I began watching "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" certain that I would like it. In fact, I love quiet movies about teachers and how they inspire their students to take chances, become ambitious, transform themselves academically, etc.
I really, really wanted to love this movie, but I did not.
The problem with this movie is that I know NOTHING about any of the individual students Mr. Chips taught. I don't know what their interests are, whether they are smart or dumb, what they are thinking etc. I just watched the movie and I'm not even sure I know any of their names.
For a movie like this to work, there have to be some meaningful interactions between the teacher and his or her students. There were none. I see NO evidence that Mr. Chips inspired any individual student to do anything. And I don't know what the students did other than some of them fought in World War I.
Contrast that with "Dead Poets Society" and "Mr. Holland's Opus," to name two, where five or six students stand out and are inspired by their teacher. I saw those movies several years ago and I still recall the students' stories.
This movie conveys a general sense that Mr. Chips himself was transformed after meeting his wife. Before that, he was stodgy and unpopular. Frankly, he was an incompetent teacher for 20 years and should have been fired. After his midlife romance begins, though, the students as a whole liked and respected him a lot.
But other than a couple of jokes told in front of a class of 30 students, there is nothing to justify why the students liked and respected him so much. I want to be SHOWN, not told, Mr. Chips is a great teacher. The movie also has a very timid plot and little conflict and character development.
By the way, Jimmy Stewart deserved the Best Actor Oscar for "Mr. Smith," not Robert "Mr. Chips" Donat. I gave "Mr. Chips" a 5.
ZWrite
I really, really wanted to love this movie, but I did not.
The problem with this movie is that I know NOTHING about any of the individual students Mr. Chips taught. I don't know what their interests are, whether they are smart or dumb, what they are thinking etc. I just watched the movie and I'm not even sure I know any of their names.
For a movie like this to work, there have to be some meaningful interactions between the teacher and his or her students. There were none. I see NO evidence that Mr. Chips inspired any individual student to do anything. And I don't know what the students did other than some of them fought in World War I.
Contrast that with "Dead Poets Society" and "Mr. Holland's Opus," to name two, where five or six students stand out and are inspired by their teacher. I saw those movies several years ago and I still recall the students' stories.
This movie conveys a general sense that Mr. Chips himself was transformed after meeting his wife. Before that, he was stodgy and unpopular. Frankly, he was an incompetent teacher for 20 years and should have been fired. After his midlife romance begins, though, the students as a whole liked and respected him a lot.
But other than a couple of jokes told in front of a class of 30 students, there is nothing to justify why the students liked and respected him so much. I want to be SHOWN, not told, Mr. Chips is a great teacher. The movie also has a very timid plot and little conflict and character development.
By the way, Jimmy Stewart deserved the Best Actor Oscar for "Mr. Smith," not Robert "Mr. Chips" Donat. I gave "Mr. Chips" a 5.
ZWrite