Tom Brown of Culver
Cast & Crew
William Wyler
Tom Brown
Slim Summerville
Richard Cromwell
H. B. Warner
Ben Alexander
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Desperate for money, Tom Brown agrees to fight in a boxing match. Although he loses, he earns enough for a meal at Elmer "Slim" Whitman's diner. Two men from the American Legion come into the diner while Tom is eating and pay for his meal in honor of his father, who received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor. When Slim learns that Tom's father was the doctor in his regiment, he offers him a job. But a little later, Slim fires him to allow him to take a position at Culver Military Academy, which is paid for by the American Legion. Tom is bitter about his father's death, blaming his mother's death on the hardships it caused, and he does not want to go to the Academy. He fares badly at first, but soon makes friends with some of the other boys and becomes quite happy. Over the Christmas vacation, Tom visits Slim with his closest friend, Robert Randolph, III. Tom is unaware that his father is alive and is residing at the town hospital, having deserted after being driven crazy by the sound of gunfire. When Slim brings the boys to the hospital to deliver Christmas presents, Dr. Brown is allowed to see his son. After Tom returns to Culver, his father visits him and tells him that he is his father and a deserter. Tom prevents his father from killing himself and insists that he will leave Culver to be with him. When Tom tells one of the teachers that he is leaving school, however, the teacher explains that Tom's father was affected by shell shock and has been honorably discharged. Tom then pins the Congressional Medal on his father, who has decided to stay with Tom.
Director
William Wyler
Cast
Tom Brown
Slim Summerville
Richard Cromwell
H. B. Warner
Ben Alexander
Andy Devine
Russell Hopton
Betty Blythe
Sidney Toler
Willard Robertson
Norman Phillips Jr.
Tyrone Power Jr.
Kit Guard
Lew Kelly
Kit Wain
Dick Winslow
Matty Roubert
Brigadier General L. R. Gignilliat
Colonel Robert Rossow
Crew
Tom Buckingham
James Drought
Martin Glouner
George Green
George Green
Ted Kent
Carl Laemmle
Carl Laemmle Jr.
Mickey Marigold
Clarence Marks
John Martin
Maurice Pivar
Robert Pritchard
Charles Stumar
Dale Van Every
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was dedicated to the "future defenders of our nation." According to Hollywood Herald, much of the film was shot on location at Culver Military Academy in Indiana. This film marked the film debut of Tyrone Power, Jr. Modern sources include Eugene Pallette and Alan Ladd in the cast. If Ladd was in the cast, this May have been his first film. The film was remade in 1939 by Universal as Spirit of Culver.
