Tom Brown’s School Days

972. TOM BROWN’S SCHOOL DAYS (1940-USA). With SIR CEDRIC HAKDWICKE, FREDD BARTHOLOMEW, JIMMY LYDON, BILLY KALOP, GALE STORM (bit part). Directed by ROBERT STEVEI SON. Set in early 19th-century England, this is the enduringly popular tale Of Rugby SchoolÑ”for hundreds years the nursery Of soldiers and statesmen, athletes and scholars”Ñand Of its great headmaster Thomas Arno and an ordinary boy named Tom Brown. When Arnold takes over the boys’ school he finds discipline in a sad state, and seeing himself as a molder Of England’s future he sets about turning the rowdy students in “God-fearing gentlemen.” His extremely stern measures at first alienate the boys as well as his peers, but he ultimately wins everyone’s respect. Tom Brown, a kind, innocent soul, comes to Rugby School with his hopes, but quickly experiences the horrifying, Often life-threatening hazing and bullying. He leads his friends in a spirited and successful rebellion against the bulliesÑa very lively sequence Of fighting, pea-shooting, water-throwing, and trick-playing, climaxing in the chief bully’s furniture being turned upside down and fastened to his ceiling! An exciting, charming and nostalgic film, exquisitely rupturing both its era and the adventurous world Of childhood. 81 minutes Drama