Exclusive“Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1939): A Teacher, a Lifetime, and a Legacy Never Forgotten

Still at tiptoes away The stars that are bright Will fade with the day But when I awake The morning will see Arise and rejoice For it's you you are dreaming, dreaming Oh, just a minute. Will you be seated? Me? Yes, ma'am. Since it's the end of the school year, what are your plans for the summer? Oh, I'm just gonna, you know, hang out with my friends and go to the mall and maybe take a trip with my family. That's all very well, but you need to do something to improve your mind as well. Ugh, not summer school. No, I suggest you read at least one good book. A book? Yes, and I have one to recommend to you. It's about an old school. About a school? Yes, but it's most fascinating. It's full of old halls, housemasters, and generations of students from the same families. Wait, that sounds familiar. I think I saw the movie. Yes, it was made into an excellent film. Yeah, I really loved all the old halls, and the schoolmasters, and the different houses, and the books, and the broomsticks. Wait a minute. Broomsticks? Yeah, so they can fly. Are you referring to that wizard world nonsense? Yeah, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, of course. Well, all the spells and tricks might be amusing, but the book to which I'm referring talks about a school where they teach real magic. What kind of magic? It's the magic of a teacher who inspires his students. I suggest you start by watching the film, and I guarantee by the time you get to the end, you'll be reluctant to say goodbye, Mr. Chips. I'm Rebecca Brannan. I'm Tiffany Brannan. Welcome to Real Thoughts on Cinema. At this point, if you haven't at least heard of the Harry Potter series, I think you've probably been living under a rock. If you're only vaguely familiar with the story, you'll know about the magic and the more fantastic elements of the story, but the author herself stated that it's really just a new take on a classic British boarding school story. Interestingly, the success and popularity of these stories caused a great increase in enrollment at British boarding schools, and I think the stories also familiarized American audiences with this time-honored British boarding school system with which they otherwise would probably be unfamiliar. Because of this familiarity, we think Harry Potter fans might enjoy a classic film about a British boarding school where they teach real subjects. This movie is Goodbye, Mr. Chips from 1939. This movie was made by MGM. It was produced by Sam Wood and Victor Saville, directed by Sam Wood, and stars Robert Donat, Greer Garson, and Terry Kilburn. This movie tells about the whole long teaching career of a beloved Latin teacher at the old Brookfield boarding school in England. This teacher is Mr. Chippings, who is nicknamed Mr. Chips. This film depicts his life from the time he's 20 to the last days of his life at 83 years old. Through his long years, he sees many generations of students come and go, changing times at the school, different housemasters, difficult times like World War I. And we also see the brief time when he knew true love during his short marriage. But through this brief marriage, which is the time when he got his nickname of Mr. Chips, this shy educator learned that the best way to teach these boys was to befriend them by understanding them, but still being a strong leader. The movie is a moving tribute to one devoted educator's life. This movie was based on the very successful book of the same name. That's right, it was a 1934 novella by James Hilton, and he based the character of Mr. Chipping on a real teacher that he had, his classics professor. And I think that is why it has this really personal touch to it. You can feel that some characters just seem more like real people than others, and Mr. Chips really seems like a real person. It almost seems like it's a true-to-life story, and it is technically a fiction, but it's something that could happen. It's a story about not just one teacher, but hundreds, thousands of teachers. Men and women who dedicate their whole lives to educating the next several generations. Just like it's a tribute to the British boarding school system, although Brookfield is not an actual school. That was fictional, but it was based on many great old boarding schools which went back so far in history. Centuries. It's really quite amazing. This movie really is made by Robert Donat, this great British actor who plays the title character. This was technically his second American film. His first American film was The Count of Monte Cristo in 1934, which was the only movie he actually filmed in Hollywood. He was very sickly, he had asthma, and he just didn't enjoy being in America. He found it very hard on him to travel. So this film was filmed in England, although technically it was made by an American production company. And that's why he was able to do it. That was a lot more unusual than it is now, wouldn't you say? Many different actors were considered for this role during its long production time. It was first considered in the mid-30s, quite shortly after the book was published. MGM mogul Irving Thalberg was very passionate about making this movie, and the film is dedicated to his memory, because he died in 1936. I think that's one reason why the production was delayed, and they didn't end up doing it until a couple of years later. But in the earlier stages, they were considering several other American actors. Lionel Barrymore was considered for the role of Mr. Chips in the earlier production stages, as well as several other actors. But Robert Donat is very fitting because the movie starts when he's 20. Robert Donat was in his 30s, but he still looked quite youthful, so it was easier to age him to look like he was in his 80s than if they'd cast someone who was in his 50s or 60s. He would have looked too old at the beginning. It would have been hard to believe that Lionel Barrymore was a 20-year-old teacher. That's always a difficult issue, and this isn't a biopic, but any film where you're showing a long period of someone's life, it's like, how do you cast it? Do you have him be a little too old so you just try to make him look young, or cast someone who's quite young and age him? That's easier? I think it's good that they didn't cast a 20-year-old. They cast someone who was in the prime of life. He still could pass for 20, but then give him a mustache and different wigs. He said he thought he looked like an Airedale with the mustache. But it definitely helps him get into that character, and he truly was an amazing actor who really isn't appreciated by most American film fans, even if you're really into old movies, unless you really study British films, because he made so few American films. This is a very famous and acclaimed film. I think most people who know of him probably only know him from this movie, at least, like you said, in American audiences. And that's interesting because this character is very timid. He's this educator, very much a thinker. And he was known for playing swashbuckling characters like Errol Flynn. And if you've just seen him as Mr. Chips, you're like, really? He was a little reluctant to take the role, and some people advised him not to. They thought it would hurt his image, but it ended up being this huge success for him. But if you've seen him in his other American film, The Count of Monte Cristo, you can see he's sword-fighting and so forth. But he does have this kind of sensitive quality. I can see how they thought he would be right for this part. And it really kind of redefined him. The Count of Monte Cristo also is a film where that character ages several years and transforms. Greer Garson is the other main star of this film, playing Cathy, the young woman whom he meets when he's middle-aged. She's a confirmed bachelor. He's been teaching at Brookfield for 20 years. He has very few friends, either among the professors or the students. And one friend he does have is this German teacher, played by a very young Paul Hinright. His first English-speaking film. And you can tell he has a much stronger accent here than he would a few years later in Casablanca. But this man becomes a friend to him, so he invites him to go on a walking tour with him through his home country of Austria, Switzerland. And along the way, Chipping gets stranded on this mountain in all this fog and he hears somebody calling. So he risks his life to climb up to this higher peak in the fog and he finds this lovely young lady, Cathy. And he's struck by her honesty, her frankness, her brave, adventurous spirit because she's going on this bicycle tour with another young lady. And he's just a little disappointed that she wasn't in distress because he wanted to rescue her. But he's amazed that a lovely young lady like her could be interested in a bookish older man like him. But they immediately have this meeting of the minds. And, of course, he's too timid to really do anything about it at the time. But he hears her on the balcony saying to her friend that she finds him fascinating and she feels sorry for shy people because she sees, as so many other people don't, what a funny, sensitive and just wonderful person he is. But so many people don't get to know him because he's just so shy. They assume he doesn't want to have any friends and he just wants to keep to himself. Not that he fears rejection or just struggles to get along with others. Right. And as a teacher, his very first day at Brookfield his students made a fool of him and he determined they're not going to do that again, especially being so young and inexperienced. So he had to learn to be very strict to try to counteract that. And as a result, he hasn't been able to really connect with his students even though he's been teaching for 20 years at this point. And she really helps him find that common ground to have the woman's touch. She invites the boys over to her house for tea and she says, oh, cough before you come to number 11 because they're having a dorm feast and it's after lights out. So he learns this sensitivity from her that he had, but he didn't know how to exercise it without seeming too weak. He wasn't going to be a strong leadership figure to the boys. She's one of the only prominent female characters in the story because it's a boys' school and there are all these male teachers. But the brief time she's in the film, less than half an hour, is such a beautiful moment in the movie. Their whole romance, it's very different from the whole school part because we see them in the Alps and then they meet again in Vienna and it's so romantic. As well as the story about the Danube because they're looking at it and saying, oh, it's supposed to be blue but it looks brown. The old legend that it looks blue if you're in love. And then they waltz at this ball and it's so nice to see him coming out of himself and then how she gently encourages him to have the confidence to propose and then she just completely transforms his life back at Brookfield and although they're only married a short time because her life is tragically cut short, she continues to live in his heart for the decades that he continues to teach. She gives him that nickname that sticks and makes him this friend of the boys and he continues with the tradition of always having a cake for the boys and at the beginning of the film because it's flashback format we see him at this last commencement when he's 83 years old and his housekeeper is complaining at the expense of all these cakes that he insists on having but that was something she started to have tea and cakes for the boys and then they just realise that how much he cares about them and he always did, it was for their own good but then they see it by the fact that he is a friend to them who invites them in, wants to hear their troubles. There's a notable scene when there's a new headmaster and he's asking Chip to retire because he thinks he's too old fashioned and the boys are so upset about it, one boy says if he gets rid of Chip I'll kill him! Such a difference from before when they barely tolerated him, how this new group of boys and several groups just love him so dearly. There's an interesting character played by brilliant child actor Terry Kilburn there's always a culling at the school in this family, I think we see four generations? and it's always Terry Kilburn and then we see him grown up at one point played by young John Mills we keep seeing this recurring character, it's funny every time Chip encounters him, he's like what's your name? he says cully, he's like oh yes there's always a cully at Brookfield it's funny every time he doesn't recognise him don't you recognise the same face? but they do make him look different it's interesting, it's kind of an interesting gimmick to have it be the same actress it's like oh there's another cully it's almost like a tracker throughout the story yes it's the thread in addition to Chip's who's there the whole time even though the boys are constantly rotating there's always this boy as their mainstay it's sort of an interesting anchor to the film and then sort of the most important one is the grandson of the first one he encounters who is the one who's played by John Mills and then during World War I we see that he has gotten married and he's in the service and then he and his wife have a baby so she's really the other important female character no she's only in one scene but he asks Chip to go and check on them while he's away we see one scene where he's at their house it's really special to see how he has sort of a fatherly bond with this young lady I think she sort of reminds him of his wife and then of course at the end this little baby that's in the highchair in that scene has now come to school and it's little Terry Kilburn now this movie is noteworthy for the way it was honoured at the Academy Awards 1939 is called the golden year of Hollywood because so many famous blockbuster enduring classics were released that year and there were 365 films released that year as well one for every day and some of the most famous movies that year were Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Stagecoach the list goes on and on of these huge hits there were 10 films nominated for Best Picture that year is that a record at the Academy Awards? well, in the early days of the Academy Awards which this was, they would fluctuate between the amount they definitely had more Best Picture nominees then than they do now but it's noteworthy for the fact that every one of them is like this huge famous movie yes, like they all deserved it so how do you choose? and of course Gone with the Wind won and Gone with the Wind sort of swept the Oscars but it didn't win every big award because Robert Donat won Best Actor it was amazing because it was nominated for Goodbye Mr. Chips was nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards Best Picture, Best Director Best Actress for Greer Garson which is one of the shortest screen times for a Best Actress nominee it was 25 minutes and this was her first film less notable ones like Best Screenplay Best Sound Recording Best Film Editing and yeah the only one it won was Best Actor for the man himself, Mr. Chips and he had some stiff competition some people considered sort of a dark horse up against Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes Washington which most people think should have won Clark Gable as Red Butler now, although perhaps Red Butler has more screen time just because it's such a long film Mr. Chips played by Robert Donat is a bigger part of his film than Clark Gable is of his film his story Gone with the Wind is really Scarlet's story so, Vivian Ray fittingly won the Best Actress I think it's very appropriate that this movie received this honour because it was such a great movie and he did such an amazing job transforming it's hard to believe it's the same actor from this timid, clean-shaven, dark-haired young man with the kind of high voice at the beginning to this the way he makes himself talk he really seems old and his body language his facial expressions as well as the hair and makeup department it's amazing I would definitely qualify this as one of those performances you can call a masterclass in acting yes, he does such particularly in aging a character such a good job and this is such a tender tribute and it's a good example of a lot of different history if you really are familiar with British history of the well, it begins in the 1870s it starts in the year 1870 approximately and it goes to 1933 so it covers a lot of time, doesn't quite get into World War II, it ends before that now, some people who know the title might be thinking of the remake, there was a 1969 remake with Peter O'Toole a musical, I haven't seen it but it's a musical, I didn't know that most people say it was not nearly as good I'm sure it wasn't but that film updated the setting to make it go through World War II which makes sense, because when this movie was released England was just joining World War I and the film really the book really ended at modern times interestingly, 1939 was the year that the first Hollywood film about the Nazis was released but it might have been later in the year it wasn't really being talked about yet but you can imagine how poignant it felt when there were these scenes about bombings, raids because sadly, the same thing that happened in World War I was happening again in World War II in England, so it was very poignant in that regard but it's interesting to see in the costuming, the changing times, and we see so many different historic events that happen my outfit is inspired by the ball gown, which Cathy wears during the Viennese waltzing scene it's a full-skirted sort of brocade dress with puffy sleeves, and she wears long gloves, as well as some decorations and a fancy updo my outfit is inspired by the costume worn by Helen Colley the wife of the third Colley, whom we see near the end of the film it's a very simple dress, with buttons up the front, white cuffs and collar, and her wedding ring being a teacher is a thankless job and movies like this remind us of the great impact, and the positive impact, which a wonderful teacher can have it's truly a tribute to this selflessness of this teacher we see he lives at the boarding school he's in this drafty old room his whole life is dedicated to teaching, to teaching Latin but it's so much more than just memorizing facts the purpose of this school isn't just to get test scores and make money and interestingly, we see as this new schoolmaster comes in Mr. Chips is saying, you're just trying to produce these money-making machines even then, he's seeing how the school system was changing, but he argues that's not the point of Brookfield or any other school of this kind, the point is to turn these rascally little boys, who are playing pranks, and just doing devilish little things, into mature, responsible men who will be good members of society to instill morals in them, we see that they have to go to chapel every day and they're using these lessons, not just to memorize facts, because how many boys are really going to use Latin? Of course, having a well-rounded liberal education builds one's mind and character, but it also teaches them these really important lessons about life by reading about the history of Julius Caesar or these old commentaries, it's such an important life lesson, it disciplines your mind to learn something but also, if you truly learn, rather than just memorizing facts, it is beneficial to your life, whether it's mathematics sciences, subjects that perhaps don't play that big a role in your daily life, but if all members of society or certain circles know about these things, you can have some very interesting, deep conversations as you'll find if you have sort of a niche interest in art history or culture, it's really fun to talk about those things, it gives you something inspiring, uplifting to discuss, and I think it also gives you a perspective on life, like in one noteworthy scene, during an air raid, they have all the shades down, and the halls are being rattled by bombs, but one of the boys is reading from this Latin book, and they're talking about how the Germans are given to war and they all start laughing as he points out, see, history isn't something of the past, as they are being bombed by the Germans, but it's true that an understanding of history and ancient times gives us some perspective for what's happening now, whether that's history of the 1930s, the 1870s, or BC 500, and I think we today can have a perspective on past times by watching old movies. An important thing to consider though, is while there are the deeper, heavy themes of it, as we were watching it, or re-watching it, this is only the second time we'd watched it, but partway through, you thought like, oh, we could compare this to Harry Potter, and I thought I'd kind of been having the same thought, because it's very interesting, as we were talking about, the impact that that had on society, and books and movies have always been that way, they really influence society, and I think to young, to the American audiences, you have this kind of inroad, if you know about Harry Potter, you're familiar with this system of the houses at a school. It's like a real thing, and it's been around for hundreds of years. I feel like you might think, oh, that's just something that J.K. Rowling made up, that's all part of this magical universe, but you're like, no, this is based on the actual British school system, and it's so different from our own, it's interesting, if you already know about that, to see like, oh, but this is like, real, and also, that it is talking about history, also something that can seem kind of foreign, I think especially to young people, who don't know all these parts of history, there's certain moments even of significance, as you might think, I'm not sure what that's representing, and that can spark sort of a need to know, you want to look that up and see what that's about, and so the film ultimately ends up being an education in itself, while also being a lot of fun, and I think that's the spirit of how Chips teaches. And this was filmed at a real school in England, wasn't it? Yes. The exterior shots were done at the Repton School in Derbyshire, which was a boarding school. And it was hundreds of years old at the time, so it's amazing, and it gives that authenticity. So this is a great example of a British and American hybrid, the fact that it was filmed in England, which was very unusual at the time, and there are a lot of British actors, as well as, they're really all British, actually, come to think of it, besides Paul Henwright, because Terry Kilburn is considered British-American. He sort of was both. He made a lot of American movies, and that's why you won't see a lot of really familiar MGM faces. True. A lot of these people later became American actors, but it's a delightful film to watch at any time, and I think families and people of all ages will enjoy seeing it, and perhaps it'll make you think a little more about how important education is at any age, and that isn't necessarily formal schooling, but wanting to learn and use it to make yourself a better citizen and member of society. This movie is available to watch, to either rent or buy for streaming on Amazon Prime Video and on YouTube, as well as sometimes on some other streaming platforms. It is in a clear black and white copy, and you also can buy it on DVD from Amazon, from Walmart, and from Barnes & Noble. Like Mr. Chips, many parents as well as teachers find that the best way to teach their children is with an object lesson. Such is the case in our next film topic, a fun musical comedy about a widowed father, his incorrigible young daughter, and the unusual trip they take together, on which they find romance, adventure, and a stronger familial bond. Thank you for watching! Goodbye!