Sitting down to watch 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939),' I can't say that I was expecting anything but a pleasant time-waster, an inspirational but throwaway drama not unlike Peter Weir's 'Dead Poets Society (1989).' I certainly wasn't expecting a genuinely moving portrait of love, loneliness and lifelong fulfillment, especially not from Sam Wood, the director who also gave us two Marx Brothers comedies. On top of all that, having only seen him in Hitchcock's 'The 39 Steps (1935),' I'm afraid that I didn't consider Robert Donat all that much of a dramatic actor. Whether I was mistaken in all my assumptions, or the planets somehow aligned perfectly, I'm happy to say that 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips' is a brilliant drama, and one that I'm sure will stay with me for years. Donat, aged just 34 years at the time of the film's release, perfectly captures the melancholy of a man reaching his twilight years. He definitely deserved an Oscar for his portrayal, though whether he deserved to beat out Jimmy Stewart in 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)' is a different matter.
In the late nineteenth century, a young Mr. Edward Chipping (Donat) arrives at the prestigious Brookfield boys school to begin his career as a teaching master. Though anxious to get along with his students, he is soon forced to adopt a stricter approach if his class is to be kept in order, the result being that he frequently produces budding Latin scholars without making any friends among them. After a fellow teacher (Paul Henreid) invites him on a walking tour of Austria, Mr. Chipping comes to meet an English woman named Katherine (Greer Garson), who sees through his shy exterior to find a warm, charming and lonely man. Following their impromptu marriage, Katherine returns with Mr. Chipping (now affectionately nicknamed "Chips") to Brookfield, where she encourages him to be more affable and open with his students, so that they see him as a friend and mentor, rather than an oppressor. Chips soon becomes the school's most cherished asset, and his dedication to his students serves the school valiantly through decades of hardship, including WWI.
It's hard to quite pinpoint what works so effectively about Donat's doddering old man, Mr. Chips. With his cartoonish moustache and a ready supply of cringeworthy Latin puns, the character could easily have turned out merely comical. But there's an extraordinary warmth behind the portrayal, and a genuine affection towards the generations of students that pass him by so quickly. Being rather shy in social situations myself, I really connected with the middle-aged Mr. Chips, who dejectedly accepts his future as a lonely school master, only to be brought out of his shell by the new sights and smells of Austria. After he ostensibly "rescues" Katherine on the foggy cliff-side, the pair ponder the apparent power at their fingertips, as though they own the mountain on which they sit. This sentiment reflects upon the influence afforded Mr. Chips in his position as school master, and later headmaster: it is his responsibility to mould a strong and successful nation of dedicated Englishmen, especially in the most difficult times. That WWII was then just around the corner makes this notion all the more poignant.
In the late nineteenth century, a young Mr. Edward Chipping (Donat) arrives at the prestigious Brookfield boys school to begin his career as a teaching master. Though anxious to get along with his students, he is soon forced to adopt a stricter approach if his class is to be kept in order, the result being that he frequently produces budding Latin scholars without making any friends among them. After a fellow teacher (Paul Henreid) invites him on a walking tour of Austria, Mr. Chipping comes to meet an English woman named Katherine (Greer Garson), who sees through his shy exterior to find a warm, charming and lonely man. Following their impromptu marriage, Katherine returns with Mr. Chipping (now affectionately nicknamed "Chips") to Brookfield, where she encourages him to be more affable and open with his students, so that they see him as a friend and mentor, rather than an oppressor. Chips soon becomes the school's most cherished asset, and his dedication to his students serves the school valiantly through decades of hardship, including WWI.
It's hard to quite pinpoint what works so effectively about Donat's doddering old man, Mr. Chips. With his cartoonish moustache and a ready supply of cringeworthy Latin puns, the character could easily have turned out merely comical. But there's an extraordinary warmth behind the portrayal, and a genuine affection towards the generations of students that pass him by so quickly. Being rather shy in social situations myself, I really connected with the middle-aged Mr. Chips, who dejectedly accepts his future as a lonely school master, only to be brought out of his shell by the new sights and smells of Austria. After he ostensibly "rescues" Katherine on the foggy cliff-side, the pair ponder the apparent power at their fingertips, as though they own the mountain on which they sit. This sentiment reflects upon the influence afforded Mr. Chips in his position as school master, and later headmaster: it is his responsibility to mould a strong and successful nation of dedicated Englishmen, especially in the most difficult times. That WWII was then just around the corner makes this notion all the more poignant.