So much average

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Based upon James Hilton's excellent novella of the same name, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is a now-overlooked masterpiece of both comic and dramatic filmmaking. Telling the tale of a life well lived, this is a heartfelt character study produced with the utmost excellence. Directed by underrated classic filmmaker Sam wood (the director of "A Night at the Opera", another one of my *FAVORITE*, and I do not use that term lightly, films of all time) the tender classic is adapted well to the screen. Both works are equal in quality, as Hilton's wonderful and witty writings come to life with even more depth than they originally contained. The cast all delivers marvelous performances, and even the numerous child actors are realistic and delightful to watch (something too rarely seen in the movies, especially back in 1939!). Of course, the main attraction (in terms of acting, anyway) is the leading performance by classical Hollywood celebrity Robert Donat. Donat embodies the unforgettable character of Mr. Chips with all of the humor and melancholy desperately required for the role. sometimes he comes across as a bumbling, goofy old man, and at other times he comes across as a sweet and sensitive lover. This film traces the highlights of his career as a schoolteacher and it does so in a way that made tears flow from my eyes like a steady stream (of embarrassment) and laughter fly from my throat like a speeding train (similes are hard to think of sometimes, okay?). Anyway, the point is: go see this movie, it is at once hilarious, heartwarming, sad, and, in the end, truly hopeful and surprisingly inspiring. The acting is great on all fronts (I did not even mention the lovely Greer Garson, whose performance makes her character as charming and likable as she is beautiful) and the story is adapted in such a way that the original story is not at all ruined and is, instead, made even better! After forcing any possible reader to struggle through my parenthesis addiction (see, I just did it again!), I can only ask that you all forgive me and run out to read the classic novella and immediately view this beautiful and comic film adaptation. Those who bare sensitive souls and healthy hearts will surely lack any disappointment and leave the film with tears in their eyes and a smile on their face!

In 1969 I went on a field trip with my seventh grade class to see the motion picture Goodbye Mr. Chips staring Peter O'Toole as the Schoolmaster Chipping. I found that version quite dry. The O'Toole character played more of an arrogant professor than an aloof, vulnerable one his predecessor plays in the original. Plus there was no chemistry between O'Toole and his co-Star wife Petula Clark who also makes the story more caustic by breaking out into song and dance. Not that the performances were bad, It didn't fit the story. I ended up at the snack bar for the duration. One of my many bouts with insomnia lead me to catch the original movie of Goodbye Mr. Chips on a late Tuesday early Wednesday morn on TCM. This movie is about the life and career of fictitious Latin Schoolmaster Charles Edward Chipping played by Robert Donat. Our story begins in the year 1870 at a prestigious English boarding school with a rich tradition dating back to the fifteenth century. Enter a young, green, entry level Chipping who is faced with an unruly bunch of students in his first day of class. Chipping comes down on his boys which makes Chipping unpopular as he is disliked by the students but over time becomes a polished professor with the hopes of attaining the position of Housemaster.Chipping is crestfallen as he learned that he was passed over for the position. Just before Holiday break, friend and colleague German Master Max Staeffel (Paul Henreid)invites him to his native Austria and some mountain air to forget about his disappointment. Chipping reluctantly agrees as the two set off to the alps. Chipping gets more than he bargained for on this holiday in the hills. Chipping on a mountainside meets enthusiastic, vibrant Kathy Ellis (Greer Garson) who is also on a biking holiday. Romance permeates inside the foggy Alps as the two bond. Then separate and meet again in Vienna where they dance and stroll along the Blue Danube. I particularly enjoyed the train scene when they part. Kathy agrees to Marry the elder Chipping and Becomes the Schoolmaster's Wife at the boarding school. Kathy gains popularity with the students known now as Mrs. Chips fits right in with the curriculum as she plays surrogate Mum to the boys there. A blessed event turns to tragedy as Kathy dies in child birth. Chipping of course is devastated but continues onward in someday becoming the school's Housemaster as Kathy predicted he would be some day. New students join the old and another term unfolds as we hope that Mr. Chips gets his appointment. So heartwarming was the role of Robert Donat as you see his human side shine through every scene. You can't help but ring his door bell and join him for some tea and cake. Director Sam Wood captures the warmth and depth of the players in this film about a teachers devotion to his students as Chips Preaches to paraphrase, We are not here to create snobbish money making machines of our students. Director Sam Wood always knew a good leading man when he saw one. Great closing line by Donat but you'll have to matriculate into the film.

In a documentary on the MGM film studio narrated by Patrick Stewart we learnt that when MGM opened up a studio in England one of the first movies to be released from its British studio was "Goodbye Mr. Chips". It was a hugely successful film on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean confirming studio head Louis B. Mayer's faith in his new British MGM studio. The narrator also said that Robert Donat, playing a retired schoolmaster looking back on his life, gave one of the most moving performances ever put on film. Anyone seeing this movie for the first time would have to agree because he gives probably the best acting performance of a young man playing a very old man you will ever see. He teaches at Brookfields an exclusive public school for boys. As a young man he takes a holiday in Austria where he meets the love of his life Cathy played by Greer Garson. After a whirlwind romance they marry & his new wife accompanies him when he returns home to Brookfields. Before his marriage he was a rather shy & stuffy schoolmaster unpopular with the schoolboys. His wife Cathy is very charming & has the common touch which rubs off on her husband. Very soon Mr. Chips, with his wife's help, becomes a favourite with the schoolboys. Sadly, she dies during childbirth & so does the baby. After retirement he is given a house close to the school. At the outbreak of WW1 there is a shortage of schoolmasters & he is recalled to duty as temporary headmaster for the duration of the war. He reminisces that his late wife believed in him & once told him he would one day become headmaster. Later when the war is over & on his deathbed he overhears the new headmaster speaking to a colleague. He tells him, "I thought I heard you say that it was a pity I had no children. But you're wrong, I have. Thousands of them, thousands of them & all of them boys". It is one of the most moving & sentimental scenes in movie history.

If you watch this expecting a kind of topical biography of a teacher at an English school for boys, a gentle and unspectacular story, with romance, a growing acceptance of one's fate, and a lot of sentiment, you'll get what you expect.They run these sort of movies out from time to time. "It's a Wonderful Life," "Mr. Holland's Opus," "The Long Grey Line." The narratives tend to span generations. I found this one rather interesting and it's not surprising that it received so much public acclaim that Michael Redgrave was able to do a loony impression of Robert Donat's Mr. Chips in "The Lady Vanishes." You can't help liking it.Donat begins his teaching career as a nervous wreck, uncertain and stiff. But then he runs into Greer Garson in an improbable setting. Their marriage brings him a bit of ego strength. Of course, Garson (and the baby she's been carrying) have to die in order to boost the ratio of sentiment to everything else.Donat has one funny moment -- aside from his awkwardness. The Headmaster wants him to switch from the received pronunciation of Latin, in which "c" is pronounced "see", to the new modified and older version in which "c" is pronounce like "k". By this time, the middle-aged Mr. Chips has become defiantly laggard, declares hotly that he will never bring himself to pronounce Cicero as Kikero, and storms out the door.Yet, it's far from a comic story. If you like love, romance, tragedy, small triumphs, you'll love it.