{"id":42732,"date":"2019-02-20T12:10:32","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T19:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42732"},"modified":"2020-12-10T23:14:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T06:14:27","slug":"goodbye-mr-chips-1939","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42732","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how you could ever get old, in a world that&#8217;s always young.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Poster-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-42734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Poster-201x300.jpg 201w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Poster.jpg 335w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 201px) 100vw, 201px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA shy schoolmaster (Robert Donat) gains a new lease on life when he marries a beautiful woman (Greer Garson) he meets while vacationing in Germany, and quickly becomes a vital fixture at his venerable school, Brookfield Academy.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Greer Garson Films<\/li>\n<li>Robert Donat Films<\/li>\n<li>Romance<\/li>\n<li>Sam Wood Films<\/li>\n<li>Teachers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary doesn&#8217;t review director Sam Wood&#8217;s adaptation of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Goodbye%2C_Mr._Chips\">James Hilton&#8217;s novella<\/a> in his <em>GFTFF<\/em>, but he does agree with the Academy&#8217;s designation of Robert Donat as Best Actor of the Year in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, where he writes that &#8220;this popular MGM picture covers sixty-three years in the life of the gentle, scholarly Mr. Chips&#8230; from his first shaky day at Brookfield, through his small triumphs and great tragedies, to his last moments on his deathbed, when he is still integral to the school.&#8221; He notes that the script &#8220;smartly&#8230; first has us see Chips as an eighty-three-year-old, full of charm and a quirky personality&#8221; &#8212; an effective gambit given that &#8220;for much of the flashback that soon begins&#8230; Donat is so reserved that he doesn&#8217;t seem to be acting at all&#8221;, which was &#8220;by intention, since the bachelor Chips is a timid, dull stick-in-the-mud&#8221;. This nicely sets things up for the moment &#8220;Chip meets (in a wonderfully romantic scene on a fog-covered mountain), falls in love with&#8230;, marries, and lives blissfully with the glorious Katherine (Greer Garson)&#8221;, who &#8220;helps him conquer his shyness and break down barriers with his pupils&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Indeed, while Garson isn&#8217;t on-screen for much of the movie, her presence is vital to the film&#8217;s success, and it&#8217;s easy to see why this breakthrough film helped make her a star. I wish her character would (could) stick around for longer, since their romance is truly charming, and it&#8217;s interesting to see the effect of a young woman on the all-boys campus. I&#8217;m less of an overall &#8220;sucker for movies with nice schoolteachers&#8221; than Peary, who points out his particular fondness for Chips, a teacher who &#8220;didn&#8217;t pull rank on students&#8221; and &#8220;cared about their welfare and stuck up for them.&#8221; He applauds Donat&#8217;s willingness to apologize to his students &#8220;for mistakenly disciplining them at an inopportune time&#8221;, and argues that a boy&#8217;s threat to &#8220;kill the headmaster&#8221; if he &#8220;says another word to Chips&#8221; shows &#8220;that during Chips&#8217;s many years at Brookfield he earned a whole lot more than the boys&#8217; friendship&#8221;. He notes that &#8220;Donat, a great actor, makes us see why these kids would feel such love for this special individual&#8221; &#8212; and I agree Donat&#8217;s performance makes this one worth a look, even if it&#8217;s not a personal favorite.     <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Robert Donat as &#8220;Mr. Chips&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Donat.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Donat.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"518\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42737\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Donat.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Donat-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Donat-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Greer Garson as Katherine<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Garson.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Garson.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"518\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Garson.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Garson-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Garson-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Freddie Young&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"518\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-42736\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Cinematography.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Cinematography-128x92.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Goodbye-Mr-Chips-Cinematography-300x216.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, but it&#8217;s worth a look for the historical relevance of Donat&#8217;s award-winning role. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0031385\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/76737\/goodbye-mr-chips#articles-reviews?articleId=30540\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/goodbye-mr-chips\/review\/124957\/\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1939\/05\/16\/archives\/the-screen-metros-londonmade-version-of-goodbye-mr-chips-has-its.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/good.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t see how you could ever get old, in a world that&#8217;s always young.&#8221; Synopsis: A shy schoolmaster (Robert Donat) gains a new lease on life when he marries a beautiful woman (Greer Garson) he meets while vacationing in Germany, and quickly becomes a vital fixture at his venerable school, Brookfield Academy. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Greer Garson Films Robert Donat Films Romance Sam Wood Films Teachers Review: Peary doesn&#8217;t review director Sam Wood&#8217;s adaptation of James Hilton&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=42732\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42732"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56996,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42732\/revisions\/56996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}