Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Robert Donat - Mr. Chipping
Greer Garson - Katherine Chipping
Terry Kilburn - John Colley/Peter Colley I/Peter Colley II/Peter Colley III
John Mills - Peter Colley (as a young man)
Paul Henreid - Staefel
Judith Furse - Flora
Lyn Harding - Wetherby
Milton Rosmer - Chatteris

Brimming with humanity, this beautifully filmed look at a schoolmaster's life won an Oscar for Robert Donat in a fiercely competitive year that included Clark Gable's Rhett Butler. The story was based upon James Hilton's own experiences with W.H. Balgarnie, a schoolmaster at a private school in Cambridge. For authenticity's sake, the MGM British studio production was filmed at Repton School and included many actual academics and students as extras in the cast.

Goodbye, Mr Chips is a marvellous portrayal of author James Hilton's retired English schoolmaster Charles ‘Chips’ Chipping (Donat), ageing throughout the film he recalls his days at Brookfield, a boy’s public school, from 1870 to 1928. Beginning with his early difficulties as a young and earnest man in his first teaching post at a prestigious school, initially he is too timid to control his unruly students. Chipping is later castigated by the headmaster Dr. Wetherby (Lyn Harding) for failing to control his class, and responds by refusing to allow his pupils to join in a cricket match that they subsequently lose, an act that makes him increasingly unpopular amongst his students. When persuaded by his colleague Max Staefel (Paul Henreid) to travel to Austria for an Alpine vacation, Chipping significantly meets Katherine Ellis (Greer Garson); whom he soon marries and who helps him achieve his goal of becoming Brookfield housemaster. With Katherine’s encouragement, Chips, as she fondly nicknamed him, begins to wins the students trust and admiration by relaxing his authoritarian manner. Tragically after just one year together, Katherine dies during childbirth. The film continues by charting Chips many friendships with pupils, his retirement, and temporary headship during the First World War. Dying, he remembers 'all my boys'.