Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Dir: Sam Wood

1939

*****

Remembered as one of the world best loved British films, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is as charming as everybody says it is. Directed by Sam Wood in 1939, it is based on the novel by James Hilton that was published just five years before. The titular character was was modeled on W.H. Balgarnie, James Hilton's old classics master who taught for over fifty years at The Leys public school in Cambridge. It is dated and very old-fashioned but heartwarming, funny and sweet all the same. It is also very touching and will bring a tear to even the most curmudgeonous of eyes. The story begins in 1933, and for the first time in 58 years, retired schoolteacher Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat) misses a first-day assembly at Brookfield Public School on doctors orders because of a cold. That afternoon he falls asleep in his chair by the fire and his teaching career is related in flashback. When 25-year-old Charles Edward Chipping first arrives as a Latin teacher in 1870, he becomes a target of practical jokes on his first day. He reacts by imposing strict discipline in his classroom, making him disliked but respected. Twenty years pass and he becomes the senior master. He is disappointed in not receiving an appointment as a housemaster within the school for the following year. However, the new German teacher, Max Staefel (Paul Henreid), saves him from despair by inviting him to share a walking holiday to his native Austria. While mountain-climbing, Chipping encounters Kathy Ellis (Greer Garson), a feisty English suffragette who is on a cycling holiday with a friend. The two are left stranded in bad weather on the side of a mountain and bond very quickly over conversation and sandwiches. A party is held for Chips because the locals assume he saved Kathy but he declines, deciding to go to bed early while the rest of the group celebrate. That night he contemplates his crippling shyness. He regrets not saying goodbye to Kathy but thankfully they meet again in Vienna where she persuades him to dance to the Blue Danube Waltz. This piece of music is used as a leitmotif, symbolizing Chipping's love for her. Staefel remarks that the Danube does not appear blue, but Chipping remarks it only appears so to those who are in love. On another part of the same boat, as Kathy looks at the river, she tells her friend that it is blue. Even though Kathy is considerably younger and livelier than Chipping, she loves and marries him. They return to England, where Kathy takes up residence at the school, charming everyone with her warmth and giving Chips a new look on life and a change in his character. During their tragically short marriage she brings Chips out of his shell and shows him how to be a better teacher and he acquires a flair for Latin puns. After a short time Kathy dies in childbirth, along with their baby. If you don’t cry at this point then there is something very wrong with you. As the years pass, Chips becomes a much-loved school institution, developing a rapport with generations of pupils; he teaches the sons and grandsons of many of his earlier pupils. In 1909, when he is pressured to retire by a more "modern" headmaster, the boys and the board of governors of the school take his side of the argument and tell him he can stay until he is 100, and is free to pronounce Cicero as SIS-er-ro, and not as KEE-kir-ro. Chips finally retires in 1914 at the age of 69, but is summoned back to serve as interim headmaster because of the shortage of teachers resulting from the First World War. He remembers Kathy had predicted he would become headmaster one day. During a bombing attack by a German zeppelin, Chips insists that the boys keep on translating their Latin - choosing the story of Julius Caesar's battles against Germanic tribes, which describes the latter's belligerent nature, much to the amusement of his pupils. As the Great War drags on, Chips reads aloud into the school's Roll of Honour every Sunday the names of the many former boys and teachers who have died in the war. Upon discovering that Max Staefel has died fighting on the German side, Chips reads out his name in chapel, too. He retires permanently in 1918, but continues living nearby. He is on his deathbed in 1933 when he overhears his colleagues talking about him. He responds, "I thought you said it was a pity, a pity I never had any children. But you're wrong. I have! Thousands of 'em, thousands of 'em ... and all ... boys." Again, if you don’t cry at this point you are dead inside. To be fair, there are aspects of the film that don’t fit awfully well. Having the same child play three generations of people is sort of clever but a little confusing with the timeline. Chips goes from 25, 27 with a moustache, to generic old man after a short amount of time and only the arrival of the  First World War really gave me an idea of what the year was. Terry Kilburn was good as the three generations of Colley but I can’t be the only one who thought the last scene, the infamous ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’ scene, wasn’t just a little bit creepy? However, I loved the mountain scene and the wonderful script. Robert Donat was such a wonderful character actor but Mr Chips was his all-time best. At only 34 years-old, Donat ages 63 years (1870–1933) over the course of the film. He remarked: "As soon as I put the moustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great airedale come out of a puddle." The scene where he listens to the roll call of all the pupils he has taught that have died in battle is heartbreaking, especially as many would actually die fighting a few years later in the Second World War. A wonderful story, a great character, brilliantly written and beautifully performed. An absolute joy.