicholas Sheffo
