NipPierce Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

framptonhollis Based upon James Hilton's excellent novella of the same name, "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is a now-overlooked masterpiece of both comic and dramatic filmmaking. Telling the tale of a life well lived, this is a heartfelt character study produced with the utmost excellence. Directed by underrated classic filmmaker Sam wood (the director of "A Night at the Opera", another one of my *FAVORITE*, and I do not use that term lightly, films of all time) the tender classic is adapted well to the screen. Both works are equal in quality, as Hilton's wonderful and witty writings come to life with even more depth than they originally contained. The cast all delivers marvelous performances, and even the numerous child actors are realistic and delightful to watch (something too rarely seen in the movies, especially back in 1939!). Of course, the main attraction (in terms of acting, anyway) is the leading performance by classical Hollywood celebrity Robert Donat. Donat embodies the unforgettable character of Mr. Chips with all of the humor and melancholy desperately required for the role. sometimes he comes across as a bumbling, goofy old man, and at other times he comes across as a sweet and sensitive lover. This film traces the highlights of his career as a schoolteacher and it does so in a way that made tears flow from my eyes like a steady stream (of embarrassment) and laughter fly from my throat like a speeding train (similes are hard to think of sometimes, okay?). Anyway, the point is: go see this movie, it is at once hilarious, heartwarming, sad, and, in the end, truly hopeful and surprisingly inspiring. The acting is great on all fronts (I did not even mention the lovely Greer Garson, whose performance makes her character as charming and likable as she is beautiful) and the story is adapted in such a way that the original story is not at all ruined and is, instead, made even better! After forcing any possible reader to struggle through my parenthesis addiction (see, I just did it again!), I can only ask that you all forgive me and run out to read the classic novella and immediately view this beautiful and comic film adaptation. Those who bare sensitive souls and healthy hearts will surely lack any disappointment and leave the film with tears in their eyes and a smile on their face!

richard-1787 If you are reading these reviews because you wonder if you should bother watching this movie, read no further. Instead, treat yourself to it, and you will experience a wonderful, warm glow that only the greatest works of art can offer.But please understand: this is by no means what they now call a "feel good movie," filled with facile sentiment and easy tears. Not at all. It is a brilliantly written, masterfully acted and directed movie that contains truly joyous moments, yes, but also deeply painful ones.During the course of its two hours, you will have the great pleasure of watching a great actor, Robert Donat, develop a thoroughly three-dimensional character, Mr. Chips. Because Donat was a great actor, and because this movie has a great script, his Chips is not a lovable curmudgeon, or a silly old man, or any of the other facile, two-dimensional caricatures that could so easily have been offered. No, Donat's Chips is a very understandable, very real human being, an ideal to which many would love to be able to live up.Supporting him in her first movie role is the here truly luminous Greer Garson. Her kindness to Chips, her understanding of his shyness, is one of the many wonderful things in this movie.But enough of my words. None of them, try as I might, will even begin to give you an idea of how wonderful this movie will make you feel. Watch it when you can devote yourself to it completely, because it is worth your complete attention and will reward it a thousandfold.-------------------------I saw this movie again tonight. I don't know how many times I have seen it over the years, but that doesn't really matter. It is never boring, never too familiar. It is always just right. This is a flawless movie.

kenjha This drama recounts the life and times of an English school teacher. Donat beat out James Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" for this performance. Jimmy was robbed! It's the type of performance the Academy loves, as Donat gets to age sixty years through the film and the makeup artists have done a fairly good job. However, it seems to be a performance without much depth, relying instead on mannerisms and a high-pitched delivery. The actor doesn't get much help from the script, which fails to show why Mr. Chips is such a beloved teacher. Garson makes a terrific screen debut and lends the film its best moments. A similar film that is far superior is "The Browning Version" with Michael Redgrave.

jn1356-1 If somebody doesn't teach the children, our society and our culture dies out in one generation. That makes teaching THE necessary profession. Without teachers, we have nothing, we can do nothing, we are nothing. And there is no profession more thankless, more under-compensated, more maligned, and more difficult. Why would anyone do it? For the best answer available, watch this version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips".First and foremost, a young (33 years old) plays a British boy's school master, from he first day at school, through decades of boys, through his retirement and his dotage. Donat brilliant captures Mr. Chippings' awkward beginning, his fumbling to find himself as a teacher, his growing comfort in his own skin, largely courtesy of Katherine, a lovely young woman whom he meets while lost in the mountains on a summer vacation hike; whom he marries, and loses to childbirth. Donat ages brilliantly and believably.Greer Garson plays Katherine, with all the loveliness and grace that characterized her life and career. Paul Henried is the German teacher, Staefel, who persuades Chipping to take the vacation where he meets his Kathie, who must leave Britain for his home in Germany when the two countries get embroiled in World War I, whom Chipping, to the consternation of many, memorializes when Staefel dies fighting for Germany in the war.But watch the boys. Little Terry Kilburn plays each of the Colley boys as little ones, with heart-breaking cuteness. Watch the boys grow, watch how they come to love Chipping, and how he loves them.Keep the Kleenex box handy, and end up envying Chips his life, though we pity him almost throughout. He is the most blessed of human beings. He is a teacher! God bless them all.