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IMDbPro

Goodbye, Mr. Chips

  • 1969
  • Tous publics
  • 2h 35m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:06
1 Video
39 Photos
Classic MusicalDramaMusicalRomance

This musical version of James Hilton's novel concerns shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher Arthur Chipping, who falls for flashy showgirl Katherine Bridges while teaching at Brookfield Boys'... Read allThis musical version of James Hilton's novel concerns shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher Arthur Chipping, who falls for flashy showgirl Katherine Bridges while teaching at Brookfield Boys' School outside London in the 1920's.This musical version of James Hilton's novel concerns shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher Arthur Chipping, who falls for flashy showgirl Katherine Bridges while teaching at Brookfield Boys' School outside London in the 1920's.

  • Director
    • Herbert Ross
  • Writers
    • James Hilton
    • Terence Rattigan
  • Stars
    • Peter O'Toole
    • Petula Clark
    • Michael Redgrave
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.8/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Herbert Ross
    • Writers
      • James Hilton
      • Terence Rattigan
    • Stars
      • Peter O'Toole
      • Petula Clark
      • Michael Redgrave
    • 61User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
    • 61Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 6 wins & 5 nominations total

    Videos1

    Goodbye, Mr. Chips
    Trailer 2:06
    Goodbye, Mr. Chips

    Photos39

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    Top cast50

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    Peter O'Toole
    Peter O'Toole
    • Arthur Chipping
    Petula Clark
    Petula Clark
    • Katherine Bridges
    Michael Redgrave
    Michael Redgrave
    • The Headmaster
    George Baker
    George Baker
    • Lord Sutterwick
    Siân Phillips
    Siân Phillips
    • Ursula Mossbank
    Michael Bryant
    Michael Bryant
    • Max Staefel
    Jack Hedley
    Jack Hedley
    • William Baxter
    Alison Leggatt
    Alison Leggatt
    • Headmaster's Wife
    Jenny Runacre
    Jenny Runacre
    Clinton Greyn
    Clinton Greyn
    • Bill Calbury
    Barbara Couper
    • Mrs. Paunceforth
    Michael Culver
    Michael Culver
    • Johnny Longbridge
    Elspeth March
    Elspeth March
    • Mrs. Summersthwaite
    Clive Morton
    Clive Morton
    • General Paunceforth
    Ronnie Stevens
    Ronnie Stevens
    • Algie
    Mario Maranzana
    • Pompeii Guide
    John Gugolka
    • Sutterwick Jr.
    Michael Ridgeway
    • David
    • Director
      • Herbert Ross
    • Writers
      • James Hilton
      • Terence Rattigan
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews61

    6.84.1K
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    Featured reviews

    7SFTVLGUY2

    A Musical Remake That Didn't Need The Songs

    Thirty years after the 1939 classic film won Robert Donat an Oscar and made Greer Garson a star, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" overcame a multitude of problems before stumbling to the screen in this musical version. Original stars Rex Harrison and Samantha Eggar were replaced by Richard Burton and Lee Remick, who in turn were given the heave-ho in favor of - thankfully - Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark. Andre Previn's score was rejected, and the one eventually used was composed by - unfortunately - Leslie Bricusse. First-time director Herbert Ross was handed the monumental task of transforming a simple love story - that of a man for both his wife and students - into a big-budget extravaganza. That it succeeds as well as it does despite the many obstacles in its way is a testament to its two stars.

    Arthur Chipping is a Latin teacher at Brookfield, a boys' school in suburban England where he himself was educated. Introverted and socially inept, he is dedicated to his students but unable to inspire them. Prior to summer holiday, a former student takes him to a London music hall to see an entertainment starring Katharine Bridges, the young lady he hopes to wed. The post-performance meeting is awkward for all, and Chips - as he is commonly known - sets off to explore some of Italy's ancient ruins. Unexpectedly, he runs into Katharine, who has booked a Mediterranean cruise to allow her time to mourn a failed love affair and ponder the direction of her career. In the time they spend together, she discovers a kind and gentle man beneath the befuddled exterior, and upon returning to London pursues him in earnest. When the fall term begins, Chips returns to Brookfield with his young bride, and the two settle into a life of quiet domesticity. Complications arise when aspects of Katharine's past surface, and again when World War II intrudes in their lives, but Chips is bolstered by his wife's support, and his new-found confidence makes him a favorite among the students.

    Aside from a couple of musical interludes - the delightful music hall production number "London is London" and Katharine's declaration of love, "You and I" - most of Bricusse's songs, some of them performed in voice-over as the characters explore their emotions, are easily forgettable and in no way enhance the film. Eliminate the score entirely, and "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" works quite well as a drama. Terrence Rattigan's script retains elements of the original while expanding upon it and updating it by a couple of decades. He has crafted several scenes between Chips and Katharine that beautifully delineate their devotion to each other, and infused a few with comic relief courtesy of Katharine's friend and cohort, over-the-top actress Ursula Mossbank (delightfully played by Sian Phillips, O'Toole's real-life wife at the time). He also captures life at a British public school - the equivalent of a private academy here in the States - with unerring perfection.

    Ross does well as a first-time director, liberally sprinkling the film with breathtakingly photographed moments - the opening credits sequence, during which the school anthem echoes in the vast stone hallways of the school, perfectly sets the tone for the film. Costumes and sets are true to the period. The students, portrayed by non-professionals who were enrolled at the school used as Brookfield, handle their various small supporting roles well.

    Highest praise is reserved for Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark in the lead roles. O'Toole was long-established as a first-class dramatic actor, so his Academy Award-nominated performance here comes as no surprise. Clark, a veteran of some two dozen B-movies in the UK and the previous year's "Finian's Rainbow," is absolutely luminous as the music hall soubrette who forsakes a theatrical career in favor of life as a schoolmaster's wife. Her golden voice enriches her songs and almost allows us to overlook how insipid most of them are, and she more than matches O'Toole in their dramatic scenes together. The chemistry between the two is palpable and leaves us with no doubt that this is a couple very much in love.

    This version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is no classic like its predecessor, but hardly the disaster many critics described when it was released. Ignore the score, concentrate on the performances, and revel in the atmosphere Ross has put on the screen. It's a pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon with someone you love.
    rothwellstudios

    A memorable piece of movie nostalgia!

    MGM produced this beautiful film at a genuine British Public School and I think anyone who attended one of those institutions during the 1940s or 50s will agree that the mood and authenticity of the film is spot on! Peter O'Toole's performance in the title role is extremely moving and Petula Clark is an unexpected choice for "Mrs Chipping" but she is first rate in the part. I note that some commentators were unimpressed with the Leslie Bricusse score. Well, all I can say is that I wore out my vinyl LP copy within one month of buying it when the film was first released. Incidentally, a short version of the film was released on 16 millimetre film in the UK with virtually EVERY song cut out and it was just awful without the music. But the full musical version is a delight.
    8marcslope

    Hail Rattigan

    Terrence Rattigan, who authored this screenplay at a time when he was out of fashion (and he still is), did a wonderful job renovating and updating James Hilton's sentimental novel, and his screenplay, and the playing of Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark, save the movie. Rattigan emphasizes the love story and carefully shows how Chipping, seemingly stiff and unemotional, has great reservoirs of tenderness and gallantry. It's a love story of two very different people who not only complement one another but bring out unforeseen qualities in each other: She teaches him to care, and he teaches her to function outside her shallow theatrical surroundings. O'Toole is as touching as Robert Donat in the original, and Clark, with less to play, is lovely and sympathetic and in superb voice. Of course, most of Leslie Bricusse's songs are dreadful, and O'Toole's no singer, and the internal-dialog nature of most of them (they don't advance plot, they don't define character, they just tell you what the protagonists are thinking) slows the action down. But with Rattigan's excellent touches, a splendidly showy supporting performance by Sian Phillips (then Mrs. O'Toole), and some eye-filling Oswald Morris photography, it's a love story you can weep copiously through--I know I did--and have a wonderful time doing so.
    8grantss

    Very moving

    Great, very moving story. Not perfect - the musical interludes were unnecessary (then again, I generally dislike musicals). Struggles to get going, but once it does it is fantastic. Final quarter is incredibly emotional.

    Great performances by Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark.
    8ruby_fff

    My cup of tea: the pairing of O'Toole and Clark in director Herbert Ross' 1969 musical adaptation of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"

    Caught this 1969 film on cable TCM one night. I remember when I first saw the film in Hong Kong, I really enjoyed the songs and performances by Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark. I love Clark best in Francis Ford Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow" (1968) opposite Fred Astaire, Don Francks and Tommy Steele. Simply ecstatic to learn that finally, this delightful Irish-flavored pot of gold musical is released on DVD! Ah, "it's that old devil moon (in your eyes)."

    Peter O'Toole as Mr. Chips - yes, he did sing - quite a deliverance. He may not be a veteran at musical like Rex Harrison, but he inhabited the role marvelously. The scene of him running across the lawn in his cape a-flying reminds me of the PBS series, "To Serve Them All My Days" - a lovable schoolmaster and loving man, he is, 'Mr. Chipey.' Clark and O'Toole somehow gave us just the right mix of spunk and circumstance. The songs and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse are catchy as usual. The tunes of "You and I" and "Walk Through the World (with Me)" stayed with me the most all these years. And there's "What a Lot of Flowers," "And the Sky Smiled," "Fill the World with Love" - not syrupy at all. Sometimes I think if the world is immersed in Bricusse's songs and words, we would overcome all strife on earth and 'lovely' will be all our days! Yes, "Talk to the Animals," too. ("Doctor Doolittle" 1967)

    Musicals are a blessing to the world of moviegoers, they are somehow larger than life. Like the music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers (Richard M. and Robert B.) who gave us "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) and "Mary Poppins" (1964) - who wouldn't feel absolutely delighted simply uttering "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"? I was tickled by even just one featured song & dance number in the Spanish film "Km.0 - Kilometer Zero" (2000). My all time favorite is French filmmaker Jacques Demy's "Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967) with colorful cast of Catherine Deneuve and (late sister) Francoise Dorléac, Jacques Perrin, Michel Piccoli, Danielle Darrieux, Gene Kelly and George Chakiris singing, dancing to Michel Legrand's music. Long live musicals.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Originally cast in the lead roles were Sir Rex Harrison and Samantha Eggar, who were replaced by Richard Burton and Lee Remick. When MGM opted to replace Remick with Petula Clark, based on her reviews and Golden Globe nomination for La Vallée du bonheur (1968), Burton balked at playing opposite a "singer" rather than an "actress", so Peter O'Toole was cast instead.
    • Quotes

      Katie: [looking at a carving] What does that mean?

      Chips: Gnothe seauthon. Know yourself. The watchword of Apollo.

      Katie: The god of prophecy.

      Chips: Amongst other things...

      [Later at the close of the scene]

      Katie: [contemplating the temple she has visited] Know yourself. That's quite a watchword. Gnothe seauthon.

      Chips: You're most retentive.

      Katie: Give me a good line and I can remember it.

    • Alternate versions
      Following the initial roadshow bookings, the film was cut to 133 minutes, with many of its musical numbers deleted. This was possibly a questionable decision considering many of the songs were instrumental in explaining the characters' inner thoughts and emotions. This cut version was originally used for initial television network broadcasts but the full roadshow version (complete with overture and entr'acte music) is now shown on TCM.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003)
    • Soundtracks
      Overture
      Music by Leslie Bricusse

      Performed by Orchestra, Conducted by John Williams

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    FAQ17

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 20, 1970 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Latin
    • Also known as
      • Goodbye Mr. Chips
    • Filming locations
      • Paestum, Capaccio, Salerno, Campania, Italy
    • Production companies
      • APJAC Productions
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $9,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 2h 35m(155 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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