Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Version Of The Thomas Hughes Classic, 22 Mar 2005
Whilst the 1951 film and the 2004 ITV version of 'Tom Brown's Schooldays' were good pieces of entertainment, it is this 1971 BBC TV version of the Thomas Hughes classic book which is the best version to date: it is as fantastic now as it was when originally broadcast.The whole series has a dark, brooding, menacing tone that makes it very, very gripping indeed. Flashman, as presented in this version, is surely one of the vilest characters to ever grace a TV screen. It's a classic piece of television that puts much of today's output to shame. The characters are well cast, with Anthony Murphy as Tom, Iain Cuthbertson as Dr Arnold, Richard Morant as Flashman, Gerald Flood as Flashman's father and a pre-Doctor Who Louise Jameson as a maid named Mary, to name but a few. The series is presented here as broadcast, in five episodes, and I would say I enjoy this adaptation more than the actual book upon which it is based. I can't recommend it enough, it went far beyond my memories of how good it was. It's worth every one of the five stars I've given it.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice to see TBS at last!, 18 Dec 2005
I appeared in this series in 1971 (thanks to Pinkmoonuk for the kind comments in the first review) and was pleased and surprised to see Acornmedia have finally released it on dvd/video under licence from the BBC. Considering the age of the source material I think the picture quality is excellent, although the location film inserts are somewhat 'grainy.' It's hard to be impartial, but I feel the series captures the spirit and atmosphere of the book very well and benefits from several excellent performances, most notably Richard Morant as Flashman. It's interesting, also, to see a young Richard Gibson, years before Herr Flick in 'Ello, Ello.' I was also unaware that Anthony Murphy won an Emmy for his performance as Tom. Perhaps the corporal punishment scenes may raise a few eyebrows in this PC age (I wonder if they would be filmed so graphically now) but that's the way it was at Arnold's Rugby. Sympathetically directed by Gareth Davies, this is Sunday tea-time drama that the BBC did so well in the 70's and 80's (before reality TV swamped the schedules) It was excellently received at the time and I believe it's now regarded as something of a TV 'classic.' TBS is well worth adding to your collection, and on a personal level, it's nice to have as a momento. (Who is that skinny 17 year old with hair!)
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
God bless Acorn media!!, 4 April 2005
For many years now I have been mithering the BBC to either re-show or make commercially available this absolute classic piece of 1970's Sunday afternoon television, so it was with much delight when I discovered Acorn media had been wise enough to issue this as a 2 DVD set - congratulations to them for this achievement - they should have a big seller on their hands!.As well as Richard Morant's superb portrayal as the evil Flashman there is also an outstanding performance from his sidekick the equally ghastly Darcy played by a teenage Christopher Guard. What is interesting is that many from the cast remained in acting - all too often talented youngsters have not gone on to achieve success or stayed within the profession after their 15 minutes of fame has passed. Those who must be mentioned include impressive performances from David Hampshire as the wise and kindly Diggs - Hampshire has performed tirelessly both in theatre and in numerous commercials for over 35 years now, there is the school hero and head boy Brooke played by Barry Stokes who would later appear in UFO and Doomwatch and there is also a classic performance from a pre Tripods and Secret Army Robin Langford as "Madman Martin" who bumbles through wonderfully. Final mentions must go to our actual hero Tom Brown played by Anthony Murphy - his acting career seemed to come to an abrupt end after this. Mention must go to the school sneak and whipping boy to Flashman "Cuthbertson" played by Mark Rogers who must have been no more than eight years old but carried off a superb performance but whos acting career also seems to have come to a halt after TBS. I stand to be corrected if they did continue either on stage or screen because both these two were real stars of the programme and deserved to go on to do so much more. Again, thanks to Acorn media, you really have made my year!
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