Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Directed by Sam Wood. Starring Robert Donat, Greer Garson, John Mills, Paul Henreid, Lynn Harding, Terry Kilburn, Judith Furse, Milton Rosmer, Frederick Leister, Louise Hampton.

Sentimental snooze that sketched the blueprint for reverent “inspirational teacher” features to come, shuddering between heartwarming wistfulness and cloying sappiness. Donat won an Academy Award for the title role, which was cast in a backwards manner—the lion’s share of the film is spent with Mr. Charles “Chips” Chipping as an older gentlemen, so he falls back on a sense of reedy contemplation to accommodate the years, instead of the shrewder tact of allowing a seasoned veteran to infuse youthful vigor into the few scenes that show “Chips” as a novice go-getter. The basic thrust of the story manufactures the sense that he’s beloved by his students and most of the staff, but it’s thin gruel demonstrating the origins (i.e., far more telling than showing); director Wood rarely attempts stylistic gadgets to keep the stuffy air circulating, and on the rare occasions he tries, those moments tend to falter—Kilburn’s curtain line even looks like it’s coming from the ghost of a deceased child! Adapted from the novel by James Hilton. Remade as a musical with Peter O’Toole in 1969.

51/100