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Rating:  - 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!!!
Rating: - 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.
Rating:  - 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.
Rating:  - 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.
Rating: - 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.
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