Tom Brown’s Schooldays charts a young boy’s first steps towards adulthood as he attends a troubled British school. As Tom Brown (Alex Pettyfer!) arrives at Rugby Public School, so does the new headmaster, Dr. Arnold (the wonderful Stephen Fry), a man who intends to stamp out the bullying and drunkenness that sow corruption in the school. Brown and Arnold collide, but Brown’s true enemy is the brutal Flashman, an upperclassman who dedicates himself to making Brown’s life miserable. Tom soon meets and quickly befriends the most popular boy in school and begins to rebel against Flashman, and Dr. Arnold, the Headmaster.  When his closest ally leaves, Tom soon realizes that his new-found rebellion makes him the whipping boy of Dr. Arnold, and Flashman, but a hero to the rest of the younger boys of the school.

 

The adaptation of this classic English novel is extremely abridged (only 93 minutes, as opposed to the almost four-hour 1971 version) and takes some liberties with the story (Flashman’s crimes are much more dastardly here). But the results are strong; though the exposition may feel a bit choppy and episodic, the mixing of storylines leads to an emotionally compelling second half. This version retains the novel’s greatest strength, the complexity of Tom Brown himself; far from a cardboard icon of virtue, Brown’s character allows for both courage and insolence, loyalty and rebelliousness. But the movie’s greatest strength is Stephen Fry’s performance; his magnetism, intelligence, and empathy drive Tom Brown’s Schooldays forward.