Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Greer Garson Co-Stars in British Classic About Beloved Teacher
Mar 1, 2009
Films including Freedom Writers, Dangerous Minds, Mr. Holland's Opus, To Sir, with Love and The Blackboard Jungle all owe a huge debt to this film, based on the 1934 James Hilton novel that fictionalized the story of his own father.
(Several of Hilton's novels have made it to the screen, most notably Lost Horizon. In addition, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was remade in 1969 as a musical vehicle for Peter O'Toole.)
Sam Wood Directed Chips
These redemptive teacher-student sagas follow the thread established by the Hilton story: that of a teacher who uses equal measures of kindness, empathy and discipline to win over mischievous, disinterested, skeptical or downright hostile students; in the process, he becomes an heroic figure.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips has an excellent cinematic pedigree. The director was MGM A-lister Sam Wood and among the three credited screenwriters was the distinguished Briton R.C. Sherriff, whose long collaboration with director James Whale on many 1930s classics included Journey's End and The Invisible Man.
Robert Donat as Rookie Teacher
At the center of Chips is Robert Donat, who won a Best Actor Oscar as Charles Chipping, newly-arrived rookie teacher at the venerable Brookfield School. While the episodic story begins with Chipping in his dotage, we soon flashback to Chipping's first day there in 1870. When his students test the newcomer by running amok in the classroom, Chipping is reprimanded by the headmaster -- and instantly decides he'll be a stern taskmaster never again challenged by rambunctious kids.
But Chipping quickly alienates his young charges, and for years leads a stoic, solitary life, liked by neither students nor faculty.
Donat and Greer Garson in "Cute Meet" Atop Mountain
His only friend, colleague Max Staefel (Paul Henreid, billed here as Paul von Henreid and three years away from movie immortality as Victor Laszlo in Casablanca), convinces Chipping to join him on a walking vacation in the Austrian Alps. While mountain climbing solo -- in a tie, natty sportcoat and jaunty cap, no less! -- Chipping encounters English tourist Kathy Ellis (Greer Garson, in her first major role) in probably the movies' only cute-meet atop a dangerous, fog-shrouded crag.
They officially fall in love just moments after she nicknames him "Chips" and boldly makes the first move by kissing him on a train platform. Soon, they marry and Kathy proceeds to coax back Chips' kindly nature, something he has suppressed since that first disastrous day at Brookfield. Kathy is the stereotypical "good woman behind the man," and earned Garson a best actress Oscar nomination. She lost that year, but took home the Academy Award three years later, as Mrs. Miniver.
In a bit of early stunt casting, British-born Terry Kilburn plays four generations of Colley family boys who learn to love the shy, bumbling but good-hearted Chips.
Donat's Aging Makeup Effective
Robert Donat ages more than a half-century in the film, and looks genuinely crinkly and ancient at the appropriate times. In fact, the subtlety of his aging along the film's timeline is a tribute to a production team that cared about making it real.
(Most studios and stars back then were loathe to employ realistic "aging" makeup, fearing they'd fool the audience too well. One need only see the telltale white powder on Jimmy Cagney's temples in Yankee Doodle Dandy -- the only concession to his character's "aging" -- to appreciate the sense of reality sought and achieved for Donat's Charles Chipping.)
Beyond Donat's Oscar victory and Greer's nomination, the film captured five other Academy nominations -- for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing and Sound. This being 1939 -- often regarded as the zenith year of American filmmaking -- Donat's victory over Clark Gable (Gone With the Wind), James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington), Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights) and Mickey Rooney (Babes in Arms) is pretty impressive.
Shot by MGM at its British studios, Goodbye, Mr. Chips nearly defines the old-fashioned, sentimental family picture the studio practically invented. However, the sluggish pace and sugary story may not appeal to today's caffeinated, cynical modern audiences, despite a performance by Donat that remains, at times, quite moving.
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