Goodbye, Mr. Chips
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Conleth Hill, John Wood, Martin Clunes, Patrick Malahide, Victoria Hamilton Brand: Wgbh Wholesale DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language) Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.78:1 Running Time: 120 minutes DVD Release Date: 2004-01-06 Audience Rating: Unrated Studio: PBS |
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Movie Reviews of Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Movie Review: Another Fiction About The Blessed Isle
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a charming albeit unassuming PBS adaptation of James Hilton's charming albeit unassuming novel Goodbye Mr. Chips. This production has all of the usual Masterpiece Theatre trappings (fine actors in fine locations) but it fails to register much of a response from the viewer. Mr. Chipping is supposedly a man capable of inspiring many generations of students but this Mr. Chipping seems not to be entirely in touch with the world around him. In the classroom he appears to be somewhere between a run-of-the-mill teacher and pretty good one, and one who, on occasion, selects latin passages that resonate with the times (passages that have to do with empire, ethics, and war). But he does not seem to be a great teacher. His classroom is quiet with reverence because his students respect him but we never really see him engage his students minds. One outdoor bull session gets pretty lively but the argument is about a fairly flat topic: dead and living languages. Its not really until he marries that Chipping begins to come to life and under the influence of his much more assertive wife, he learns to be more assertive himself. The fact that men need women to provide them with balance and perspective is probably the most progressive point that this film makes. With Catherine as an ally, Chipping begins to chip away at the schools barbaric disciplinary practices & its exclusivity. But one thing that Mr. Chipping never outgrows is his belief in the social & intellectual hierarchies that govern the intellectual and the social world. Mr. Chipping may be a decent fellow who doesn't believe in corporal punishment and who does believe in offering scholarships to underprivileged students, but he's certainly not one to suggest any radical reforms or systemic changes. Mr. Chipping is the kind of reformer that respects tradition and works within the existing system; and as such he is a mildly effective piecemeal reformer and this makes for a mildly effective PBS Masterpiece Theatre production.