Auf Wiedersehen, Mr. Chips

The more I read on IMDB the more I realise that so many people interested in movies do not consider films more than 25 years or so old. I suspect that this is because most users of IMDB are aged 30 - 40 ish. Goodbye Mr Chips is exactly (on first sight) the type of movie that many of you would not even consider viewing. It has no special effects, cost peanuts to make, no clever camera work but it does have those three essentials - superb story, great script and staggeringly good acting from Donat. The movie is about life, relationships, about despair and decency and the power of love. What more could anybody ask for in a movie? If this film doesn't move and inspire you then truly nothing will.

P.S. the Peter O'Toole version is pretty dire!!

Amongst those movies that aim to use straightforward human drama alone to tell a thoughtful story, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is one of the finest. Robert Donat's performance gives you not just one character to remember, but several, as he convincingly portrays Chipping's different personas at different stages of his life.

Greer Garson is also excellent in her role, and Paul Henreid gets some good scenes as well. These relationships and others throughout the movie make for a believable and memorable portrayal of the title character, and also of the world in which he lived. The story is well-written, and it includes a very good variety of material, showing the characters dealing with everything from eager anticipation to grave concern, from blissful joy to great sorrow, and much in between.

The panorama from generation to generation also works well, showing both change and stability as time passes. While only a handful of scenes contain weighty material, all of it is thoughtful, and much of it memorable. It keeps everything balanced and believable, and it's been a good while since any movie of its kind has worked so well.

The children attending the Brookfield school are no ordinary English boys; they are the the children of the upper classes of society, who for generations have learned from institutions such as the school represented here. They are molded at places like this fictional one to be leaders of their country. Mr. Chipping is a teacher who gives his life to Brookfield, only to be bypassed when promotions are handed out. His love for the profession and his dedication to the formation of these children are his reasons for living. Most of his own life is spent at the school. Only in times of crisis is Mr. Chipps recognized. Mr. Chipps knows happiness only too briefly. He is extremely lucky when he finds Katherine. One can see the rapport in her, although we never see it explicitly on Chipping's face, maybe because a stiff upper lip that doesn't let him express his true feelings to a woman who adored him from their first encounter. Mr. Chipps lives long enough to learn about the death of his beloved students in several world conflicts. As a father figure, his life is full because the love and admiration the young boys feel for him. The film made Robert Donat a favorite of the movie going public. Mr. Donat goes from being a taciturn person into a jolly old man living on his own because Katherine dies young. The film improves tremendously when Greer Garson appears. Her luminous presence changes the tone of the movie because of her incredible charm. Paul Henreid makes a short appearance as Staefel, the fellow teacher who invites Mr. Chipps to accompany on a vacation trip to Austria. Sam Wood direction pays a close look to detail. The film is a classic and will live forever.

Goodbye Mr Chips must be one of the best films ever made.

The acting of boys, masters and other characters is superb, as is the capturing of the late Victorian/Edwardian period in England, the joy of 1914 on the declaration of war, followed by the sombre roll-calls of the dead in chapel during the war years.

The character of Chips is an instruction in how someone's life can be transformed for the better by fortuitous events, in this case the meeting on the mountain between Chips and Katherine, which changed him from being a shy but well-meaning schoolmaster who found it difficult to establish a rapport with his pupils and colleagues into someone whose hidden depths and charisma were brought into view by a woman he loved.

This gentle, decent and moving film illustrates, through both Chips and Katherine, the importance of giving of oneself to others who in their turn will benefit as human beings; concepts which might seem outdated in our modern world but remain valuable and timeless.

In the top TEN films of all time, I want to believe that Mr Chips exists for all school-children, that his spirit still hovers around places of learning waiting to guide those who might follow his lead as to decency, strength of character, gentility of nature and spiritual purity. Alas, Mr Chips is not required in 2001!

This film, the story of a gentle English teacher at a British Boarding school, is so timeless and emotionally involving, I find it hard to write about it without having to control my own feelings. Not a wuss by one hell of a long shot, and having last openly cried probably the last time I saw this film, I can only say that exposure to Robert Donat's performance here in the role which won him the most deserving of Academy Awards, is perhaps one of the greatest things can happen in your life. If you think I might be exaggerating, do me a favor - don't watch it! If you watch it and aren't moved, especially when his wife dies, then your life is meaningless!

GOODBYE MR CHIPS is probably the most beautiful film of all time and is a reminder of what we are all really here for. It's not that new pair of trendy shoes, the Rolex, the yellow drop-top with twin exhaust, that sharp Armani suit, the Chanel parfum, the 50,000 shares you picked up for a song last week, your blonde-tipped rinse, Nike shoes or $100 tie.....its for what Mr Chips STOOD for in 1939...and I got news for you, he's still here with his text-book open at the next lesson!