Customer Reviews

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robert Donat turns in a masterly performance as a nineteenth century English schoolmaster. Murphy's law rules the day - anything that can go wrong for Mr Chipping does go wrong. He begins his teaching career as an incredibly shy and nervous young man, and threatens to wind up a lonely bachelor until the beautiful Greer Garson bumps into him atop a Swiss mountain and it is love at first sight for the unlikely pairing. Things turn sour, however, as they seem to at almost every turn in poor Chips' life. However, when all else is said and done, Chips can look with a sense of pride and achievement upon his teaching career, spanning over sixty something years, during which time he has touched myriads of young boy's lives with his cheery character and wisdom.

So, Chip's deathbed speech really puts everything into perspective - this is a somewhat melancholy film with only short-lived moments of 'feel-good' until the very end when the value and purpose of Chip's life all makes sense and we see that, despite all his misfortune, he had accomplished much in a pre-George Bailey sort of way. This is Capra without the corn.

The excellent film version of James Hilton's sentimental novellette. The tribute to the English public school system and to one Mr. Chipping is done with immaculate care in every respect; it is a serene, tenderly heart-warming story. Like the story, the film is nostalgic: if we never knew a Mr. Chips, we should have - he belongs in every young man's past. Robert Donat gives an incredibly fine charactisation of the much-loved schoolmaster. Donat's performance is noteworthy not merely for his uncanny ability to make a convincing transition from young schoolmaster to octogenarian, but for his subtle underlining (if underlining can be subtle) of the dramatic moments in an essentially undramatic life. Chips was a shy person; like an iceberg, two-thirds of him was always subsurface. Donat wisely understated him playing him softly which doubled his poignance. It is only when he is seen as a crotchety old man scattering across campus in his tattered robe - that Donat went a TRIFLE overdrawn: a fraction of the cute and overacted side. But that is just and impression and not deep enough to discredit an otherwise flawless performance. Greer Garson's portrait of Katherine, the assertive young woman who changed the dour Mr. Chipping into the loveable Mr. Chips is altogether believable and quite entrancing: here is one of the nicest people we could ever wish to encounter! The boys are completely captivated hy Katherine - and so is the viewer. Paul Henreid is splendid as the German instructor and Terry Kilburn is unforgettable. A beautiful picture in every respect.

The year is 1939, often considered the greatest year for American movies: Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Wuthering Heights, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Dark Victory, Gunga Din, Of Mice and Men, and the best of them all - Goodbye, Mr. Chips. It is unabashedly sentimental, even corny, but it remains after sixty years one of the two best movies about teachers (the other being the Miracle Worker) and has at its center one of the best acting performances of all time - Robert Donat as the title character in his Oscar winning performance (winning against Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Laurence Olivier and Mickey Rooney). His performance is for the ages, particularly in light of the fact that he ages 60 years during the course of the film. It also has a wonderful romance (with a luminous Greer Garson) and a fine supporting cast (including the school children) but it is the understated poignancy of Donat's performance that makes this a true classic.

Robert Donat is brilliant as the English boarding school master whose "boring" life is briefly interrupted by meeting the love of his life. In this 1939 original, Mr. Chips loses his young wife and their child when she gives birth. Inwardly devestated, the man goes on, for decades, seemingly "immortal", teaching generations of fine young men, who all adore "Mr. Chips". The final scene, when Mr. Chips does die is simply beautiful. -- This film will make you feel good inside. It shows that even in the face of great tragedy and pain, there is meaning in one's life, a reason to go on. Mr. Chips may never have seen his own child grow up, but in reality he has seen hundreds, even thousands of them...all boys! -- This film is a gem!

The most wonderful thing about this movie is the quiet and relaxed way the story is told. There are no heroics (wee, maybe the climb up the mountain in the mist or the Latin reading near the end). All of the characters are in harmony with each other ie the acting is brilliantly understated. Mr Donat & Ms Garson are perfectly cast for the roles. The make up as you see Mr Chipping age from his first day as teacher to a venerable old man is excellent.

This is one of my favorite movies. It should NOT be remade and colorising is a travesty for this film! If you don't shed a tear in this, then you're made of stone!

I'm surprised that most of the reviews don't mention the pacifist theme of the film. The film is well done and quite watchable on its own terms. But those terms are so tragically wrong -- pacifism in 1939 -- that it's tough to get past the unintended sadness and irony. For a movie that's aged better, see Mrs. Miniver.

Here's some fine movie entertainment for the entire family. No coarse language, senseless violence or gratuitous sex. Rather, some fine acting and a strong affectionate story which reinforces the goodness and strength of the human spirit as exemplified in the qualities of perseverance, self sacrifice, friendship and loyalty. The story concerns the life of Mr. Chipping, played wonderfully by Robert Donat, and his trials, tribulations and triumphs while a teacher at Brookfield School in England. The timeline for the story begins in the 1870's when a young Chipping arrives at Brookfield as a new teacher and continues up to the time of his death in the 1920's. The lovely and talented Greer Garson plays too brief a role as Chippings` wife, while a young John Mills has a short part as one of Chippings students. There are lots of laughs as Mr. Chipping finds his way through life with the help of friends, family and the students of Brookfield school. Anyone who has experienced the classroom situation, either as a student or a teacher will find much to enjoy here. There are also scenes of great poignancy as Chipping and those close to him overcome a variety of personal and professional tragedies. The acting and directing are excellent and the special effects (the aging of Chipping over the years) are for their time, very well done. The sound and picture quality of the DVD are excellent.

This is a wonderful timeless movie with a powerful and positive theme. It is well worth the price of purchase and is sure to provide years of great enjoyment.

This is the story of the 60 plus year life of a school teacher, Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat), from neophyte teacher to hopefully Head Master. On his way he will make several mistakes and learn from them. The movie has the feel of several stories running in series that all tie in to Chipping's life. He is also destined to meet the love of his life Katherine (Greer Garson) and see that the Danube is blue.

I do not want to go into a detail as that is the fun in watching eh stories unfold however I think it is significant when Chipping and Katherine are alone on the top of the world and time stops finding them selves in eternity. He also gets an insight or different slant of his carrier.

This is a wonderfully sentimental depiction of public school life in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and beyond. Chipping, like so many other schoolmasters of the time, lives a cloistered life on which the outer world only occasionally impinges -- mostly during wartime.

In the film, he ventures out on only one other memorable occasion -- a holiday with the school German teacher to the Tyrol where he meets the handsome Greer Garson (in her first movie appearance), who somewhat improbably falls for him. This sets off a chain of sentimental events: marriage, introductions to the common room, tea with the boys, her death through childbirth, and a never-ending cycle of Colleys (played by the same actor, but with a slightly different haircut for each generation). The school hymn is also designed to pluck the heart stings.

The movie was actually filmed at Repton. I went to a similarly confined, all-boys, English public school, set in a country town miles from anywhere else, though somewhat more recently than the Chips era. Many of the masters never married because it was so difficult for them to meet any women. We still had corporal punishment -- which Chips continues to inflict even when brought out of retirement to become head during World War One. This film does not reflect the grubby reality of public school life -- the author must have had his rose-tinted spectacles on when he wrote this -- but it's hard not to be moved by it.

I have special memories of first seeing this at the age of 12 in our headmaster's study, together with all the other senior boys at the prep school. Today, its meaning for me is more about staying in the same place for a long time, while all about you moves on. (I've recently completed 25 years with the same employer!) I also enjoyed trying to work out how many of the Tyrol scenes were shot in the studio. (At one stage, Chips and his friend even walk against a film background.)

The DVD has no special extras, but the picture and sound quality is reasonable. I haven't tried the film on my teenage children, but I think this is one of the few black and white movies that they would be absorbed by. (Don't be misled by the colour photo on the DVD box cover into believing the movie is in colour!)

The origin of all the inspirational teacher movies, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a heartwarming film that unfolds the story of a man who is transformed by love, and goes on to influence the lives of his pupils and colleagues. Nostalgic, even when it was released in 1939, this is a tender and affectionate study of a society, an education system, and a man who belatedly outgrows his constraints and develops a true vocation from his professional commitments. It is Chips' transformation that makes this film a classic example of a man who belatedly discovers how to use strengths that ultimately give meaning and value to his life.

The film opens amidst the hustle and bustle of a new academic year at Brookfield with new and returning pupils hurrying to attend the first-day assembly. Chips arrives late for the event and is locked out with a young pupil with whom he shares his knowledge of the stone tablets that serve as memorials to past students and staff.

Mr. Chips: So, you're a stinker, eh?
Student: A stinker, Sir?
Mr. Chips: A new boy. That's what we call them here. Stinkers... (he indicates a stone tablet that commemorates the hero of the Armada: "Sir Francis Drake 1552")
Student: Drake! Was he here, Sir?
Mr. Chips: Yes.
Student: Was he a stinker too, Sir?
Mr. Chips: To be sure he was. But he grew out of it. And so will you.
This exchange sets-up the question of how 'stinkers' are helped to mature into the fine young men and heroes whom we see later in the film. We see the answer in a series of flashbacks that extend over sixty years of Chipping's life.

The young Mr. Chipping arrives at Brookfield, filled with enthusiasm and ambition. Some early misjudgements make him vulnerable to criticism by the Headmaster who reprimands him for his poor control of the boys.

Our profession is not an easy one, Mr. Chipping. It calls for something more than a University degree. Our business is to mould men. It demands character and courage. Above all, it demands the ability to exercise authority. Without that, I think any young man should ask himself seriously if he has not perhaps mistaken his vocation. When a man is young, Mr. Chipping, there are many other walks of life open to him.

In a disastrous attempt to assert his authority, the teacher forbids his pupils to attend a cricket match, which the school then loses because of the absence of a key player. Despite Chipping's apology, the reaction of the pupils and his colleagues leads him to develop a protective shield of authoritarianism and inflexibility. Chipping's enthusiasm ebbs away over the years: he is so intimidated by life that he retreats into a sterile existence that smothers rather than protects him. Passing him over for promotion, the Headmaster praises Chipping for his ability to exact high academic performance from the boys but explains that he is thought to lack the empathy and vision that is needed in a Housemaster.

... We felt that with your unusual gifts of getting work out of the boys that you'd rather concentrate on teaching and leave the rather tiresome job of Housemaster to someone with special gifts in that direction...I doubt if Mr. Wilkinson will ever turn out as many minor Latin poets as you have.

Although surrounded by the rich, social network of the school, and a senior member within it, Chipping is exposed as an isolated figure whose relationships are restricted to the functional, and are grounded only in perfunctory respect and status. Humiliated, Chipping withdraws into his room, where his loneliness and the darkness close in around him. Fortunately, a young colleague persuades him to accompany him on a walking tour to the Tyrol where Chipping meets the fascinating Katherine Ellis who is destined to be his wife and help-meet.

Chipping's feelings are reciprocated in a charming courtship that changes his view of himself, and alerts him to the possibilities of living his life in a different way.

Chipping: Do you suppose a person in middle age could start life over again and make a go of it?
Katherine: I'm sure of it. Quite sure. It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster.
Chipping: I thought so once.
Katherine: To watch boys grow up and help them along. To see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don't see how you could ever get old in a world that's always young.
Chipping: I never really thought of it that way. When you talk about it, you make it sound exciting and heroic.
Katherine: It is.
Chipping: (He turns to her) And the schoolmaster? Is he exciting and heroic too?
Katherine: (teasing him for his earlier actions and diffidence) I've met only one - a reckless person who climbed the Blochner in a mist...

The couple marry before the start of the school year. And from the start, the pupils and colleagues view Chips (as he is now affectionately named by Kathy) in a new light. She encourages him to use the strengths (such as empathy and a dry sense of humour) that she knows him to have, but that are little seen by others. Inevitably, Chips wins the trust and admiration of the pupils and the change in his status is reflected when he wins the appointment of Housemaster.

Despite personal and larger-scale tragedy, we see that Chips' life becomes one of meaning and influence: we see his crucial role in the transformation of 'stinkers' into admirable men and the foundations of the freedoms enjoyed by others, built on their sacrifices.

This film epitomises key aspects of a meaningful life: Chips learns to use his previously concealed Signature Strengths (see "Authentic Happiness" by Marty Seligman), is transformed by love and a capacity to be loved and is taught that it is never too late to change.