Robert Donat and Greer Garson.

Based on the novel of the same name, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is one of the most purely sentimental movies ever made. Everything about it, including its title, is meant to tug at the heartstrings with fond nostalgia for a romantic time and place in history. This is the story of Mr. Chipping, later to be known simply as Chips, and the 63 years he spends teaching at Brookfield School in England from 1870 to 1933.

Robert Donat won the Oscar for this role, beating out Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler and James Stewart’s Mr. Smith. He is great in the part but the real reason I think he won was because he ages from 25 to 88. Hollywood has always loved actors that physically change in appearance for a character. This movie marked the breakthrough performance for Greer Garson and she received her first of 5 consecutive Best Actress Oscar nominations for it. This was also one of Paul Henreid’s first big roles three years before his one/two punch of Now, Voyager and Casablanca.

The movie opens with an 83 year old Chips on the first day of the fall term in 1928. We see that he is a lovable old institution beloved by teachers and students alike. When the Head Master introduces Chips to a new teacher he says, “Now you can say you’ve shaken hands with Chips of Brookfield.” We then flashback to 1870, Chipping gets off on the wrong foot with his class and spends the next 18 years as a reliable but unremarkable, and not particularly liked, Latin instructor.

When he gets passed over for House Master he decides to go on vacation to Austria with a fellow teacher (Henreid). This is so out of the ordinary for him that another of his fellow teachers remarks, “Chipping, going abroad?” with incredulity. To make this quick, he meets Greer Garson, falls in love, gets married and returns a changed man. She is the one who dubs him "Chips", and insists that he invite his students over for tea and cake every Sunday afternoon.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story (if you’ve seen many movies you can probably guess what happens next) but the final scene gets me every time. This classic movie was dedicated to the memory of Irving Thalberg and it received a total of seven Oscar nominations including Picture, Director and Screenplay. It has been remade several times, once as a musical. If you’ve never seen it you are in for a “reel” treat.
 

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