Tom Brown’s School Days

film by Stevenson [1940]

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July 16, 2026

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The 1940 film Tom Brown's School Days, directed by Robert Stevenson, is an adaptation of Thomas Hughes's 1857 novel. The story is set at Rugby School during the headmastership of Thomas Arnold. It follows the experiences of the main character, Tom Brown, as he navigates the challenges of boarding school life, including overcoming a school bully named Flashman. The novel, and by extension the film, is considered an early example of the English fiction genre that chronicles life at an English boys' boarding school.12

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Robert Stevenson
Early films
Stevenson’s first American film, Tom Brown’s School Days (1940), was a colourful adaptation of Thomas Hughes’s popular novel, with Freddie Bartholomew and Jimmy Lydon. (At about this time Stevenson became a U.S. citizen.) Stevenson followed it with the melodrama Back Street (1941), a fine adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel;…
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Stevenson’s first American film, Tom Brown’s School Days (1940), was a colourful adaptation of Thomas Hughes’s popular novel, with Freddie Bartholomew and Jimmy Lydon. (At about this time Stevenson became a U.S. citizen.) Stevenson followed it with the melodrama Back Street (1941), a fine adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel;…
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Freddie Bartholomew
…Swiss Family Robinson (1940), and Tom Brown’s School Days (1940). At the peak of his short film career, he was the highest-paid child star after Shirley Temple. His fame and rising income brought out his long-absent parents, who filed an unsuccessful and expensive lawsuit to wrest custody from his aunt.…
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…Swiss Family Robinson (1940), and Tom Brown’s School Days (1940). At the peak of his short film career, he was the highest-paid child star after Shirley Temple. His fame and rising income brought out his long-absent parents, who filed an unsuccessful and expensive lawsuit to wrest custody from his aunt.…
Read More