Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Director:

Sam Wood
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Writers:

R.C. Sherriff (screenplay) and
Claudine West (screenplay) ...
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Release Date:

28 July 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

At The Top Of The Year's "Ten Best" - The picture that earns for 1939 a proud place in motion-picture history!

Plot:

An aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.

Plot Keywords:

Headmaster | School | Teacher | Boarding School | Marriage

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 7 nominations

Cast

Robert Donat	...	Mr. Chips
Greer Garson	...	Katherine
Terry Kilburn	...	John Colley / Peter Colley I / Peter Colley II / Peter Colley III
John Mills	...	Peter Colley as a young man
Paul Henreid	...	Staefel (as Paul Von Hernried)
Judith Furse	...	Flora
Lyn Harding	...	Wetherby
Milton Rosmer	...	Chatteris
Frederick Leister	...	Marsham
Louise Hampton	...	Mrs. Wickett
Austin Trevor	...	Ralston
David Tree	...	Jackson
Edmund Breon	...	Colonel Morgan (as Edmond Breon)
Jill Furse	...	Helen Colley
Scott Sunderland	...	Sir John Colley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leonard Boucher	...	(uncredited)
Henry Caine	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
David Croft	...	Perkins - Greengrocer's boy (uncredited)
Leo de Pokorny	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Cyril Frankel	...	Schoolboy extra (uncredited)
Peter Gawthorne	...	Army General (uncredited)
Martita Hunt	...	British Tourist on Bicycle (uncredited)
Simon Lack	...	Wainwright (uncredited)
Jack Lambert	...	(uncredited)
John Longden	...	Raven (uncredited)
Patrick Ludlow	...	(uncredited)
Guy Middleton	...	McCulloch (uncredited)
Phyllis Morris	...	(uncredited)
Cyril Raymond	...	Teacher (uncredited)
J.H. Roberts	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Michael Shepley	...	Teacher (uncredited)
Nigel Stock	...	John Forrester (uncredited)
Ronald Ward	...	(uncredited)
Caven Watson	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Wood
Sidney Franklin		(uncredited)

Writing credits
R.C. Sherriff		(screenplay) and
Claudine West		(screenplay) and
Eric Maschwitz		(screenplay)
James Hilton		(book "Goodbye, Mr. Chips!")

Produced by
Victor Saville	....	producer

Cinematography by
Freddie Young		(as F.A. Young)

Film Editing by
Charles Frend

Art Direction by
Alfred Junge

Production Management
Harold Boxall	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
E.M. Smedley-Aston	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.C. Stevens	....	sound recordist
A.W. Watkins	....	sound recordist
John W. Mitchell	....	boom operator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Gerry Massy-Collier	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Richard Addinsell	....	composer: special music
Louis Levy	....	musical director

Thanks
Sidney Franklin	....	grateful acknowledgment
Irving Thalberg	....	acknowledgment

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (France) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1939) (UK) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Living Colour Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)

Also Known As:

Goodbye Mr. Chips! (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #5086) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Trivia:

The first film of Judith Furse.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In a scene where Mr. Chips is climbing a mountain in his attempt to "rescue" Kathy, he passes by a cross marking the spot where someone died that is written in English. He is in the Alps of Austria, however, so the sign should be in German.

Quotes:

Katherine: It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster, to watch boys grow up and help them along; to see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don't see how you could ever get old in a world that's always young.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in From the Ends of the Earth (1939)

Soundtrack:

The Cuckoo and the Nightingale

triumph for MGM British

The third in the series of films MGM made in Britain was perhaps their greatest triumph, with a well-deserved Academy Award for Robert Donat, who played Mr Chips over a span of 60 years very convincingly. Always a great actor, Donat was perhaps at his best in this story covering the history of a schoolmaster from his first appearance at the school as a young idealist, through crusty middle age (and a change when he meets charming Greer Garson, in her first screen appearance, stranded up an Austrian mountain) and into his much loved dotage as a kind of human fixture and fittings of Brookfield School.

James Hilton's book is developed here to give not only a view of the English public school system which probably never existed, but to cover issues such as the Great War with some power. The film is extremely touching in places - whether this is because of the acting or the excellent music I'm not quite sure. I do know that this version of the film is streets ahead of the misguided musical version which appeared three decades later with Peter O'Toole in the lead.