I read Robert Hilton's _Good-Bye, Mr. Chips_ about two years ago. I loved it so much that I didn't bother to seek out the film, feeling that I'd already experienced the story. I did myself a disservice by waiting so long.
Sam Wood's 1939 version of the story, starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson, is wonderful. Donat plays Mr. Chips over roughly a 60-year span, taking the character from fresh-faced young teacher to wise old dean without putting a single foot wrong. It's a masterful performance, the kind of thing that makes us realize just how powerful and wonderful an art form drama is. Greer Garson, in her first film role, plays a supporting character that breathes life into both Chips and the movie. Though she doesn't get much screen time, her presence energizes the whole proceedings - she's wonderful to watch.
Goodbye, Mr. Chips follows its titular character through the chapters of his life as a professor at a English Boy's School, the kind of institution that has become part of the British cultural landscape. On his first day, he lets the boys roll right over him, but it isn't long before those selfsame boys come to respect him and send their best wishes, along with their own boys, back to him. This isn't the saccharine stuff of a Dead Poets' Society, however. Chips is a real guy, a product of his time and place, as are his charges. He never really breaks out until he meets Garson on - well, I'll let you discover that element for yourself. The film is told in episodes, lifting moments from the Professor's life, and closes in the way we would all hope a life well lived would close. With grace, joy, and hope.
I just plain loved this movie. Had I seen it as a younger man, it may have inspired me to go into teaching. Who knows? Perhaps it still might.
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