The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
As a result, Tom Brown's School Days (1940) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
The earliest documented telecasts of this film in New York City occurred Monday 30 December 1946 on DuMont Television Network's WABD (Channel 5) and in Los Angeles Sunday 29 February 1948 on DuMont's KTLA (Channel 5), followed by Baltimore Friday 9 April 1948 on WMAR (Channel 2), by Detroit Sunday 2 May 1948 on WWJ (Channel 4), and by Fort Worth Sunday 3 October 1948 on WBAP (Channel 5). In San Francisco it first aired Saturday 14 May 1949 on the City's second commercial television station, freshly launched KGO (Channel 7), and in Cincinnati Tuesday 6 September 1949 on WKRC (Channel 11).
The role of Tom Brown's best friend, played by the talented Freddie Bartholomew, carries the movie. While Jimmy Lydon does a fine job, it is Bartholomew that gives the best performance. A child actor who had achieved worldwide fame with his roles in David Copperfield (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), Captains Courageous (1937) and Kidnapped (1938), Bartholomew ended up working with the likes of Greta Garbo and Spencer Tracy. After the forties, like his co-star Lydon, he transitioned to television. Yet, despite his many talents in front of the camera, he went behind the scenes as a director and producer, directing several episodes of famous soap operas like The Edge of Night (1956) and As the World Turns (1956) until his retirement in the eighties. Tom Brown's School Days (1940) remains one of his best films.
The entertainment journal Variety praised the adaptation, saying, "It probably results in a better picture, since Cedric Hardwicke, who plays the wise and kindly teacher, is much better qualified to carry a story than is any Hollywood prodigy. Hardwicke's performance is one of the best he has ever given on the screen."