X
- 1969
- G
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 35 m
- 1969
- G
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 35 m
Directed By: Herbert Ross
Written By: James Hilton, Terence Rattigan
- 1969
- G
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 35 m
- 1969
- G
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
- 2 h 35 m
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
61
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Where to Watch
Directed By: Herbert Ross
Written By: James Hilton, Terence Rattigan
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
61
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
86% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
61
14% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
86% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Goodbye, Mr. Chips uses its budget quietly, with good taste, and succeeds in being a big movie without being a gross one. I think I enjoyed it about as much as any road show since Funny Girl.
An overblown version of James Hilton's tearstained little gold mine of a book, with songs where they are not needed (and Leslie Bricusse's songs are never needed), yet there's still charm in the story, and Peter O'Toole gives a romantic performance of great distinction as the schoolmaster whose life is transformed by the Cinderella touch of an actress, played now by Petula Clark.
M-G-M's reproduction of Goodbye, Mr. Chips as a big-budget musical [music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse] with Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark is a sumptuous near-miss that trips on its own overproduction.
Should it survive—and I suspect it will — it will be largely because of the restrained, affectingly comic performance of Peter O'Toole in the title role. Everything else in this British public-school romance is either out of symmetry or out of date.
Terence Rattigan has jazzed up the screenplay with a laborious melodrama but unfortunately he has not distorted it beyond recognition. That there remain strains of the understated wit of the original dialogue is a dubious blessing--like patches of lace in a sweatsuit. [06 Nov 1969, p.52]
Overall, rookie director Ross stumbles over the material, neither destroying nor enhancing the talents of O'Toole, Clark, and company.
Incredibly bloated remake, with Mrs Chips an ex-showgirl (allowing for some vacuous songs), a continental holiday (allowing for a travelogue wallow), and Herbert Ross (his first film as director), trying to match Wyler's choreographed camera movements on Funny Girl but failing to make them serve any meaningful purpose.
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
National Board of Review, USA
• 2 Wins & 2 Nominations
