Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969)

Director:

Herbert Ross

Writers:

James Hilton (novel)
Terence Rattigan (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 December 1969 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

He is a shy schoolmaster. She is a music hall star. They marry and immediately have 283 children...all boys!

Plot:

A shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher falls for a flashy showgirl.

Plot Keywords:

Schoolteacher | Love | Death Of Wife | Dedicated Teacher | School

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Peter O'Toole	...	Arthur Chipping
Petula Clark	...	Katherine Bridges
Michael Redgrave	...	The Headmaster
Alison Leggatt	...	Headmaster's Wife
Siân Phillips	...	Ursula Mossbank
Michael Bryant	...	Max Staefel
George Baker	...	Lord Sutterwick
Jenny Runacre
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Audreson
Leo Britt	...	Elder Master
Barbara Couper	...	Mrs. Paunceforth
Michael Culver	...	Johnny Longbridge
Elspet Gray	...	Lady Sutterwick
Clinton Greyn	...	Bill Calbury
John Gugolka	...	Sutterwick Jr.
Patricia Hayes	...	Miss Honeybun
Jack Hedley	...	William Baxter
Barbara Knox
Jeremy Lloyd	...	Johnson
Mario Maranzana	...	Pompeii Guide
Elspeth March	...	Mrs. Summersthwaite
Craig Marriott	...	New Boy
Jack May	...	Price
Clive Morton	...	General Paunceforth
Tom Owen	...	Farley
Michael Ridgeway	...	David
Sheila Steafel	...	Tilly
Ronnie Stevens	...	Algie
Royston Tickner	...	Policeman

Runtime:

USA:155 min | 152 min (original version) | 148 min (video version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating) | UK:U (original rating) | Australia:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | USA:G

Filming Locations:

59 Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London, England, UK

Company:

APJAC Productions

Trivia:

Originally cast in the lead roles were Rex Harrison and Samantha Eggar, who were replaced by Richard Burton and Lee Remick. When MGM opted to replace Remick with Petula Clark, based on her reviews and Golden Globe nomination for Finian's Rainbow (1968), Burton balked at playing opposite a "singer" rather than an "actress", so Peter O'Toole was cast instead.

Quotes:

Chips: [to his students] The Lex Canuleia is not, as Cawley Minor seems to think, a law regulating canals, but a law that permitted Roman patricians to marry plebeians. An easy way to remember it is to imagine a Miss Plebeian wishing to marry a Mr. Patrician, and Mr. Patrician saying he can't. She could then reply "Oh yes, you can, you liar."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ancient Evil 2: Guardian of the Underworld (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

Walk Through the World

My cup of tea: the pairing of O'Toole and Clark in director Herbert Ross' 1969 musical adaptation of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips"

Caught this 1969 film on cable TCM one night. I remember when I first saw the film in Hong Kong, I really enjoyed the songs and performances by Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark. I love Clark best in Francis Ford Coppola's "Finian's Rainbow" (1968) opposite Fred Astaire, Don Francks and Tommy Steele. Simply ecstatic to learn that finally, this delightful Irish-flavored pot of gold musical is released on DVD! Ah, "it's that old devil moon (in your eyes)."

Peter O'Toole as Mr. Chips - yes, he did sing - quite a deliverance. He may not be a veteran at musical like Rex Harrison, but he inhabited the role marvelously. The scene of him running across the lawn in his cape a-flying reminds me of the PBS series, "To Serve Them All My Days" - a lovable schoolmaster and loving man, he is, 'Mr. Chipey.' Clark and O'Toole somehow gave us just the right mix of spunk and circumstance. The songs and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse are catchy as usual. The tunes of "You and I" and "Walk Through the World (with Me)" stayed with me the most all these years. And there's "What a Lot of Flowers," "And the Sky Smiled," "Fill the World with Love" - not syrupy at all. Sometimes I think if the world is immersed in Bricusse's songs and words, we would overcome all strife on earth and 'lovely' will be all our days! Yes, "Talk to the Animals," too. ("Doctor Doolittle" 1967)

Musicals are a blessing to the world of moviegoers, they are somehow larger than life. Like the music and lyrics by the Sherman Brothers (Richard M. and Robert B.) who gave us "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968) and "Mary Poppins" (1964) - who wouldn't feel absolutely delighted simply uttering "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"? I was tickled by even just one featured song & dance number in the Spanish film "Km.0 - Kilometer Zero" (2000). My all time favorite is French filmmaker Jacques Demy's "Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967) with colorful cast of Catherine Deneuve and (late sister) Francoise Dorléac, Jacques Perrin, Michel Piccoli, Danielle Darrieux, Gene Kelly and George Chakiris singing, dancing to Michel Legrand's music. Long live musicals.