Review of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) by Ben L — 23 Mar 2016

Goodbye Mr. Chips is a film about a retiring teacher at an all-boys school who reflects on his career. I really enjoyed Robert Donat's performance as he plays the shy and unassuming Mr. Chips through the years.

Also the age makeup and hair was pretty good at making his old man performance believable. I usually would enjoy this kind of movie because I like stories about teachers who have some strong impact on their students (I have multiple generations of teachers in my family.

) This one even had the added benefit of showing the story over generations so we could see how the students turned out. Yet the story did not connect with me. They focused more on the life of Mr. Chips and much less on his teaching.

While the impact of his wife was good to see, it sidetracked the movie from its intended premise. We never really get to know any of the students well enough to know them by name, so when they show up later I found myself constantly trying to piece together who this kid was as a youth.

Also there weren't any solid lessons that Mr. Chips taught the kids, so we didn't get to see how he in particular changed their lives. There were moments that worked, but the films entire plot didn't hold together.

So the final scene, which should be emotional, failed to move me. Goodbye Mr. Chips isn't a bad movie, it's merely one that did nothing special, and therefore I can't recommend it.