Robert Donat Collectors Guide: Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

by Brent Reid
Brent Reid
Post Views: 205
  • Robert Donat was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his signature role
  • No mean feat against stiff competition in Hollywood’s Greatest Year
  • Convincingly plays caring, diffident schoolteacher from youth to old age
  • Based on a book by the author of Lost Horizon and Random Harvest
  • Chips inspired many similar works but was probably a copy itself
  • There are also many international film, television and radio remakes
  • Spotlighting two very similar but female-centred books and films
Goodbye, Mr. Chips US MGM/UA LaserDisc

US MGM/UA LaserDisc (1991)

Contents

Production

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) US style C one sheet poster

US style C one sheet poster (orig/alt/textless/Aus), lobby cards, herald/inner, 1947 re-release three sheet

Picturegoer | Life | ReelStreets | Goodbye, Mr. Chips: Grey Old Age Dreaming Over a Crowded Past

“Everyone’s favorite film!” – New York Sun
1939, the year that Gone With the Wind swept up most of the Academy Awards, Robert Donat was voted Best Actor for his touching portrayal in Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Opposite him a young, appealing Greer Garson made her screen début as the beautiful woman who brings Chips happiness. Adapted from James Hilton’s best-selling novel, it is both an intimate study of human nature and a nostalgic tribute to England’s venerable public schools where generations of young men were instilled with the traditions of a world now but a memory.

In 1870 Charles Edward Chipping (Donat) is engaged as the new Latin master at Brookfield School where he leads a rather lackluster life. Then his friend Staefel persuades Chipping to accompany him on a walking tour of the Alps. While climbing alone, Chipping loses his way in a fog only to encounter Katherine Bridges (Garson), who invites him to join her in a sandwich while they wait for the mist to clear. Chipping soon becomes aware that something more than indigestion is astir within, and when the two meet again in Vienna, they fall in love. Happiness and tragedy mold the rest of Chipping’s rise from mere teacher to “Chips,” the most beloved member of the faculty. The New York Times praised this “serene, heartwarming film,” calling Donat’s performance “flawless” and Garson “entrancing. Chips is the kind of figure who belongs in everyone’s past, and his story belongs in everyone’s video library. – US MGM/UA VHS (1986)

Fan trailer | clip/#2/#3 | Greer Garson test footage | TCM

A delicate and memorable character sketch… one of the screen’s outstanding performances. – Newsweek
This film of timeless quality is more than just entertainment. It is an emotional experience with a simple, direct appeal to the heart. As Mr. Chipping, nicknamed “Chips”, dozes contentedly in his armchair, his mind is full of happy memories – and a few sad ones too – and we are naturally drawn to share his feelings. Because of this, Goodbye, Mr. Chips seems almost to come alive as the events are vivified by his memory, this is a film which can be seen over and over again without losing any charm or freshness. It is not just a happy picture. Chips’ life is one lived fully although many feel that he has been denied a lot in a lonely life, his recollections prove the contrary. Exquisitely woven into his memories are his unexpected romance with Elizabeth and what their love means to him.

Considered either as an adaptation of James Hilton’s short 1933 novel or as a film per se, Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a considerable achievement for 1939. Sam Wood (Kings Row) directed the film for MGM and Victor Saville produced it in England shortly before World War II. F.A. Young’s black-and-white camerawork and Richard Addinsell’s music have unobtrusive advantages for the film’s gentle power. Robert Donat deserved his Academy Award for his portrayal of the beloved Chips. He and Greer Garson, who plays Elizabeth, create two of the most memorable people, not just characters, to appear before us and gain our love. – Bill Collins, Australian MGM/UA VHS (1989)

Goodbye, Mr. Chips aka Tot ziens Mr. Chips (1939) Belgian poster

Belgian poster (orig/alt); Italian poster by Angelo Cesselon; Australian daybill

Alamy, Getty, Bridgeman| Leo | Donat, Sr.

Home video

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) US Warner Bros. Blu-ray

Simply the best: Warner’s newly restored US BD is playable worldwide and has optional English HoH subtitles. Like all Warner’s disc and streaming releases, it features the US style D one sheet poster artwork, later altered for the 1962 re-release one sheet.

The film’s owned by Warner Bros. worldwide and there are two home video transfers, with the first from a print that’s a little rough in spots but perfectly watchable overall. Now available in HD via streaming, it first appeared on the initial wave of 2004 DVDs.

The second transfer is a 4k restoration based on the best available source, “a nitrate dupe negative from an international archive” (most likely the one held by the BFI) that sees the film looking and sounding better than in many decades. Like all Warner Archive restorations, it’s exclusive to their region 0 BD and won’t be appearing on streaming. The only extra is the (slightly squashed) four-minute trailer – every previous release is completely barebones – which is woeful for a masterwork of this quality and stature. Hopefully the resources I’ve included here will help redress the balance.

Bootlegs: Brazil (Classicline), China (Bo ying), Italy (A&R Productions), Korea (Peter Pan Pictures) and Spain (Llamentol).

Soundtrack

Though the original is only available wedded to the film itself, there are two re-recordings of Richard Addinsell’s masterful but sensitive score: the opening theme and a suite of highlights:

Chips on the radio

James Hilton’s novella has seen many international film, TV and radio adaptions, especially in the latter medium. Barbara Burnham (alt/alt) adapted four of his most successful works as radio plays including Chips, which led to three BBC radio cast dramatisations in 1935, 1936, 1953 and 1980. The first version was one of the most popular programmes of the year, prompting 1936’s remake and the publishing of Burnham’s full length Chips: A Play in Three Acts (1938). It was first performed onstage at the Shaftsbury Theatre in 1938, led by Leslie Banks and Constance Cummings, and extracts of that too were broadcast on BBC radio. On a related note, in 1949 BBC radio broadcast an abbreviated version of the film edited directly from its soundtrack, similar to a later unofficial LP of The 39 Steps.

      • NBC Radio Tribute to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, June 11, 1939 | Magna LP B00XFDZR4I-uk/alt

Just a few weeks after the film’s May 15 New York première, the cream of Hollywood’s British ex-pat community participated in a radio tribute to their home country’s monarchs during the royal tour of Canada. The show included Greer Garson and Leslie Howard re-enacting the meeting scene from Chips.

Always very hands-on with the afterlives of his works, Hilton appeared in all the contemporaneous American radio plays of Chips, bar the 1941 recording.

Robert Donat and Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)

Eternal bliss

Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)

US one sheet poster (alt style, lobby cards)

Alamy, Getty, Bridgeman

Based on Bess Streeter Aldrich’s critically acclaimed 1933 novel, Cheers for Miss Bishop traces the life of a college professor as she remembers her fifty-year career. Starting out as a nervous freshman attending college herself, through her graduation and decision to take a job at her alma mater, she grows into a confident young woman. Throughout her career, she is able to have a positive impact on the lives of her students and instill in them the pride and confidence that have become a part of her life. A story of quiet courage and the power of teachers to help shape the lives of young people. Featuring an Academy Award nominated Original Score by Edward Ward. – US Leisure VHS (198-)

      • US: Olive BD and DVD (2016)

Although there are several generally well-received screen remakes of Hilton’s novella, I’m highlighting two gender-switching  spins on the premise with similar titles and the same profession for their protagonists. Indeed, the first of them may even have served as inspiration for Hilton’s more famous creation. There’s a slew of very basic public domain releases of this little gem, ranging in pretty poor to just about acceptable on a smaller screen but the only really good quality official release is from Olive in the US. Though also barebones, it’s HD-remastered from original pre-print materials unavailable to the cheapo PD labels and, if you don’t live in America, is another reason to be grateful for the joys and freedom of multi-region players.

There were also three contemporary US radio adaptations, two of which saw Scott reprise her film role:

Incidentally, the author also visited the theme previously in her other best known work, the 1926 short story “The Woman Who Was Forgotten”. It was made into an eponymous 1929 film, current whereabouts unknown, which was later edited for reissue and retitled Give to the World but that version’s also MIA.

Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955)

Good Morning, Miss Dove aka Bonjour, Miss Dove (1955) Belgian poster

Belgian poster (US one sheet, half sheet, insert, lobby cards)

New York Times | The Terrible Miss Dove – Rebecca Deniston | The Sentimental Pedagogy of Miss Dove – Michael Barrett

This sentimental overview of a smalltown teacher’s life from youth to old age, is told mostly via hospital bed-flashbacks of Jennifer Jones’ redoubtable Miss Dove, It was based on Frances Gray Patton’s eponymous 1954 novel, which in turn incorporated three short stories published in Ladies’ Home Journal. There’s been only one official release to date, an unforgivably non-anamorphic though region free DVD, and bootlegs from Australia (Amsell Ent) and Spain (Feel/Resen). The original score by Leigh Harline has been released on CD, bolstered by an eponymous song demo and Harline’s complete score for a classic 1954 CinemaScope noir.

Alamy, Getty, Bridgeman

I started Brenton Film because I love film – quelle surprise! The silent era, 1930s and 1940s especially get my literary juices flowing, so you'll see a lot about those. For more, see the About page and read this before emailing.

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