Customer Reviews
Childhood favourite returns in colour - By: Louise Treleaven, 09 Oct 2007 
To see my favourite film from my childhoodin full colour is amazing. The original black & white version was very indistinct, being set mainlyin the dark corridors of Rugby. Although the characters do suffer from green lips on occasion, the whole experience is much less dated.
If you love the book, I would recommend this film wholeheartedly as the version truest to the novel, & the only one which actually follows the story of Arthur rather than killing him off (2004) or simply deleting him (1971). East is brilliantly played, the best interpretation of the character ever, & Flashman, who looks about thirty, is sublimely horrible & a complete coward, as required. Tom is a great mixture of vulnerability & strength. Dr Arnold is a little uninspiring & stern. Nevertheless, you can't fault this film - it led me to read the novel, & read it again & again.
Spiffing British Classic - but WHY a colourised version??? - By: P. D. gray, 19 Aug 2007 
A fantastic film this, you can almost smell the musty wood lined corridors & baked potatosin a classic rendition of a young mans trials/tribulations at his new school. Packed full of the finest British character actors its a joy to watch from start to finish.
Why though did DD Home Entertainment choose to release the colourised version to dvd instead of the classic, original Black & White print? The film is so much more atmosphericin black & white, I can only presume that they couldnt find a black & white print that matched their high standards & thought this colourised version the best option despite it being colourised years & years ago hence the poor tones which make everyones faces look salmon pink.
Anyway, I tried turning the colour right down on my tv & it worked fine, a bit blurry because of the colourisation but still a cracking movie. The only thing that makes it hard for me to watch is the fact that the main boy actor playing Tom (he also played Oliver Twistin the David Lean film..um..."Oliver Twist" obviously) grew up to bein charge of Thames TV & it was his decision to sack Benny Hill &in such a callous offhand manner (a brief 5 minute "bye Benny" meeting after years of service & millionsin revenue for the company), when you see young Tom being beaten up & roasted by Bully flashman you kind of enjoy it...if your a fan of the brilliant Benny Hill!
