Goodbye Mr. Chips (MGM 1969) - Based on the novel of the same name by James Hilton (review) this is the story of the modestly talented but much beloved Mr. Chipping, an instructor at the Brookfield School in England. The book is a brief (40 pages!), sentimental look at the public school (what we Americans think of as private school) system in England at the turn of the last century. It marks the brief but happy marriage of "Mr. Chips" and his eventual rise to headmaster. It is gentle and quiet and refined.
So why some genius at MGM decided to make it a musical is beyond me.
As a general rule I do not review movies that I have not seen from beginning to end. I'm just so astounded at the wretchedness of the concept here that I'll bend that rule. I watched the first 20 minutes or so and simply couldn't bear it any longer. You'd think it would be better with music by John Williams and Petula Clark and Peter O'Toole.
Peter O'Toole in a musical. There's where you realize the movie is in trouble. Actually I knew I was going to struggle when I saw it was a musical. Then it had an Overture and I KNEW trouble was coming. The problem really comes down to two problems:
First, Peter O'Toole can not sing. You would think this might be seen as a problem in a musical. They tried again 3 years later in "Man of La Mancha" where his singing was so bad it nearly destroyed my love of that show.
Second, this is simply an awful choice to make into a musical. Musical require some level of grandiosity, some level of big drama or large personality to carry off the theatricality of the story suddenly stopping for a song. "Goodbye Mr. Chips" is the perfect antithesis of this. It is small, and quaint and cerebral. It is gentle and laconic much like its title character.
That's what makes this so utterly, irredeemably wrong.
And that's why I stopped watching it and sent it back. I have higher hopes for the 1939 version which won Robert Donat an Oscar for his portrayal of Chips.
Rating - No Rating
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