John Campbell Movies
- 1951
Tom Brown's Schooldays was the second film version of Thomas Hughes' semiautobiographical novel. John Howard Davies, who'd previously essayed the title role in Oliver Twist, stars as first-year Rugby student Tom Brown. In his efforts to adjust to boarding-school life, Tom must contend with the calculated cruelties of all-around bully Flashman (John Forrest). One of the boy's few allies is new schoolmaster Doctor Arnold (Robert Newton), who believes that discipline can be tempered with kindness, a "radical" notion so far as his colleagues are concerned. Despite the authenticity of its British surroundings, the 1951 version of Tom Brown's Schooldays isn't quite as good as the 1940 Hollywood adaptation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Howard Davies, Robert Newton, (more)
- 1948
The "progressive" new British teaching methods of 1948 are sharply contrasted with the tried-and-true methods of the past in Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill. Self-content and thoroughly set in his ways, college instructor Vincent Perrin (Marius Goring) resents the arrival of non-traditional young prof David Traill (David Farrar). Exacerbating the situation is the fact that both Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill are both in love with Isobel Lester (Greta Gynt). Descending into petty, crass behavior, Mr. Perrin typifies all that was wrong with the postwar educational system; still, he is not entirely sympathetic, nor is the aggressive Mr. Traill 100% likeable. Based on a novel by Hugh Walpole, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill remains surprisingly timely when seen today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Farrar, Marius Goring, (more)
- 1944
In this musical, a youthful trombonist is thrilled when he is allowed to play with Benny Goodman's Orchestra. Afterward he becomes insufferably egotistical and tries to start his own swing band. It's his girl friend's idea, and unfortunately he fails. He then returns to his old mill job. Fortunately, he is given another chance to play with Benny and the boys. Musical numbers include: "I'm Making Believe," (Mack Gordon, James V. Monaco), as well as "Chug-Chug-Choo-Choo-Chug," "Hey Bub, Let's Have a Ball," "Ten Days with a Baby" (Gordon, Monaco), "I Found a New Baby" (Jack Palmer, Spencer Williams), "Jersey Bounce" (Robert B. Wright, Bobby Plater, Tiny Bradshaw, Edward Johnson), "Let's Dance" (Fanny Baldridge, Gregory Stone, Joseph Bonine), "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" (Gene Lockhart, Ernest Seitz), "Mozart's Clarinet Quintet" (performed by Goodman and strings), "No Love, No Nothing" (Leo Robin, Harry Warren), "Rachel's Dream" (Benny Goodman), and "I Yi Yi Yi Yi, I Like You Very Much" (Gordon, Warren) ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benny Goodman Orchestra, Linda Darnell, (more)
The Sullivans attempts to find the positives in one of the most tragic chapters of World War II. Edward Ryan, John Campbell, James B. Cardwell, John Alvin and George Offerman Jr. play the Sullivan brothers, sons of an Iowa railroad worker (Thomas Mitchell) and his wife (Selena Royle). The film traces the boys from childhood, maintaining a relatively lighthearted tone until the Sullivans sign up en masse for the navy at the outbreak of the war. Refusing to be separated, the boys are all assigned to the cruiser Juneau--and all are killed when the vessel goes down at Guadalcanal. This appalling incident (which made something of a celebrity of the brothers' grieving father when he went on a nationwide patriotic lecture tour) resulted in the Navy's decision to never again allowed all the enlisted members of one family to serve on the same ship. Even from the vantage point of fifty years, the scene in which the family receives the wire from the war department is impossible to watch with a dry eye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Baxter, Thomas Mitchell, (more)
