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Product Description

One more terrific film from a terrific year for movies--1939, the year of Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Stagecoach, among others--Sam Wood's Goodbye Mr. Chips is a deeply stirring work starring Robert Donat as the old schoolmaster who looks back upon his life. Told mostly in flashbacks, the film wraps itself around a history of an older England as seen through the generations of boys who pass through Mr. Chips's classroom. Greer Garson is her usual classy, sexy-intelligent self as Donat's wife, their earlier courtship one of the film's highlights. Get out the Kleenex for this one. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

• Schmaltzy, but who minds?
  This is a wonderfully sentimental depiction of public school life in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and beyond. Chipping, like so many other schoolmasters of the time, lives a cloistered life on which the outer world only occasionally impinges -- mostly during wartime.

  In the film, he ventures out on only one other memorable occasion -- a holiday with the school German teacher to the Tyrol where he meets the handsome Greer Garson (in her first movie appearance), who somewhat improbably falls for him. This sets off a chain of sentimental events: marriage, introductions to the common room, tea with the boys, her death through childbirth, and a never-ending cycle of Colleys (played by the same actor, but with a slightly different haircut for each generation). The school hymn is also designed to pluck the heart stings.

  The movie was actually filmed at Repton. I went to a similarly confined, all-boys, English public school, set in a country town miles from anywhere else, though somewhat more recently than the Chips era. Many of the masters never married because it was so difficult for them to meet any women. We still had corporal punishment -- which Chips continues to inflict even when brought out of retirement to become head during World War One. This film does not reflect the grubby reality of public school life -- the author must have had his rose-tinted spectacles on when he wrote this -- but it's hard not to be moved by it.

  I have special memories of first seeing this at the age of 12 in our headmaster's study, together with all the other senior boys at the prep school. Today, its meaning for me is more about staying in the same place for a long time, while all about you moves on. (I've recently completed 25 years with the same employer!) I also enjoyed trying to work out how many of the Tyrol scenes were shot in the studio. (At one stage, Chips and his friend even walk against a film background.)

  The DVD has no special extras, but the picture and sound quality is reasonable. I haven't tried the film on my teenage children, but I think this is one of the few black and white movies that they would be absorbed by. (Don't be misled by the colour photo on the DVD box cover into believing the movie is in colour!)...more info

• A beautiful story about REAL people
  The most wonderful thing about this movie is the quiet and relaxed way the story is told. There are no heroics (wee, maybe the climb up the mountain in the mist or the Latin reading near the end). All of the characters are in harmony with each other ie the acting is brilliantly understated. Mr Donat & Ms Garson are perfectly cast for the roles. The make up as you see Mr Chipping age from his first day as teacher to a venerable old man is excellent.

  This is one of my favorite movies. It should NOT be remade and colorising is a travesty for this film! If you don't shed a tear in this, then you're made of stone!...more info

• A meaningful life unfolds over time
  The origin of all the inspirational teacher movies, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a heartwarming film that unfolds the story of a man who is transformed by love, and goes on to influence the lives of his pupils and colleagues. Nostalgic, even when it was released in 1939, this is a tender and affectionate study of a society, an education system, and a man who belatedly outgrows his constraints and develops a true vocation from his professional commitments. It is Chips' transformation that makes this film a classic example of a man who belatedly discovers how to use strengths that ultimately give meaning and value to his life.

  The film opens amidst the hustle and bustle of a new academic year at Brookfield with new and returning pupils hurrying to attend the first-day assembly. Chips arrives late for the event and is locked out with a young pupil with whom he shares his knowledge of the stone tablets that serve as memorials to past students and staff.

  Mr. Chips: So, you're a stinker, eh?
  Student: A stinker, Sir?
  Mr. Chips: A new boy. That's what we call them here. Stinkers... (he indicates a stone tablet that commemorates the hero of the Armada: "Sir Francis Drake 1552")
  Student: Drake! Was he here, Sir?
  Mr. Chips: Yes.
  Student: Was he a stinker too, Sir?
  Mr. Chips: To be sure he was. But he grew out of it. And so will you.
  This exchange sets-up the question of how `stinkers' are helped to mature into the fine young men and heroes whom we see later in the film. We see the answer in a series of flashbacks that extend over sixty years of Chipping's life.

  The young Mr. Chipping arrives at Brookfield, filled with enthusiasm and ambition. Some early misjudgements make him vulnerable to criticism by the Headmaster who reprimands him for his poor control of the boys.

  Our profession is not an easy one, Mr. Chipping. It calls for something more than a University degree. Our business is to mould men. It demands character and courage. Above all, it demands the ability to exercise authority. Without that, I think any young man should ask himself seriously if he has not perhaps mistaken his vocation. When a man is young, Mr. Chipping, there are many other walks of life open to him.

  In a disastrous attempt to assert his authority, the teacher forbids his pupils to attend a cricket match, which the school then loses because of the absence of a key player. Despite Chipping's apology, the reaction of the pupils and his colleagues leads him to develop a protective shield of authoritarianism and inflexibility. Chipping's enthusiasm ebbs away over the years: he is so intimidated by life that he retreats into a sterile existence that smothers rather than protects him. Passing him over for promotion, the Headmaster praises Chipping for his ability to exact high academic performance from the boys but explains that he is thought to lack the empathy and vision that is needed in a Housemaster.

  ... We felt that with your unusual gifts of getting work out of the boys that you'd rather concentrate on teaching and leave the rather tiresome job of Housemaster to someone with special gifts in that direction...I doubt if Mr. Wilkinson will ever turn out as many minor Latin poets as you have.

  Although surrounded by the rich, social network of the school, and a senior member within it, Chipping is exposed as an isolated figure whose relationships are restricted to the functional, and are grounded only in perfunctory respect and status. Humiliated, Chipping withdraws into his room, where his loneliness and the darkness close in around him. Fortunately, a young colleague persuades him to accompany him on a walking tour to the Tyrol where Chipping meets the fascinating Katherine Ellis who is destined to be his wife and help-meet.

  Chipping's feelings are reciprocated in a charming courtship that changes his view of himself, and alerts him to the possibilities of living his life in a different way.

  Chipping: Do you suppose a person in middle age could start life over again and make a go of it?
  Katherine: I'm sure of it. Quite sure. It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster.
  Chipping: I thought so once.
  Katherine: To watch boys grow up and help them along. To see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don't see how you could ever get old in a world that's always young.
  Chipping: I never really thought of it that way. When you talk about it, you make it sound exciting and heroic.
  Katherine: It is.
  Chipping: (He turns to her) And the schoolmaster? Is he exciting and heroic too?
  Katherine: (teasing him for his earlier actions and diffidence) I've met only one - a reckless person who climbed the Blochner in a mist...

  The couple marry before the start of the school year. And from the start, the pupils and colleagues view Chips (as he is now affectionately named by Kathy) in a new light. She encourages him to use the strengths (such as empathy and a dry sense of humour) that she knows him to have, but that are little seen by others. Inevitably, Chips wins the trust and admiration of the pupils and the change in his status is reflected when he wins the appointment of Housemaster.

  Despite personal and larger-scale tragedy, we see that Chips' life becomes one of meaning and influence: we see his crucial role in the transformation of `stinkers' into admirable men and the foundations of the freedoms enjoyed by others, built on their sacrifices.

  This film epitomises key aspects of a meaningful life: Chips learns to use his previously concealed Signature Strengths (see "Authentic Happiness" by Marty Seligman), is transformed by love and a capacity to be loved and is taught that it is never too late to change....more info

• This is a "curl up, veg and feel good about life" video
  This is the "Mr. Holland's Opus" of the 1930's. No blood, no guts, no glory, but a simple tale of how one person can make a difference in so many people's lives. It's also one of Roddy McDowell's first screen appearances (He is the little boy who sits down to have tea with Chips). The movie is inspirational without being preachy - One person can and does make a difference....more info
• Warm and endearing film
  This was a movie that makes you long for a time long since past. Wonderfully sweet story with an absolutely precious main character and equally endearing supporting cast. Loved the film!! Curl up with some hot tea and be transported to a wonderful, more innocent time....more info
• Chips is a keeper
  This is a wonderful film. Makes my top 100 films to purchase on DVD list. Why on earth it has not made it to DVD yet, dumbfounds me....more info
• Had the wrong expectation, but enjoyed it anyway
  I'd been vaguely aware of this movie and its reputation as a revered classic all my life, but until two nights ago, when I selected it from the "free" movies list on Comcast cable, I'd never seen it. In my naivete I didn't even know that Robert Donat was in the starring role, and, being equally honest, didn't have a very clear idea of exactly who he was anyway.
  
  It's hard to say this, but, very truthfully, I thought that both this story and Robert Donat in particular were a bit out of their depth when compared to the other recognised movie titans of the period. That said, I feel that many similar movies and the actors in them were products of a dominant "zeitgeist" of the 1930's that often included simplistic, stereotypical representations of subject material and formulaeic plot development and acting styles. This moviemaking period was often characterised by sudden introductions, hasty plot developments, and unrealistically quick resolutions. Much relied on the assumption that the audience would be willing to supplant disbelief with a protracted set of assumptions even more readily than willingness to suspend it.
  
  These 1930's-esque "norms" are especially binding on this movie, based as it already is on the strait-laced, ultra-ritualised realm of an English upper-class boys' preparatory school. Because so many of both the setting, and behavioral parameters of the actors are "cast in stone" by the background of the situation in which they occur, there is little ability to develop any interesting spontaneity, and that's most likely what we who are reviewing this movie in the early 21st Century mean when we say that it's quite predictable, and "schmaltsy". It is.
  
  Actually, the only really surprising moments in the movie come when Mr Chipping takes a whirlwind vacation with one of his fellow instructors to the Alps, where he meets his future wife in a series of peculiarly contrived scenes that return quickly to the "settled order" of the movie, and so the spark of the unexpected is quickly extinguished. If this sounds like rubbish, consider the death of the wife in childbirth. If you are in the least perceptive, you know that his wife will die in childbirth within seconds of the appearance of the family doctor. There's less than two minutes of "run-up" to this stunning, heart-breaking event. She's declared in trouble and then dies, all within no more than four minutes. The climax of this tragic turn of events is rushed out so quickly that there isn't even a farewell scene between the man and his beloved wife.
  
  Perhaps you see that my disappointment is not so much with this one movie as it is with an entire method of movie-making. "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is not, repeat, not a bad movie, but in my opinion it certainly is not a great movie, especially when compared with ground-breaking contemporary films of its era like, "Gone With The Wind", "Wizard of Oz", "Gunga Din", "Grapes of Wrath", "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington", "Citizen Kane", etc.
  
  Now that I've conveyed the impression of being an unsentimental snot, I'll tell you that, in spite of myself, I had tears in my eyes during some of the scenes. I loved the atmosphere of the background setting of the old English boys' school and was reminded of "The Priory School" (one of the superb episodes of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", starring the late Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke). Quite a number of the scenes showing developments in the boys' lives were quite moving, especially as they were being dragooned off to their deaths in one war after another....
  
  So, by all means, see the movie and I hope you enjoy it. I hope to see it again myself. I also hope I've helped to clarify some things for you so that you won't have disappointment in your expectations.
  
  ...more info
• A Great Movie
  "Goodbye Mr. Chips" stars Robert Donat as Charles Chipping. The young Mr. Chipping is a new instructor at an elite English public (boarding) school. Through a serious of missteps his debut as a new master is near disastrous. As a result he becomes a cold exacting master just so he can function as an instructor.
  
  While he performs competently in the classroom, he is considered a social cripple. The students are either indifferent or hate him. The other faculty and administration consider him extremely competent professionally but socially maladjusted. Not knowing any other way to function he continues in this manner for years. This culminates in his being passed over for a critical promotion.
  
  This is a crippling blow to a middle-aged man with aspirations for headmaster. However, another faculty member instinctively realizes that this is a good man in need of a friend. He drags the reluctant Mr. Chipping on a bicycle tour of Europe. This trip changes his life forever.
  
  Mr. Chipping meets a woman (played by Greer Garson in her film debut) who becomes the great love of his life. That's what this movie is about, love and how it transforms our lives. Mr. Chipping becomes Mr. Chips beloved by students, faculty and administration. This woman teaches him to love and communicate with other people, especially the students.
  
  This film was made in 1939, considered by some the greatest year in the history of motion pictures. "Gone with the Wind" and `The Wizard of Oz" both came out this year. Against some stiff competition, Mr. Donat won the `Best Actor' Oscar. This isn't too surprising though. Mr. Chips ages from his early twenties until his eighties. While Robert Donat did not act much (poor health) his every performance was extraordinary. He is one of the greatest actors of English-language cinema.
  
  This DVD does not have much in the way of extras. But they aren't needed anyway. You'll find the two hours passes swiftly.
  ...more info
• A classic romance; faithful rendition of the book
  This film is one of the wonderful classics made in that amazing year of movies, 1939. Greer Garson's first film in America, and she is absolutely wonderful! Robert Donat well-deserved beating Clark Gable (Rhett Butler in GWTW) for best-actor Oscar with his performance as Mr. Chippings. The movie, unlike the musical version made in 1969, is very accurate to the book written by James Hilton (an easy delightful read; the author also wrote "Lost Horizon"). A poignant love story involving a man, a woman, and an English boy's school....more info
• Goodbye Mr. Chips, the original
  A nostalgic paean to Old England and a deeply affecting story of honorable service, "Chips" succeeds admirably, mainly due to British actor Donat's touching performance. Donat broke "Gone with the Wind"'s Academy Award sweep in 1939, stealing the Best Actor statuette from under Clark Gable's nose. In addition, beautiful English ing¨¦nue Garson became an overnight star in the small but pivotal role of Chips's enchanting wife. Though sentimental by today's standards, this is a grand and moving classic for the ages....more info
• goodbye mr chips
  Bring back the cane thats what i say great movie that style cannot be repeated in this age of blood and guts thank god for dvds....more info
• Robert Donat is absolutely brilliant
  this movie is a masterpiece. Don't ask me to sum it up, or to put words for it; it just wouldn't do any justice to it: just go for it and see it. Robert Donat is wonderful as usual....more info
• Teachers Do Make a Difference
  Robert Donat gives an excellent, heartfelt performance as a reserved, unsure school master who makes an impact on the lives of his students in small and big ways throughout a career that spans over sixty years. Mr. Chipping may not be the most exciting or charismatic teacher, but he earns the respect and admiration of those around him. Greer Garson gives a warm, appealing performance as the lady who steals Donat's heart, showing him how to enjoy life and to open up. All of their scenes together are terrific, although my favourite scene is of Donat trying to teach during an air raid. Having read the book as well, I can say this film captures the story well and extends it, and this movie is in a different league then the ill-conceived musical version of the sixties. As a teacher, I find a lot of truth in this story, and it's the kind of film that teachers should watch at those times when they need to feel good about what they are doing and re-discover the important role they play in children's lives....more info
• THAT GENIUS ROBERT DONAT
  I have seldom witnessed brilliance in acting... But when I saw Robert Donat`s portrayel of Mr Chips, tears run down my cheeks... It IS soggy and corny at times; but overall - an old-fashioned - WONDERFUL picture - the way uncle Mr Louis B Mayer loved`em hehehe...
  
  It really is a miracle film sent from heaven....more info
• 100% Satisfied. :)
  I received the video in a timely fashion and in excellent condition, great quality too. :)...more info
• Goodbye Mr Chips
  This is one of those classic movies that leaves you feeling great. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an appreciation of history, love stories, and high ideals....more info
• Very Moving Old Movie
  An emotional movie... some really sad parts and some really joyful parts. While as far as purity and innocence, it compares to Disney's Bambi, I'm really glad to have this movie in my personal library. Black and white....more info
• Pacifism, 1939
  I'm surprised that most of the reviews don't mention the pacifist theme of the film. The film is well done and quite watchable on its own terms. But those terms are so tragically wrong -- pacifism in 1939 -- that it's tough to get past the unintended sadness and irony. For a movie that's aged better, see Mrs. Miniver....more info
• RETROSPECTIVE ON THE LIFE OF AN ENGLISH HEADMASTER
  "Good Bye, Mr. Chips" is an excellent movie. It tells the story of an English headmaster who devoted his life to education. The movie also recalls the halcyon days before the First World War and the 19th century European way of life....more info
• Robert Donat's Memorable Portrait Showcases Teaching as The Noblest Profession
  Based on James Hilton's 1934 novella, this 1939 MGM chestnut is such a product of its time that it's easy to dismiss for its pre-WWII morale-boosting sentimentality and stiff-upper-lip British protagonist. However, as directed by the prolific veteran Sam Wood, this heartwarming film endures because the time-spanning story - adapted by R.C. Sherriff, Claudine West and Eric Maschwitz - celebrates the power of the dedicated teacher in small-scale, defining episodes over the course of sixty-three years. Known affectionately as "Chips", Charles Edward Chipping is a master in Latin at Brookfield, a prestigious boys' boarding school. He arrives in his early twenties in 1870 and remains there until 1933, all the while maintaining his gentle but firm-handed character and fundamentally shy demeanor. Through his perseverance and genial humor, he earns the respect of generations of students who pass through the hallowed halls.
  
  The story is told in flashback as the aged Chips looks back on his career. His initial days are a trial by fire with the rambunctious boys, but he soon becomes an established member of the faculty. When he moves implacably into middle age, Chips realizes how lonely he is, and his good friend, German master Max Staefel takes him to Austria to hike the Alps. In a most fanciful segment about forty minutes into the movie, he is traipsing through the treacherous terrain much like Robert Conway did in another classic Hilton adaptation, Frank Capra's Lost Horizon. On a misty mountaintop, Chips meets the headstrong Katherine Ellis, a young English suffragette, and love blooms. She injects the necessary joie de vivre into his mundane existence, and they marry most contently. She dies upon childbirth, and Chips returns with renewed spirit to teaching. He goes on despite efforts to put him out to pasture and leads a most fulfilling life.
  
  Given that the film is essentially a character piece that needs to keep us in rapt attention despite its seemingly modest scope, Robert Donat delivers one of cinema's most memorable portrayals. Indeed, his performance managed to take the Oscar away from the likes of Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind), Laurence Oliver (Wuthering Heights) and James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) in that magic year when the Hollywood studios peaked. In her American film debut and at the beginning of her reign as MGM's class-conscious leading lady, Greer Garson makes an indelible impression as the spirited Katherine, though her character barely lasts a half-hour and leaves with little trace. A few years before his defining work at Warner Brothers in Now, Voyager and Casablanca, Paul Henreid is a feisty, likeable presence as Staefel. MGM production values are pretty standard here with the Alpine sections a bit too artificial even by studio standards. The 2004 DVD offers a decent print but no extras....more info
• Greer Garson
  I first watched this movie because I love Greer Garson. I bought it not only because of her endearing performance, but because I loved Robert Donat's potrayal of Mr. Chips. I love it! ...more info
• I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!
  If you've never seen this movie, see it!! Then buy it!! It's an absolutely wonderful movie for all ages. It centers around a teacher and all the years that he spends with his students. It stars Robert Donat who won an Academy Award for this role. He meets the love of his life played by Greer Garson and his shy life changes for the better. I am a movie buff and I especially enjoy movies from the 1930's to 1940's black and white films. Look out for Terry Kilburn's wonderful performance...he appeared as Tiny Tim the year before in "A Christmas Carol". This is one of my favorite movies...the kind they don't make anymore!!P.S. You'll need your tissues handy; it's a tear-jerker!!!...more info
• One of my very favorite movies!!!
  There's nothing like a black and white film and a love story that touches your heart! This is about true love and respect that was in a marriage, in days long-gone-by and the value of being a role model to young people. ...more info
• Well made DVD
  I was worried that the age of the movie would show on this DVD. That is it would show the deterioration of the age of the movie. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it was done.
  
  The only thing that could have made it better was to colorize it. One teen son enjoyed this with me. The other hates to watch B/W. And for the sake of a wider audience, colorizing would help this film.
  
  I must have grown a lot since I saw this on TV years ago. I didn't cry this time....more info
• Humanity Test
  If this great film doesn't spark some semblance of emotion in you, check your pulse. You MUST be dead, because Robert Donat is completely, thoroughly disarming. What a masterful performance, and at such a young age. And Greer Garson . . . what can I say? A temple to loveliness. What an incredible woman. This film is probably the best argument for watching older b&w classics. But for more excellent Robert check out his 'Count of Monte Cristo.' If you are impressed by Greer Garson, and by the way you're insane to be not, then be sure and check out 'Mrs. Miniver.' ...more info
• In my top five of all time
  This is a heart warming story about goodness and ( as people have already remarked here ), about how one man can make a difference. Donat is excellent, but Garson is enchanting. It may now seem to hark back to some halcyon byegone age, but I don't think so. It has universal themes. To quote Shakespeare, 'it will endure wind and weather'. Touching, poingnant, sad and yet joyful too. Wonderful. Wonderful....more info
• Things go from bad to worse for poor Mr Chips
  Robert Donat turns in a masterly performance as a nineteenth century English schoolmaster. Murphy's law rules the day - anything that can go wrong for Mr Chipping does go wrong. He begins his teaching career as an incredibly shy and nervous young man, and threatens to wind up a lonely bachelor until the beautiful Greer Garson bumps into him atop a Swiss mountain and it is love at first sight for the unlikely pairing. Things turn sour, however, as they seem to at almost every turn in poor Chips' life. However, when all else is said and done, Chips can look with a sense of pride and achievement upon his teaching career, spanning over sixty something years, during which time he has touched myriads of young boy's lives with his cheery character and wisdom.

  So, Chip's deathbed speech really puts everything into perspective - this is a somewhat melancholy film with only short-lived moments of 'feel-good' until the very end when the value and purpose of Chip's life all makes sense and we see that, despite all his misfortune, he had accomplished much in a pre-George Bailey sort of way. This is Capra without the corn....more info