Review of Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Another film adaptation of a James Hilton novel, Goodbye Mr. Chips tells the story of a shy and awkward young man (Robert Donat) who arrives at a British school for boys to teach Latin in 1870, and remains there for six decades. As you might imagine, the film is highly sentimental has he gradually becomes an institution at the place, sees boys come and go, and we share in the ups and downs of his life. At times it fast forwards through the years on its way to showing us the longer view of a human life, but it has less about the role of teacher than I would have liked. Similarly, not enough is made of his wife (Greer Garson) and what happens there; instead we too often see boys streaming past giving their names for roll call, or Chips commenting about how the son is just like the father or grandfather. There is a gentle sweetness to the film despite moments of real darkness, which must have made it inspirational to a world on the brink of another war, though it does border on saccharine sweetness. The scene where the elderly Chips canes a 17 year old is done with dignity and kindness, but that's just it, it's too dignified, there are no tears, and it has an unrealistic positive outcome - the young man is immediately corrected. It's a solid film, and one that will tug on your heartstrings, but for me fell a little short of being great.

Favorite lines: "I know the world's changing, Dr. Ralston. I've seen the old traditions dying one by one. Grace, dignity, feeling for the past. All that matters today is a fat banking account. You're trying to run the school like a factory for turning out moneymaking snobs! You've raised the fees, and the boys who really belong have been frozen out. Modern methods, intensive training, poppycock!"

And this one, which is how I often see people from the past, frozen in time in my memory: "In my mind, you remain boys just as you are this evening."