None of the boys like him. None of the other teachers do either. None except Staefel (Paul Henreid), the German teacher. One summer, Staefel invites Chipping to come along with him on a walking tour of the Tyrol. Chipping reluctantly agrees. It is a decision that will change his life. While climbing a mountain in Switzerland, Chipping becomes lost in dense cloud cover and stumbles across Katherine (Greer Garson), who is also lost. They decide to wait together. They share sandwiches. They share a coat. By the time they are rescued, the die has been cast. When Mr. Chipping returns to Brookfield for the start of the new season, he brings with him Katherine as Mrs. Chipping. Katherine has a decidedly positive effect on everyone she meets. The other teachers go gaga over her, as do all of the boys. More importantly, though, Katherine changes Mr. Chipping. She softens him. She opens him up. Where he was once a strict disciplinarian, he now overlooks little infractions of the rules. Where he was once stern, he now begins to tell jokes. This, of course, has a marvelous effect on the boys. No longer do they fear him. Instead, they all like the person he's become. He is now Mr. Chips, the beloved schoolmaster. But life has more turns in store for Chips. With little warning, Katherine dies giving birth to their first child. The child dies too. At first, Chips is devastated. Then, he realizes that Katherine will always be in his heart. As the years go by, Chips guides many young boys through 
adolescence and into manhood. During World War I, Chips comes out of retirement and takes over as headmaster of the school, shepherding Brookfield through the dark days of the war, watching with growing sorrow as so many of his former students and colleagues march off to their death. Finally, old and frail, Chips too must shuffle off this mortal coil. While on his deathbed, one of his friends says that it's too bad Chips never had any children of his own. Mr. Chips replies that he had hundreds of children, and they were all boys.Sam Woods' Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a sappy, sentimental film about the effect one school teacher can have on the lives of many pupils, and the effect those pupils can have on the life of that one teacher. It's also a film about redemption, as the unpopular Mr. Chipping is transformed by his love for Katherine into the much-adored Mr. Chips. Having never read the James Hilton novel on which it's based, I don't know how faithful this version is to the original, but it is my favorite version of this story (at least one other version was filmed in 1969, a musical starring Peter
O'Toole). I love watching the transformative effect that love has on Mr. Chips. I also enjoy watching the friendship that grows between Chips and Staefel, a friendship that endures even when they are on opposite sides during the war. Robert Donat is wonderful as both the severe Mr. Chipping and the lovable Mr. Chips. They do a pretty good job of aging him down through the decades too. He's really quite believable as the young, the middle aged and the elderly man. Of course, Greer Garson is radiant as always as the gentle, loving Katherine who always sees the good in everyone. It's also fun to watch the parade of Colley's who come marching through the school - John, his son Peter I, followed by Peter II, and Peter III, all played by young Terry Kilburn. If you're in the mood for a good tear-jerking, feel-good film, then Goodbye, Mr. Chips is just the ticket.Goodbye, Mr. Chips is rated G. It's filmed in glorious black and white and has a runtime of 114 minutes.
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