Director: Sam Wood
Top Billed Actors: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actor - Robert Donat
Nominated for 6 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director - Sam Wood
Best Actress - Greer Garson
Best Screenplay - Eric Maschwitz, R. C. Sherriff and Claudine West
Best Sound Recording - A. W. Watkins
Best Film Editing - Charles Frend
Plot: An elderly schoolteacher puts on a mustache and fondly looks back at his personal and professional life, noting his affection for his thousands of kids... all boys.
Top Billed Actors: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Actor - Robert Donat
Nominated for 6 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Director - Sam Wood
Best Actress - Greer Garson
Best Screenplay - Eric Maschwitz, R. C. Sherriff and Claudine West
Best Sound Recording - A. W. Watkins
Best Film Editing - Charles Frend
Plot: An elderly schoolteacher puts on a mustache and fondly looks back at his personal and professional life, noting his affection for his thousands of kids... all boys.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) has the distinction of winning the only Award that was keeping Gone with the Wind (1939) from sweeping the "Big Five" categories. That award went to Robert Donat in his second consecutive Best Actor nomination. Although I didn't care for his performance in his previously nominated effort in The Citadel (1938), he makes this character iconic in this film. He acts alongside newcomer Greer Garson in her Hollywood debut. Although she only has about twenty-five minutes of screentime, she got a Best Actress nod, one of the shortest performances in that category. She would go on to be nominated six more times so this definitely won't be the last time we see her.
Like the previous entry in the Project, this is a vehicle for its lead actor. Robert Donat is to Mr. Chips as Bette Davis is to Dark Victory (1939). Donat, who was in his mid-30s at the time, plays a character in which we see age from his 20s into his 80s. When Mr. Chips gets old enough, Donat plops on a mustache and he grows into the middle-aged and elderly roles that are the most prominent versions of the school master. As I stated, I didn't take to his easily-agitated turn in The Citadel but he exudes reverence and poignancy throughout this picture. He plays shy and is a gentleman in his younger years and although he comes into his own at the school, he never loses these qualities. He's positively delightful in his romantic scenes with Garson and I could watch him address his class for hours. By the end of the picture, it feels like Mr. Chips was my teacher growing up and that makes the tragedies of the last half of the movie hit even harder.Speaking of Garson, she is also a delight. I would have classified this as a supporting performance but it doesn't make her role any less important. There is a huge time jump between Chips' early career and when he meets his future wife, and that is because she's the most important thing that's ever happened to his life. She teaches him to become friends with his students - Chips would be nothing without his Katherine. Even when she is gone, her presence is felt (or maybe that's just the residue of my tears).
I can always admire a film that feels like an epic due to the passage of time that can clock in under two hours. The way the time period is conveyed as the story progresses is silly at times. Things like dismissing H.G. Wells after his first novel is published, kids casually talking about major world events, and Mr. Chips gasping at Katherine riding a bicycle. World War I is deftly handled from the point of view of an aged Mr. Chips as headmaster and I adored his inclusion of his old Austrian buddy as he read aloud casualties in the War, even though he fought for the opposition. That's so Chips. I will say the last twenty minutes or so is heavy on the melodrama but if you're with it until that point, you are invested enough into the school and the retired teacher. In fact, the story is so strong that I don't have much room to discuss the technical competencies like the engaging cinematography and the nostalgic use of music like The Blue Danube waltz and the school song. By the way, I though of Hogwarts a lot when watching the traditions and overall structure of this boys school. I can see how the Harry Potter universe takes from real world schools like this. We'll have to do with cricket and rugby instead of Quidditch though.
Overall, Robert Donat provides a warm performances at all ages of his character's lifespan. Newcomer Greer Garson is an actress to keep an eye on and it's compelling to see late 19th and early 20th century history happen from the perspective of a boys school.
My Score: 8/10
Guest Reviewer: Andrew Dunfee
With the 1939 Awards, I brought in a guest reviewer to give a second opinion on the highlights of one of the greatest years in cinema history. He watched and reviewed six of these Best Picture nominees and is also making his choice for what should have won Best Picture at the 12th Academy Awards.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips provides an opportunity for a wide-ranging performance and serves as a referendum on the importance of education and, in particular, great educators. Other than that, there’s not too much to take from this enjoyable, yet slight 1939 Best Picture nominee.
Robert Donat as the titular Mr. Chips is funny, charming, and empathetic. From his entry as an inexperience 20-something to his final scenes as the respected, octogenarian head master there’s never a moment when you don’t believe this is a truly good man seeking to make a difference. To be believable when covering such a wide range of ages is no small feat. Credit should also go to the makeup department for how unrecognizable but believable Mr. Donat is in the latter part of the film.
Although this is not a biopic, it encounters the same problem many such films do when trying to cover such a wide range of an individual’s life in a short span of time. Goodbye, Mr. Chips does this by showing his life through a series of episodes and, in doing so, relies on the audience to fill in a lot of the blanks not shown on screen. While this can be an effective technique, and has been in modern day films such as Boyhood, Mr. Chips does not show us many of what would be the more interesting and important points of this man’s life. We see his early struggles in his first few days as a teacher, but then immediately jump 20 years to when he’s an experienced educator. Showing how an educator credibility connects and gains respect from his students is a difficult thing to convey convincingly, and Mr. Chips skips this entirely.
This time jump is also brought into play when dealing with the eventual Mrs. Chips. Greer Garson breathes some life into the proceedings in her short time on screen. However, once she is out of the picture, we do not see how Mr. Chips copes with his loss and depression. And, although Greer is great in her short time, she is less of an actual character than a vessel to bring change into her man’s life.
The scope of the story and time span covered does provides some positives. Seeing Mr. Chips longing for the headmaster position for decades makes it all the more emotional when the role is eventually brought upon him. It’s also fun to see the generations of students from the same families make their way through his classroom.
Although he would not have been my picked for Best Actor above the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Donat’s win is still well deserved and I appreciate the advocacy for the teaching profession, even if those aspects alone would not have been enough to warrant a Best Picture nomination in my opinion.
Like the previous entry in the Project, this is a vehicle for its lead actor. Robert Donat is to Mr. Chips as Bette Davis is to Dark Victory (1939). Donat, who was in his mid-30s at the time, plays a character in which we see age from his 20s into his 80s. When Mr. Chips gets old enough, Donat plops on a mustache and he grows into the middle-aged and elderly roles that are the most prominent versions of the school master. As I stated, I didn't take to his easily-agitated turn in The Citadel but he exudes reverence and poignancy throughout this picture. He plays shy and is a gentleman in his younger years and although he comes into his own at the school, he never loses these qualities. He's positively delightful in his romantic scenes with Garson and I could watch him address his class for hours. By the end of the picture, it feels like Mr. Chips was my teacher growing up and that makes the tragedies of the last half of the movie hit even harder.Speaking of Garson, she is also a delight. I would have classified this as a supporting performance but it doesn't make her role any less important. There is a huge time jump between Chips' early career and when he meets his future wife, and that is because she's the most important thing that's ever happened to his life. She teaches him to become friends with his students - Chips would be nothing without his Katherine. Even when she is gone, her presence is felt (or maybe that's just the residue of my tears).
I can always admire a film that feels like an epic due to the passage of time that can clock in under two hours. The way the time period is conveyed as the story progresses is silly at times. Things like dismissing H.G. Wells after his first novel is published, kids casually talking about major world events, and Mr. Chips gasping at Katherine riding a bicycle. World War I is deftly handled from the point of view of an aged Mr. Chips as headmaster and I adored his inclusion of his old Austrian buddy as he read aloud casualties in the War, even though he fought for the opposition. That's so Chips. I will say the last twenty minutes or so is heavy on the melodrama but if you're with it until that point, you are invested enough into the school and the retired teacher. In fact, the story is so strong that I don't have much room to discuss the technical competencies like the engaging cinematography and the nostalgic use of music like The Blue Danube waltz and the school song. By the way, I though of Hogwarts a lot when watching the traditions and overall structure of this boys school. I can see how the Harry Potter universe takes from real world schools like this. We'll have to do with cricket and rugby instead of Quidditch though.
Overall, Robert Donat provides a warm performances at all ages of his character's lifespan. Newcomer Greer Garson is an actress to keep an eye on and it's compelling to see late 19th and early 20th century history happen from the perspective of a boys school.
My Score: 8/10
Guest Reviewer: Andrew Dunfee
With the 1939 Awards, I brought in a guest reviewer to give a second opinion on the highlights of one of the greatest years in cinema history. He watched and reviewed six of these Best Picture nominees and is also making his choice for what should have won Best Picture at the 12th Academy Awards.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips provides an opportunity for a wide-ranging performance and serves as a referendum on the importance of education and, in particular, great educators. Other than that, there’s not too much to take from this enjoyable, yet slight 1939 Best Picture nominee.
Robert Donat as the titular Mr. Chips is funny, charming, and empathetic. From his entry as an inexperience 20-something to his final scenes as the respected, octogenarian head master there’s never a moment when you don’t believe this is a truly good man seeking to make a difference. To be believable when covering such a wide range of ages is no small feat. Credit should also go to the makeup department for how unrecognizable but believable Mr. Donat is in the latter part of the film.
Although this is not a biopic, it encounters the same problem many such films do when trying to cover such a wide range of an individual’s life in a short span of time. Goodbye, Mr. Chips does this by showing his life through a series of episodes and, in doing so, relies on the audience to fill in a lot of the blanks not shown on screen. While this can be an effective technique, and has been in modern day films such as Boyhood, Mr. Chips does not show us many of what would be the more interesting and important points of this man’s life. We see his early struggles in his first few days as a teacher, but then immediately jump 20 years to when he’s an experienced educator. Showing how an educator credibility connects and gains respect from his students is a difficult thing to convey convincingly, and Mr. Chips skips this entirely.
This time jump is also brought into play when dealing with the eventual Mrs. Chips. Greer Garson breathes some life into the proceedings in her short time on screen. However, once she is out of the picture, we do not see how Mr. Chips copes with his loss and depression. And, although Greer is great in her short time, she is less of an actual character than a vessel to bring change into her man’s life.
The scope of the story and time span covered does provides some positives. Seeing Mr. Chips longing for the headmaster position for decades makes it all the more emotional when the role is eventually brought upon him. It’s also fun to see the generations of students from the same families make their way through his classroom.
Although he would not have been my picked for Best Actor above the likes of Jimmy Stewart, Donat’s win is still well deserved and I appreciate the advocacy for the teaching profession, even if those aspects alone would not have been enough to warrant a Best Picture nomination in my opinion.